MORGANTOWN - It's said college football teams make the most improvement between their first and second games.
Apparently, though, exceptions exist to the rule, because WVU did not improve over last week.
Playing before a crowd of 56,261 at steamy Milan Puskar Stadium, the host Mountaineers struggled mightily before finally moving past FCS team Youngstown State by 38-21.
No, West Virginia didn't struggle as much as No. 8 Georgia did versus Nicholls State or No. 2 Clemson did against Troy. It didn't fall on its head like No. 22 Oklahoma State did against the MAC's Central Michigan.
Yet the Mountaineers devolved.
"Horrible," West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said of his defense. "Terrible. Can't tackle. Can't cover. Bad."
He continued.
"I apologize to all West Virginia football fans and everybody that's ever played here on defense for that showing."
Maybe that's a bit strong, but Gibson does have cause for concern. Against what was a terrible 2015 Missouri offense, WVU allowed 462 yards to the Tigers in Game One. The surprise there, however, was the Mountaineers only allowed 11 points.
Against Youngstown State, a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, West Virginia gave up 405 yards. This time, though, it translated into 21 points.
The step back wasn't all on the defense though. Almost to the end of the first half, Youngstown State outplayed its host in all three phases of the game.
We saw WVU quarterback Skyler Howard facing pressure up the middle. We saw the team ready to go for a fourth-and-2 situation, only to see Rushel Shell whistled for a false start. On special teams, Shane Commodore was called for a hold.
What ultimately won the game was the Mountaineers' depth, conditioning on the 90-degree day and Howard's sweet deep-ball passes.
It was significant on Saturday, but that won't cut it against BYU - which has faced Arizona, Utah and will face UCLA - and the Big 12 schedule.
WVU coach Dana Holgorsen tried to look on the bright side. He complimented YSU, as he should. He said that the Penguins were game was not surprising.
But when it got to specifics, Holgorsen said he had to challenge his offensive line at halftime. He pointed to untimely penalties.
Mountaineer defensive lineman Christian Brown likewise tried to put a good spin on the showing - before acknowledging what has to be done.
"I thought we played pretty good," Brown said. "There were mistakes made, but we have a bye week so we have a whole lot of time to correct the mistakes."
Gibson said his defense needs a whole lot of time.
"Couldn't tackle," he said. "Guys looked lost. We got outcoached. We got outplayed. They controlled the line of scrimmage. So ..."
He paused.
"Everything we warned them about all week happened," Gibson concluded.
He obviously meant an emotional letdown. That had to be a legitimate concern after defeating an SEC team with BYU now on deck.
But examine WVU's win closely. Yes, Howard had five TD passes and threw for 389 yards. Yet 42 percent of the yardage came on three TD passes. We've touched on the special teams. The defense was shaky at best.
YSU coach Bo Pelini was anything but humbled.
"I thought our kids played hard," he said. "We didn't play well enough to win. We didn't coach well enough. We need to get better. We need to get better fundamentally and technique-wise."
Mountaineer linebacker Justin Arndt seemed flat-out ticked. I asked how he'd grade the effort.
"Not very good," Arndt said. "We didn't start fast and we didn't finish. That's the main thing. There were times when our defense held [YSU] to 3-and-outs, but there were times when they drove the ball on us. I mean, it was just shaky. There are definitely things we can work on and get better."
What about WVU's offense?
"Same thing," he said. "We didn't start fast and that's one thing Coach Holgorsen wants us to do. We didn't do that very well."
Thankfully for the Mountaineers, they had Howard's deep touch, the necessary depth and that conditioning on this Saturday.
"We have a great strength staff," Brown said. "We can't be more conditioned than we are. We're more conditioned than other teams. Today I started seeing it beginning in the second quarter. People [from Youngstown State] started going down. Our team was prepared for the situation. We fought through it."
We'll now see if the team can improve between the second and third game.
Because we saw little to none between one and two.
Contact Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827 or mitchvingle@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MitchVingle.