Two of West Virginia's four losses this season came in the final minutes, dropping heartbreakers to Iowa State and Texas Tech, both on the road, for what it's worth.

The defense was a huge issue in those defeats, as it has been in pretty much every game this season for WVU since Big 12 play began.

I've been saying it for weeks, and I'm not the only one who believes this: If West Virginia had a defense ranked 90th or better, which is still pretty bad, they'd be in the conversation for a spot in Dallas at the end of the season.

West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez feels the same way, saying he believes things are trending up for the program despite the 5-4 overall record.

"It is headed in the right direction. We're a better team than we were last week. We're a better team than we were last year. We're going to be a better team in two months than we are today. We very easily — should've, could've, would've — I think we could probably be undefeated. We could at least be 8-1 or 7-2 right now if we could shore up a few things on defense. And hopefully, if we can retain them, we'll have a lot of good players coming back. We've got to get better. We have to completely flip defensively. We got to get better on that side, and then offensively, there's some steps we can do to get better. I do think we're certainly in a better spot than we were a year ago in most parts of the program, but if we don't fix the defense, it doesn't matter. That's obviously the first thing that's got to get fixed."

I can certainly buy 7-2. The Iowa State and Texas Tech games should have been victories. Arizona is probably the next one that West Virginia would like to have back. They may have lost by 21, but there was a scoop-and-score that could have been prevented, a fumble inside the five that took seven points off the board, and a turnover on downs inside the five, taking another possible touchdown away. That's the difference in the game right there; let alone, had the defense played better and got some stops, WVU probably would have won.

Folks will still come back and say, "You are what your record says you are," and while that may be true, you can still see that this team is halfway to being a championship contender. They are a defense away from becoming exactly that.