West Virginia football: Dana Holgorsen frustrated by losing

When things went bad for the West Virginia Mountaineers, they went very bad: after streaking out to a 5-0 start behind apparent Heisman candidate Geno Smith, they've lost five straight, going from the No. 5 team in the country to a complete afterthought and a sub-.500 team in conference play.

It's been tough for head coach Dana Holgorsen, whose team has now lost more games consecutively than any West Virginia team since 1986. After offensive turnarounds at Texas Tech, Houston, and Oklahoma State, as well as leading the Mountaineers to a 10-3 record in his first season as head coach, he hasn't experienced something like what has happened to West Virginia in some time. As MIke Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail wrote, it's been frustrating for the coach:

"How many losses like this do we have to go through?" he said.

Especially enervating is the way the team has lost games: after getting blown out by Texas Tech and Kansas State in the team's first two losses of the season, they've lost one-point heartbreakers in their past two, falling 39-38 in double overtime against TCU and 50-49 to No. 12 Oklahoma this past week. However, Holgorsen sees the fact that his team continues to show effort in their close losses as a good signDana Holgorsen's team has fallen from 5-0 to 5-5, as his West Virginia team has lost more consecutive games than any Mountaineers team since 1986. although they haven't been on the winning side.

"There's a difference between playing well and losing and just flat-out being embarrassed," Holgorsen said. "We have a lot to worry about right now, but if we weren't playing with effort, if the kids weren't excited to play, I'd be able to sense that and that would be a serious problem."

West Virginia takes on Iowa State on Friday, hoping to move above .500 and become bowl eligible.