Nov 15, 2013 4 min read

LAWRENCE, Kan. – The situation is simple for West Virginia down the stretch.

After going to bowl games 11 consecutive seasons, a streak spanning three head coaches, the Mountaineers must win their final two games starting Saturday at Kansas to become eligible.

“That’s definitely what the expectation is,” said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen, who pointed out that he’s actually been to 13 straight bowl games dating to his days as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State, Houston and Texas Tech.

“We’re going to do everything in our power to get there,” he said. “We’re going to put forth the effort, try hard, coach hard and hopefully put it all together and play hard to win the next two games. It’s certainly the expectation here, and it should be.”

Holgorsen isn’t taking anything for granted, though, even though the Mountaineers (4-6, 2-5 Big 12) wrap up their season with Kansas (2-7, 0-6) and Iowa State (1-8, 0-6), the only winless teams left in the league. After all, West Virginia has had plenty of trouble of its own.

Remember that narrow win over William & Mary? The blowout loss to Maryland?

“We’ve been in a bad place this year as well,” Holgorsen said. “You can see how close Iowa State was to beating Texas, or how close Kansas was to beating Texas last year. It sounds so silly to say but at 4-6, if we think we have any chance of just showing up and beating anyone in college football, then you have another thing coming, especially against two teams in the Big 12.”

The Jayhawks, meanwhile, are still trying to end their insufferable streak of 27 consecutive conference losses. If they can’t beat the Mountaineers or win one of their final two games against Iowa State and Kansas State, they’ll break Baylor’s Big 12 record of 29.

“We’re already in the playoffs. The playoffs started when we got eliminated, right?” said Kansas coach Charlie Weis. “These last three games count the same for me, these are our playoffs. Our bowl game is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That’s our bowl game.”

That would be the Jayhawks’ matchup with rival Kansas State. But for now, they have to deal with West Virginia.

Jake Heaps has struggled after transferring in from BYU, so Weis ripped the redshirt off freshman QB Montell Cozart a few weeks back. Now, the two are listed as “or” on the depth chart. “I know who’s starting at quarterback, but why should I tell them?” Weis said this week. “That’s really what it comes down to.”

West Virginia lost two more defensive players for the season last week when linebacker Jared Barber to his ACL and safety K.J. Dillon was hospitalized with dehydration issues. That brings to eight the number of players the Mountaineers are missing.

“You can’t use that as an excuse,” defensive coordinator Keith Patterson said. “It’s a tough sport.”

Missing Miller: The Jayhawks will be without running back Darrian Miller, who is expected to miss his second straight game due to personal issues. Miller is the team’s second-leading rusher with 322 yards on the year. “Darrian was a major part because it was me and him,” said fellow Kansas running back James Sims. “Now it’s me and (Brandon) Bourbon back there in the backfield.”

Closing out games: Even though they’re in must-win mode, West Virginia has been competitive in most of its games. The Mountaineers led Texas, Kansas State and Texas Tech in the second half before losing to each of them. “It’s the Big 12. Most of the games are close,” offensive lineman Pat Eger said. “It comes down to a couple plays here and a couple plays there.”

Passing problems: The Jayhawks are averaging just over 150 yards passing per game, which puts them at No. 113 out of 123 programs in the Bowl Subdivision. They haven’t thrown for more than 200 yards in any of their last five games. “Our passing game has to definitely step up,” wide receiver Josh Ford said. “It’s kind of been our deficiency all year.”

Feeling close: Holgorsen believes the Mountaineers are “close” to being a winning team, even though the injuries are piling up. “We talked about it Sunday night,” he said, “and our goal is to go win this one, take a week off to get refreshed, win the next one, take a few weeks off to get refreshed and then go win a bowl game.”