File photo WVU football coach Rich Rodriguez is shown on the sidelines during a recent game.

MORGANTOWN — It was doom and gloom around West Virginia football after the Mountaineers were blown out by UCF, who was in a similar situation with a new coach and had roster turnover. The fire “Rich Rod” comments started. WVU had just two wins and hadn’t won a single Big 12 game. The season looked like it was over before the second bye.

Then, the Mountaineers lost to TCU, making it five losses in a row. Rich Rodriguez was frustrated.

After losing a lot of games in a row and not being competitive, it’s easy to lose the locker room. James Franklin was fired from Penn State after he lost the locker room when their season was spiraling. Convincing players that better days are ahead is hard when the sky is falling.

After WVU looked a bit better against TCU, the Mountaineers headed out to No. 22 Houston and won 45-35 in a major upset.

Rodriguez did what many coaches have failed to do, and kept the players dialed in, coming out of the dark days to shock the conference.

“It’s harder now,” Rodriguez said. “I think most coaches will tell you, every week is a battle. When you set the culture and it’s really set in, you don’t have to worry about [losing the locker room]. It’s going to take care of itself.”

Like Rodriguez said, it is harder in this era of college football to keep everyone bought in when times are tough. If a player doesn’t like the situation they’re in, they can just ride out the remainder of the season and jump into the transfer portal. The team’s failures aren’t their problem anymore.

“Nowadays, it’s crazy,” Rodriguez said. “You’re gonna have maybe seven or eight free agents on your team if you’re a pro team that you may have to decide on. We basically have everybody that’s a free agent. That’s how crazy and nutty these college athletic rosters are nowadays.”

The UCF game really showed the effort wasn’t where it needed to be. Something needed to change.

Rodriguez said the team didn’t make too many changes during the losses. Practice was changed a little, but Rodriguez kept preaching to his staff that they need to keep trying to build the culture, and effort was given on every play, even during the rock bottom point.

“I told the staff, we can’t let up until that’s the case,” Rodriguez said. “We got there. We got closer there, but there’s still a level we have to get to. We’re not completely where we need to be, from that standpoint.”

WVU did some soul-searching. It was more about looking internally than the opponent across the line of scrimmage. The Mountaineers needed to be better at coming off the ball, patching up the defense, and needed to create more turnovers.

If WVU fixed those, the wins would come.

“All we got to worry about right now is us,” Rodriguez said. “That’s what we’ve done the last couple of weeks. We’re worried about us.”

Against Houston, it worked. Rodriguez admitted it might’ve taken longer than he’d like, and there’s still work to be done, but it’s a step in the right direction.

Now, WVU has momentum heading into Colorado this weekend, and maybe even the following weeks in pursuit of a bowl game.

“We ain’t got to play perfect,” Rodriguez said. “You’re going to make mistakes, and things are going to happen. But if you play with great effort and conviction, everybody’s into the game, so to speak, it gives us a shot.”