Thankfully, mercifully, the 2013 football season comes to a close today for the Mountaineers. As we sit here on the final day of the season, I thought it would be interesting to go back and look at what I wrote on the day of the first game of the season when I listed five themes for the 2013 year. I have highlighted the key sentence from each theme of the August 31 blog. We had many questions in August, let's see if we have any answers here in November.

1.  AUGUST 31 - I wrote: Who wins the quarterback job? Here we are at Week 1 of the season and we don't know who the starter is. End of the world? Certainly not. As we've said before, you don't have to go back very far to remember a time when WVU entered a season without a clear starter at quarterback and still had success. Pat White didn't take over until midway through the 2005. That season will go down as one of the most memorable ever for Mountaineer fans. The key…at some point one of them will need to take over the position. Leaders step up. Big time performers show up when the lights come on. Who wins this job and how soon they do will go a long way in determining the success of the team this season. 

NOVEMBER 30: Things may have been different at the quarterback position had Ford Childress not been injured earlier in the year, however, I think it's clear this is a position that needs to get significantly better if the Mountaineers hope to improve on their results from this season. There was no clear cut winner of this position. Three different guys started at quarterback this season. It's hard to be a good football team if you go an entire year without getting settled at the quarterback position. One of the biggest questions facing this program in the off season focuses on this area. It appears WVU is trying to land a JUCO quarterback that can come in and play immediately. If not, this team could be in for another sub-par year next season.

2.  AUGUST 31 - I wrote: Is the defense any better than last year? Most people are saying, yes the defense will better. And not just because it was so horrendous last year. We're hearing the players are a year older and more experienced. We're hearing the coaching changes have helped. Players now have a better sense of where they should be on each play. I'll go ahead and assume the defense will be better. But, here's the key question - how much better? Can they go from 10th in the conference to 5th? Or are they going to be better, but only move up to 8th overall. How much will the defense improve? With such an inexperienced offense, how much the defense improves may very well determine where WVU lands in the standings.

NOVEMBER 30: I didn't think this got enough play in the preseason. The degree of "better" was a key question in my mind. After watching 11 games, I think it's safe to say, yes, the defense was better. For the most part, players seemed to have an idea on what they were supposed to do. They were in the right spots more often than not. But, this defense was far from being called good, in my opinion. They had their moments. The defensive stand late against Oklahoma State was a huge factor in securing that upset. The first half against Texas was outstanding. There were also major struggles. This unit couldn't hold leads against Texas Tech, Kansas State and TCU (the team managed to still get the win in OT after the late game collapse). They were never in the game against Baylor, who scored more points on a Mountaineer team than any other since 1904. And maybe the worst of all, this defense gave up more than 300 yards rushing and 31 points to a Kansas program that had not won a conference game in nearly three years. Heading into today's game against Iowa State, WVU ranks last in the league in passing defense and last in total defense. Simply put, with an offense that never found an identity, this Mountaineer defense didn't make enough strides this season. Here's hoping for a healthy and better 2014 campaign.

3. AUGUST 31 - I wrote: Who emerges as the playermaker(s) on offense?  There are so many unproven guys on the offensive side of the ball. Charles Sims has produced in college, albeit against lesser competition. Wendell Smallwood has received rave reviews. This offensive system has a history of producing playmakers. It will need to work as advertised this year for this Mountaineer team to match its win total from last year.

NOVEMBER 30:  Easy answer here. The only true playmaker that emerged was Charles Sims. He was fantastic. We saw a few flashes from Mario Alford, Kevin White and Daikiel Shorts. Dreamius Smith had some moments. But, overall, Sims was the only offensive player you could count on to make plays. It's no surprise this team struggled offensively this year. The challenge for next season is to not only identify which returning guys can step up, but who will replace Sims. Did we see enough from Dreamius Smith or Wendell Smallwood to say they will be able to replace the production Sims gave this squad? That's the hope, but I'm not sure you can sit here today and say with 100% confidence that it will happen. Smith heads into the season finale with less than 100 carries on the year. Smallwood has less than 30. That's a fairly small sample size. Both showed potential, but both have a long way to go to equal Charles Sims' production this year.

4. AUGUST 31 - I wrote: Will special teams be any better? Dana often refers to "all three sides of the ball." Clearly, special teams will be a priority this season. WVU became one of the few teams to assign a coach only to special teams when Joe DeForest moved from defensive coordinator to special teams coach in the off season. Will that help? Much like the defense, improvement shouldn't be too hard based on last year's performance.The question is how much will they improve?

NOVEMBER 30: This area was a mixed bag. There were certainly areas of improvement. Kickoff and punt coverage were better than last year. Nick O'Toole was solid in the punting game, but not without problems. Short kicks at the end of the TCU and Texas games led to game tying drives by both teams. Josh Lambert had a good year and provides some hope for the future. The return units were awful. WVU ranks dead last in kickoff returns and punt returns. The punt returners for the Mountaineers are averaging a mind-boggling 1.1 yard per return. This area saw some improvement from last year, but still has a long way to go.

5.  AUGUST 31 - I wrote: Fans expectations. It's clear the buzz around the team is nowhere near what it was this time last year. Lofty preseason rankings, Heisman candidates and the newness of the Big 12 welcomed the 2012 version of the Mountaineers. None of those things exist this year. There is no preseason ranking for the first time since 2009, there's no starting quarterback let alone a Heisman candidate. What do fans expect this year? Is seven wins enough? What if this team wins five or six? This is a fan base that is used to contending for league titles. Chances are good WVU won't be in the Big 12 title hunt this year. Will fans be alright with that? Season ticket sales were down this year. Another sub-par season is sure to drive them even lower next season. If this season turns out to be a rebuilding year, how much patience will this WVU fan base have with this coaching staff and program?

NOVEMBER 30: This program most certainly took a step backward this season. Seven losses heading into the season's final game, including four by double digits. No bowl game for the first time since the 2001 season and a loss to lowly Kansas. Many expect today's attendance to be as low as any home game in more than a decade. Season ticket sales are sure to decline again next year, the second straight decrease. Heading into this season, I think most reasonable fans expected a rebuilding year. What they didn't expect was the multiple blowout losses. They didn't expect to lose to Kansas with a bowl berth on the line. This team failed to improve from start to finish. We had a bunch of questions about this team heading into the season. Here we sit on the day of the final game and we may actually have MORE questions than we did in August. For many fans, the key question has shifted from "how fast can they turn this program around" to "CAN they turn this program around?" 

It's been a rough year for Mountaineer fans. The good news - it will feel like a matter of weeks and we'll be sitting here again talking about the excitement of the 2014 season beginning. This program has some major work ahead of it during the off season. How will the coaches and players respond? The off season is generally a time for optimism. We'll hear about how hard the team is working and how much improvement they have made. The new recruiting class announced in February will excite fans for a few months. But, it will be nearly six months from now until we begin to test that narrative with our own eyes at the 2014 spring game. 

As Mountaineer fans, this was not the kind of season we are used to experiencing. Here's hoping the 2014 season is much better. 

Leave me a comment below or tweet me: @bradhowe07 and let me know if you are already looking forward to 2014 or if you are going to enjoy a little time away from football this off season. 

Editor's Note: Photos courtesy of Ben Queen of BenQueenPhotography.com and of WVU Sports Communication.