It wouldn't be difficult to look on the surface and understand why this season has been a frustrating one for the West Virginia State football team.
But it's not just the fact that the Yellow Jackets are sitting at the bottom of the Mountain East Conference standings with a 1-7 record following their sixth loss in a row. It's the way they've lost some of those games - games in which they have shown signs of promise, only to see those flashes of brilliance hit a wall, as they fall short and begin to quickly lose ground on their opponent.
"It's maddening when you're close, and there are a lot of times it has felt like we were right there," WVSU coach Jon Anderson said. "The margin of error in this sport is so small. We have to do a better job of getting on the right side of that line."
Last week's loss to Glenville State was a good example of that. In the first half, the Yellow Jackets had played about as well as they had all season.
They forced three turnovers in the first half and two more three-and-outs - and missed two field goals and turned the ball over on downs inside the 5-yard line on those drives.
Still, if not for a late touchdown drive at the end of the half that gave Glenville State the lead at the break, West Virginia State led and had momentum for a large portion of the first half. Not taking advantage of those chances came back to bite the Yellow Jackets. The Pioneers outscored WVSU 29-13 in the second half to roll to a 43-26 win.
"It was a game of missed opportunities, and that's what has plagued us all season. We find ourselves going down the same road every game," Anderson said. "We haven't been bad in every phase of the game, there are things we've executed pretty well in every game.
"That's the kind of stuff that gives us hope, but it also causes us to feel poorly about ourselves when we can't put it all together and capitalize on the things we do at a high level."
One thing Anderson gives his team a lot of credit for is that, up to this point, they haven't allowed those things to impact their mentality too much.
Instead of treating it as a negative, they've used it to continue working and improving to try eliminating those mistakes once they see how much they can hurt.
"I'm sure there's plenty of frustration there, but it also gives them the will to come out and prepare for the next week," Anderson said. "You can only worry about what's ahead of you. We just have to keep our focus on getting better and improving off of every game, you can't change what happened - you can only prepare and use that to move on and become a better player because of it."
And as coaches, that's been the thing they've been trying to drive home with their players day after day.
Anderson has been around the game long enough to know that one of the most important parts of getting out of a slump like the one West Virginia State is in now is to keep what happened before in the past. They know they have to stay focused on what's ahead if they want to move on.
"Our effort has been extremely high and as long as we get that, we'll continue to have opportunities," he said. "When you're dealing with young men, their emotions can wear on them.
"We focus on the process of preparation and not allowing our past to dictate our future. By this time of the week, we've got a new set of downs and get a chance to work through it."