MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The "high and tight" is not a haircut for the West Virginia football team. Instead, it is a practical application.

If the offense does not hold the football a little higher and carry it a little tighter, the Mountaineers might fumble the season away.

"I talk to them all the time about holding [the football] high and tight," Mountaineers coach Bill Stewart said. "No one really wants to fumble. They were trying extremely hard and just didn't take care of the ball."

Trying hard, to this point, has not been good enough.

West Virginia did not take care of the ball against Colorado in a 35-24 win Thursday night. Now, four games into the season, turnovers have become an indisputable trend that needs to be corrected as Big East Conference play begins next Saturday at Syracuse.

The Mountaineers (3-1) have turned the ball over 14 times this season -- 10 in the past two games -- and rank 119th out of 120 Division I-A teams in the statistic.

Only Miami of Ohio, which has not won a game and plays host to No. 10 Cincinnati today, has had a tougher time keeping its hands on the football than the Mountaineers this season. The Redhawks have turned it over 16 times.

It seems West Virginia offensive coordinator Jeff Mullen is able to separate the eight fumbles lost from the six interceptions.

"Interceptions are a decision, but fumbles are just a kid making a mistake," Mullen said. "I really believe no one coaches taking care of the ball better than our staff here, but we need to continue pressing upon that point."

That they do, because logic would say that more teams than not are going to make West Virginia pay in a fashion Colorado could not.

Of the four turnovers against the Buffaloes, Colorado turned them into just three points, leaving coach Dan Hawkins forever to imagine what could have happened had his squad been able to capitalize on those chances.

"When you play a good football team, you have to maximize those opportunities," he said. "If you do that, you have a chance at a different outcome."

There was a feel, especially in the immediate aftermath of the game, that Stewart fully understood his team had escaped with something.

"I am very, very proud about the win, I am here to tell you we will win any ballgame we can, 35-24," Stewart said. "But it needs to be polished. It needs some fundamentals put in it. And, if we do not take care of the turnovers, we will not have a banner season like I hope we would."

The point about taking care of the ball has been addressed time and time again, the coaches have said.

"Turnovers take points off the board, and they can take yards off," quarterback Jarrett Brown said. "But we're going to take care of that."

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