West Virginia head coach Neal Brown believes that he has matured as a play-caller.
Some of that is simply getting older in the position and with time comes more wisdom, but he also has an understanding of the whole team perspective in his current role compared to when he was in charge of just the offense earlier in his career.
“There’s a lot more to think through as the head coach calling the game because you know your strengths and weaknesses on defense as well,” he said.
But as far as his philosophy, Brown believes that he hasn’t changed much over his career but instead, his approach is more directed toward his personnel and what they can handle. That requires the offense to be a bit different at times, but it’s all about putting his team in the best position to succeed.
“We’re doing what gives our guys the best opportunity to execute right now,” he said.
Brown, who took the play calling back over at the end of the 2022 season, believes that it’s hard to categorize his efforts as aggressive or conservative as a whole. But the numbers in certain areas certainly dictate that the Mountaineers are being more aggressive than their peers.
In terms of fourth downs, West Virginia after four games has been one of the most aggressive in the nation, attempting 12 different times and converting four of those. That’s one more than the second-place teams which are Florida State and BYU with 11 attempts.
And part of being a run-based offense is sometimes running the ball on third down to set up fourth which can sometimes be frustrating for those watching the program.
“A two-thought process on third down. We’re going to run the ball a lot on third down and the reason is because we go for it on fourth,” he said. “And sometimes you get it on third when you run it, sometimes you go for it on fourth.”
Senior quarterback Garrett Greene also continues to be aggressive when it comes to taking shot plays down the field which is a testament to that. Greene has attempted 23 passes over 20+ yards down the field and connected on 9 of those for 312 yards. That total ranks 13th nationally in terms of both attempts and completions in that department showing that ability to go downfield.
Even this past week against Kansas, West Virginia used the two-minute offense down the stretch and while that was effective, it is difficult to do at all times. That’s because for one it makes it hard on the defense, but secondly, it would allow teams to prepare for it more and have answers.
That’s because currently when teams play West Virginia the focus is on combating the run game concepts, the quarterback run game, and the deep shots. All of these are part of the formula for the Mountaineers to be successful when they have the football.
And it’s just another step in the maturation of Brown as a play-caller.
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