Neal Brown didn’t mince words when it came to his team's blocking.
“I thought blocking at every position was severely below average,” he said.
That’s the offensive line, the wide receivers, the tight ends, the running backs and essentially anybody else that could be held accountable for the Mountaineers 34 yards rushing on 24 carries against FCS opponent James Madison. It’s the lowest rushing output in a win since managing only 25 against Maryland in 2012 so it goes without saying that it has to improve.
Brown was encouraged that the offensive line was getting on people but the unit failed to move the Dukes, something he credits to so many players seeing their first significant action. He was displeased by the effort of the tight ends as well as the running backs not reading plays well. Even quarterback Austin Kendall had to bear the brunt of the blame for not doing a better job in his run fakes.
The wide receiver position, particularly the inside spots, had as much to do with the struggles as the offensive line and perimeter blocking as a whole was lacking.
It didn’t stop at players either as Brown pointed the finger back at himself and his coaches for the game-planning portion of it all. The coaches came into the game thinking they could line up and win in one-on-one situations but that did not occur nearly as frequently as he expected.
“We’ve got to do a better job,” Brown said.
When it comes to his evaluation of Kendall the quarterback, Brown felt that in what could be considered his first career start the redshirt junior handled himself well. There were three instances of blown pass-protection which opened him up to some big hits and there were six drops in the game that didn’t help.
Still, Kendall stood in the pocket and showed courage as well as quality decision making. It wasn’t all perfect as he missed some deep throws down the field but the overall effort was commendable.
“Some of those were on the receivers, some of those were on him,” he said.
Even with the struggles in certain areas, struggles that Brown realizes will be exposed unless they improve given the difficulty of the schedule, the head coach was impressed with how his team didn’t panic and was able to come out with a win. The victory sets up for an easier teachable moment especially with those struggles as the Mountaineers move forward on the schedule.
Next stop on the slate will be a road trip to Missouri, who is coming off a surprising 37-31 loss to Wyoming in the season opener. Clemson graduate transfer Kelly Bryant threw for 423 yards and a pair of scores in his debut with the Tigers and the passing game will present problems.
The Cowboys were able to do several things offensively with motion and shifts in order to get advantages in the run game that led to them piling up 297 rushing yards at 7.4 per carry.
“That was kind of the story of the game. That and Missouri turned the ball over,” Brown said.
The West Virginia head coach is expecting to see a much different Tigers team at home this coming Saturday with kickoff set for 12 p.m.
On the injury front, sophomore running back Leddie Brown is considered questionable after missing the opener with an ankle issue.
WATCH: Musings from the Mountains - Episode 18
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