Brown reflects on Oklahoma loss and talks Cincinnati on radio show
On Thursday, West Virginia head football coach Neal Brown spoke on his weekly Neal Brown Radio Show with WVU play-by-play commentator Tony Caridi, reflecting on a crushing 59-20 defeat to Oklahoma and what's next for the Mountaineers on Saturday when they face off against the Cincinnati Bearcats. With a special day on the horizon Saturday that includes senior day and honoring former head coach Don Nehlen, Brown discussed everything that he learned from the Oklahoma loss and the importance of getting right against Cincinnati.
Below is a comprehensive summary, in chronological order, of what Brown had to say on Thursday ahead of WVU's next home game against Cincinnati in the 11th edition of this season's Neal Brown Radio Show.
— Brown said that their main theme is that they’ve got to finish games. He said they didn’t play good football on Saturday but they started fast offensively and then hit a rut and couldn’t slow Oklahoma down. Brown feels like that was the best that Oklahoma had played this year and he said they were ready to go. He also said that it's important to be able to score in that venue but after they didn’t start fast, it snowballed into a negative result. He said that it’s important to him that they play well when they’re honoring Don Nehlen.
-- Leading up to Cincinnati, Brown said it’s been a good week of practice and he says that the Bearcats run the ball pretty well and play pretty good offense in terms of statistics. He also admitted that the transition to the Big 12 has been though on them and that they’ve lost some close games.
— Early in the game against Oklahoma, Brown said they did some new stuff on the first drive in terms of running the ball and a passing play that they hadn’t ran before and then they broke some tackles. Following that, Brown said they didn’t run different plays on subsequent drives until it stopped working and they had to switch. He said he felt like they had a good opening series and that they should have had a better second drive until they shot themselves in the foot.
— Brown admits that Oklahoma is difficult to play against and that OU head coach Brett Venables challenged his defensive front group to come in and play well against a strong WVU run game. He also said that what Oklahoma did in the win was different than what they showed on film. This included them showing some man coverage presnap and then changing into some Cover 2 following the snap, which made things move too fast for quarterback Garrett Greene. Brown also said the Sooners' defense was messing with his eyes and that he was seeing too many things all at once.
— Brown stands behind Greene as a catalyst offensively and he said that he is what makes the team go, which means that when he plays well then the team will do well. Brown said he felt like he didn’t get as much helped as he needed to go on the road and win since the offensive line and running backs played average and their wide receivers dropped four passes. When those four units are not playing well like they normally would, Brown said that hurts the quarterback.
— In terms of injury updates, Brown said that running CJ Donaldson has practiced a little bit over the last two days but he’ll be a true game time decision. Brown will have him warm up and dress and then go from there. For tackle Doug Nester, Brown said he looked better in today’s practice than he expected, but they will need to evaluate him over the next 48 hours.
— Brown says that Cincinnati head coach Scott Satterfield has done a really good job at running the football with every program he’s been a play caller at. He said it seems like their offense can be hit or miss with quarterback Emory Jones but there’s a lot of offensive similarities with each team having a dual threat quarterback and offenses that run outside zone and pound the football.
— The message to the team is to finish and people remember that. Brown said they have an opportunity to overachieve expectations, finish with an impressive 5-1 record at home and then have a chance to get six wins in the Big 12 Conference. Brown said that WVU needs to play as good as they can and finish well for the seniors.
— To Brown, he says that they play who they play and can't pick and choose how their schedule looks each year and circle winnable games. He said that three of West Virginia's losses are against teams in the top 22 of the CFP rankings and the other game they shouldn’t have lost on a freak play. He also said that many teams that the Mountaineers have beaten will also be bowl eligible.
— He also said that in the Big 12 Conference, there will always be surprises since everyone has an opportunity to beat everyone. Brown knew they’d be better than what people thought they would be and where they were picked.
— Oklahoma was good at spreading them out last week and according to Brown there are some pros to doing that and for West Virginia to incorporate that. He said that you can make teams play in space by spacing them out but you’re also limited in the route types you can run. He said some negatives of running a true spread offense are that teams know where you’re going with the routes and if they play man coverage they can stop that. Brown said however that spread sets are a part of WVU’s offense but it depends on who they’re playing and the matchups they have and key on. He also said that WVU had more success in pistol formations against Oklahoma.
— On a regular offensive game plan, Brown said they play three different personnel groups primarily, first with 11 personnel, meaning one tight end and one running back and the next most in 12 personnel, which entails one running back and two tight ends. Brown also said they mix in 21 personnel sometimes, which has two running backs and one tight end.
— When it comes to the concept of open practice, Brown said he doesn’t mind open practice session for the media and to juice up his players who have people watching. However, he said that most people don’t do it because then onlookers can film everything you do and there are different gameplans for each week against each team that should be protected. He said it has everything to do with competitive disadvantage if you show too much at practice.
— Brown said he feels like the biggest battle to watch on Saturday is Cincinnati’s defensive lineman Dontay Corleone facing off against WVU center Zach Fraziers since he feels like these are two guys that will play in the NFL for a long time. Brown said that Corleone is a big dude and wreaks havoc on the defensive front.
— For Saturday's matchup against Cincinnati, West Virginia will be wearing blue helmets with the flying WV logo, along with traditional blue jerseys and gold pants. Brown announced that this combination will also feature former leader and WVU's winningest head coach Don Nehlen’s name on the back of the helmets and he says this week's uniform is a repeat from a past game this season and that is something rare for WVU to do, but it was to honor Nehlen.
— After the season ends, Brown said that himself and his assistant coaches hold end of year meetings before the bowl game to talk to players on an individual level. Brown also said he likes the early signing period but that he would like to have it moved up to August to accommodate a busy month of December and comes before the high school football season. After the regular season is finished, Brown said he gets dead week after the season to hold those meetings and work on player retention and then the transfer portal opens up, with all of this happening before mostly before the team's bowl game.
— Brown said that they have a good group of guys graduating in December and that the number of graduates is in the double-digits. Brown also touched on the 5th Quarter program that he helped create, which provides athletes with a chance to be apart of a program that allows players to see into the real life business world through the WVU John Chambers College of Business. Brown said it's truly a positive part of his program but also in the recruiting process. With this program, Brown said the athletes will earn their degrees but also gain connections to be employed by West Virginia companies.
Kickoff against Cincinnati from Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown on Saturday is set for 2:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
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