Brown talks all things Oklahoma on weekly 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, talking all about WVU's upcoming matchup against Oklahoma following the team's second-straight win in dominant fashion against BYU. With a 37-7 win for marking his largest margin of victory in four seasons at WVU against an FBS opponent, Brown discussed everything that he expects and things to watch for against the Oklahoma Sooners this Saturday.
Below is a comprehensive summary, in chronological order, of what Brown had to say on Thursday ahead of WVU's tough road game against Oklahoma in the eighth edition of this season's Neal Brown Radio Show.
— Brown said they’ve had a good week of practice and they’re finally hitting their stride. He understands that it’s a big game coming up. For Oklahoma, its last two games have come down to very close margins, a combined eight points in two losses on the road. This game is the last time they’ll play for a while and Brown said WVU's last win in Norman was in 1982, so it’ll be a big challenge.
— For Brown, BYU was the best game of the season both offensive and defensively. The team started with a tough one against Penn State, fought for 4 games, and then Houston set them back. Oklahoma State played good for three quarters and he said then they bounced back strong versus UCF and BYU. Brown feels like they played really well and at a high level, but the best teams continue to get better in November so when you put it together you’ve got a chance at something special.
— Brown thought the home atmosphere against BYU was great and he was surprised that WVU has only had three night games in Morgantown across the last five years. Brown said there was a buzz in the stadium that you could feel and it helped get them out to a fast start.
— Brown said that in a game, there’s always going to be adjustments. He said he didn’t want to run Greene as much against the Cougars after he ran lot against UCF, but BYU played their defensive ends differently which prevented Greene from running. He said they moved and motioned a lot but then that changed in the third quarter and it caught BYU off guard. He also felt like the long travel, from Texas two weeks ago to Morgantown last week, also hurt them. However, Brown said that he feels like they’re going to be a bowl eligible squad and that they are a good team with a chance to do some things.
— Brown admitted that Greene has been an explosive runner but BYU actually wanted to let him run more and WVU didn’t want to do that, so that’s how the defensive ends changed the ways they played against Greene.
— In terms of young players and development, Brown says they’re playing three freshmen at wide receiver along with a freshman and a sophomore at running back, so he hopes that they'll continue to develop as they maintain those significant roles.
-- Brown said freshman running back Jahiem White’s got a unique running style since he’s quick and shifty but not small and that he’s got a thick build but he’s short. He said that with running backs in terms of weight, you have to be more careful since running backs take a lot of hits and are expected to pick up blitzes as well and be strong. So Brown expects White to be closer to 200 or 205 pounds for the majority of his WVU career.
— Brown said he expects Oklahoma is going to force them to win by throwing the football and key in and try to take away the run game. He said they must be better and more efficient in the pass game but also find schematic openings for the run game to be incorporated.
— Going into BYU game, Brown said they studied Jake Retzlaff on Thursday night after they found out he was going to be the starter and Brown felt like he did some great things. Brown said the Cougars struggled to run the ball and they had some drops by their wide receivers but they got the quarterback involved by calling over 50 pass plays, some of which he ran on.
— Brown feels like that as a unit the defensive line is playing really well and there’s not a lot of fall off when they make substitutions from each player in that group. He said they're confidently playing nine players a lot on the defensive line.
— For freshman linebacker Ben Cutter, the game has now slowed down and he was playing too eager during his first start. Brown said he’s using his hands better now and has been better in his linebacker depth at around five yards, so he’s improved every game he’s played. He said Cutter will play primarily middle linebacker while he's here and WVU is running two middle linebackers on most plays this season.
— Brown said that cornerback Beanie Bishop has been a great pickup in the transfer portal and they really wanted to get him to West Virginia so he could make an impact and he has. Against BYU, Brown said safety Aubrey Burks played comfortable again for the first time since his injury and that he was hesitant in the games following the injury, but Brown expects him to play like normal for the rest of this month.
— Brown said the procedural penalties were an obvious issue with five, which is more in one game than they’ve had the whole season combined. He said it had something to do partially with how BYU was simulating their snaps and he said they’ve worked on that and have cleaned it up. Brown doesn’t expect that to be as much of a problem moving forward.
— Brown is happy for Chicago Bears' quarterback Tyson Bagent and his journey to the NFL for a kid who grew up and played some football in. West Virginia. Brown said Bagent briefly entered the portal where WVU brought him out for a visit and offered him a scholarship, but it was hard for Bagent to leave Shepard with their success and the fact that he developed there. However, Brown said he enjoyed meeting him since he was a competitive and sharp kid and he felt like Bagent's talent would have translated to the Power Five level at that time.
— Brown said football is an inexact science since it’s a sport of projections and some players change later or earlier than other so that’s a challenge in recruiting and why some kids like Tyson Bagent and Nick Malone are passed over since they've developed differently. Brown said there’s no position that has more discrepancy than the quarterback position since it’s over analyzed and there’s been a lot of misses there, including Tom Brady as one example. He said you can try to gauge the intangibles as much as possible but it’s hard to measure things such as a drive to win like his quarterback Garrett Greene has.
— Brown said that freshman running back DJ Oliver will be redshirting for the remainder of this season since it’s the best thing for him as an individual. He also said that redshirt freshman wide receiver Hudson Clement was available to play last week but they didn't need him or want to push him since he wasn't 100 percent healthy. Brown expects him to play barring any setbacks this week.
— On defense, Brown said Oklahoma matches head coach Brett Venables so well since they are great at running to the football, putting pressures on defense, and disguising coverages at the best level they've probably seen this season, so it’s a big challenge. Brown said there will be a cat and mouse game early to feel out what he team is doing and that the offensive line is excited to compete against the premier players.
— When scouting Oklahoma quarterback and once heisman contender Dillon Gabriel, Brown said that he is a dual-threat lefty, who is accurate and runs better than he’s given credit for. Brown also said he has a quick release and a strong lower body.
-- For their running backs, Brown said they are a good group of players and that they’re all different, so they'll ride the hot hand in their group during games. He also said they have a great wide receiver group as well. In terms of special teams, Brown said Oklahoma has two different punters and that they utilize both a right-footed and left-footed punter, so he plans to keep an eye on that for every punt on Saturday.
— Brown announces that West Virginia will wear all-white uniforms against Oklahoma, rocking white jerseys with white pants and a white Country Roads helmet. The logo on the helmet is the West Virginia state outline encompassing the Flying WV logo in the middle.
-- Brown picked tight end Will Dixon as his PARCS Superstores Hardest Worker of the Week and he said they really liked his skills coming into the program. Brown said he knew that Dixon would have to gain weight, going from 220 to in the mid 230's range. However, Brown said can really run and he thinks that he'll continue to develop and grow.
Kickoff from Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma on Saturday is set for 7 p.m. Eastern Time. The television broadcast will be available on FOX.
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