Brown talks new Big 12 foe UCF and OSU loss on weekly 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 one of the newest Big 12 teams, UCF, and discusses some storylines following the team's second-straight loss to Oklahoma State. Brown discussed what makes UCF's top-five ranked offense so dangerous and the implications of last Saturday's defeat.
Below is a comprehensive summary, in chronological order, of what Brown had to say on Thursday ahead of WVU's matchup in a tough road environment against UCF in the sixth edition of this season's Neal Brown Radio Show.
— The game on Saturday stung more for Brown because of the freak loss to Houston and how much energy him and players expended to get the players back to normal and ready to go, and then Brown said he felt like his team was in a good spot, and then they didn’t make the plays offensively and fell apart defensively on last three drives.
-- Brown said it was a really disappointing finish for a game they had in their own control. Brown said that normally, WVU has been practicing on Monday with an off day on Sunday, but Brown decided to practice on Sunday night to help put OSU in the past. For Brown, when things in the fourth quarter happen it’s about leadership, correction and responsibility. On Tuesday and Wednesday, they had a good work day and the group is ready to play and are highly motivated., They’ve put themselves in position in the fourth quarter, now they’ve just got to go finish.
— Early in the Oklahoma State game, Brown said five early plays changed the game and two of them were positive for WVU. He said they’ve been okay in the third quarter and they’ve worked on their opening script of plays and on third downs early in the game. Since they have an offense based around the run, teams play you differently than they show on film, so it's been different with how people are playing their edge defenders and there’s a feeling out process there.
— Brown compared Houston and UCF as similar schematically on defense and he sees similarities in their style of defense. The Knights' defensive line and cornerbacks are the team's best players.
— Just like every team in this league at this point of the season, UCF has been dealing with injuries and the flu just like everyone else. Offensive lineman Tomas Rimac is coming back and starting, while linebacker Trey Lathan is out for the year,. Brown expects Jairo Faverus to be out on Saturday and defensive lineman Jared Bartlett will be back and will play. Spear Hershey McLaurin will not play and he was hurt right at the end of the game, but the rest of the team will play besides these guys.
— Brown said that Rimac’s return gives them another guy on the line since Yates and Hubbard have been filling in at guard. He said he expects Hubbard and Yates to rotate at right guard, giving them six guys to play on the line.
— The use of unbalanced formations for Brown is a game by game situation, and they had some good runs to the short side of the field with six offensive lineman playing regularly.
— Brown knows that Orlando is a tough place to go play, with weather in the mid 80s and the fact that he's never played there and it will also be a sold out crowd. He says their players need to be able to handle playing on the road and in that weather against a proud program like UCF. He said that the Knights have won lots of conference championships, played in one last season and they've had a big history over the last 10 years.
-- This season, Brown said it’s a team that’s had three chances to win in the fourth quarter and that their quarterback, John Rhys Plumlee, is similar in play style and personality to Garrett Greene. Brown says they’re talented at wide reciever and that their running back reminds him of Texas Tech's Tahj Brooks, who had a big game against WVU. Brown says that UCF is a top-five offense in the country in terms of yards, and leads the Big 12 conference in rushing yards and their defensive end leads the conference in sacks. Brown still says that it’s a quality opponent for WVU and it’s not any different than other Big 12 games.
— The temperature and noise shouldn’t be a factor since they’ve prepared for it and they have a hydration test in place to make sure their guys are ready to go. Brown is bringing 70 players in the total travel party.
— Brown has been talking about what’s next to the players instead of the unfortunate events that happened in the past, but no one in the Big 12 feels bad for them. To him, it’s important to perform better and differently in those crucial situations. You’ve got to learn and get better from those tough plays but you have to get ready and be ready to play.
— Brown says tight end Treylan Davis is a receiving threat alongside starter Kole Taylor, and redshirt freshman Will Dixon can run but he’s a year away from helping the team.
— This week, WVU's uniforms against UCF will be the traditional blue helmet, with a white jersey and blue pants.
— Spear Raleigh Collins III will play on defense on Saturday. Brown said he played cornerback in high school and they wanted to move him to an outside linebacker or safety position but he’s still needs to gain weight. Brown said he’ll get a chance on defense on Saturday and has played well on special teams. He also said that safety Christion Stokes will play some special teams but as of right now he’s a backup on defense and it's to be determined if he'll play.
— When you play a tricky team like UCF, you’ve got to stay home in your defensive alignments and have good eye discipline.
— Against Oklahoma State for Brown, the thought process was that you kick the onside kick at the end of the game and if you don’t get it, you could get the ball back after using three timeouts with about 20 seconds on the clock. He said that if they could have scored they would have made in interesting and if they could have gotten a stop they could have had more of a chance.
— Brown admits that the UCF quarterback Plumlee is versatile, since he played baseball and wide receiver at Ole Miss and and now he’s doing the same thing playing QB for the Knights.
— Brown said the team played really well on specials teams last week with blocked kicks and effecting punts but the one bad play is what people will remember.
— With young wide receivers, Brown said that Clement has a lot of room to grow and he knew it was going to a growing process with this much youth at wide receiver and he thinks it will pay off. He says that wide receiver EJ Horton is growing in confidence and can really run. Players such as Clement, and other true freshmen pass catchers Traylon Ray and Rodney Gallagher III have a lot of football still left to play. He says the wide receiver room is growing and it’s a group that will be productive.
Kickoff against the UCF Knights on Saturday will be at noon with the television broadcast available on FS1.
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