Neal Brown didn’t point fingers or make excuses.
No, the first year head coach owned up to his late game mistake that essentially cost West Virginia the opportunity to tie the game late in the fourth quarter against undefeated Baylor.
The Mountaineers lined up for a 43-yard field goal attempt and the ball was booted through the uprights to seemingly tie the game until play was whistled dead. Almost inexplicably, the play clock had expired even with three timeouts in the pocket making a difficult situation even more challenging.
The gaffe proved to be significant, as the next attempt was blocked and the Mountaineers left Waco with a hard-fought, but disappointing 17-14 defeat. Disappointing in the sense that while a young team, projected as almost 20-point underdogs battled, the result was still a notch in the loss column.
“We have people that are kind of in charge of looking at the clock but at the end of the day it’s my fault,” Brown said. “I’m sitting here wondering how we’re going to use our timeouts, how we’re going to kick off and I didn’t see the clock. That’s on me.”
When pressed about the chain of command in those instances, he reiterated his stance.
“It’s my fault. Bottom line, I’m the head coach, it’s my fault,” he said.
It’s an encouraging sign for a coach to assume responsibility in those situations, especially in the midst of a rebuild that will take some ‘trusting of the climb’ in order to get to where they want to be. While that will be looked at as the defining sequence of the game, it certainly shouldn’t be the only take away.
Even in the sting of defeat, you saw some of what Brown has been preaching play out on the field. An undermanned, young Mountaineers football team had gone blow-for-blow with the Bears for almost the full 60-minutes and narrowly missing a chance for an upset.
Moral victories aren’t anything to hang your hat on, but considering how this team imploded in the second half against Oklahoma prior to the bye it was a positive that there was complete buy-in from what’s left of the roster.
“A lot of guys hurt in that locker room. I hurt for them,” Brown said. “They hurt because they invested. They came up short, I don’t know if we necessarily got beat but we came up short.”
The Mountaineers were playing a collection made up almost entirely of freshmen, newcomers and walk-ons on the defensive side of the ball and held the Bears to 22 points under their season average while recording 8 sacks in the process. The Mountaineers simply competed.
“Guys that haven’t played very much came in and stepped up. I thought it was a tremendous defensive effort. They gave us a chance,” Brown said.
Effort wasn’t an issue offensively either, but the results were much of the same with struggles running the football and a lack of an explosive element at all levels. The Mountaineers were ‘whipped’ up front by the Bears and completed only two passes over 10+ yards in the process.
It’s a recipe for struggling.
Little-by-little you can see the foundation of the future of this team emerging as the roster is chocked full of that f-word we don’t want to use anymore and newcomers. With time comes experience and with experience comes a chance of developing into a good football team.
The leadership is there and accountability isn’t an issue now it’s finding the next step.
“I told them after the game that I’m proud of them and I mean that,” Brown said. “It’s not O.K. to lose but I’m proud of them. I appreciate them, I love them. They’re buying in.”
And while it could sting now, there’s going to be a lot prouder days ahead for the football program.
WATCH: Musings from the Mountains | West Virginia Football vs. Baylor Recap | Episode 37
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