On Thursday night, West Virginia head coach Neal Brown held his radio show as the Mountaineers prepare to face Oklahoma State this weekend.
Brown discussed how his team handled the bye week, his expectations as they hit the road this week, as well as how the bye week can be used to self-evaluate.
Bye Week Recap
The biggest thing that the bye week brought was a chance for the Mountaineers to get healthy after what Brown called a physical first four games.
"Three of those four games were really physical and three intense games," Brown said.
Brown added there were multiple guys that would've been unavailable had WVU played last Saturday instead of being off, but they will now be good to go this weekend. Brown added the break was able to give guys a physical break but also a mental break which he thinks is necessary for his team.
"I think bye weeks to me is where we’ve kind of evolved on this is it’s as much about a mental break as it is a physical break," Brown said.
During the off week, a lot of the younger guys scrimmaged against each other and two guys stood out to Brown who could see increased playing time later on this season. That includes Israel Boyce and DayDay Farmer who Brown said both guys will play at some point in 2024.
Hitting the road against Oklahoma State
West Virginia has their first plane trip of the year as they head to Stillwater to face Oklahoma State this weekend.
Brown said the bye week allowed them to get somewhat of a head start on Oklahoma State prep, but he knows the tough place to play that is OSU and how good of a team they are.
"They've lost to two really good football teams," Brown said of OSU's losses to Utah and Kansas State in each of the past two weeks.
"It’s a tough venue. Fans are right on top of you, students are right behind you... They’ve done a nice job there, they’ve created a really good atmosphere," Brown added.
Brown also expects to get the best from running back Ollie Gordon. Gordon tore up the Mountaineers' defense last season in this matchup but has had a slower start to 2024.
"I have a feeling we’re going to see a renewed emphasis on him getting the ball in our game, so we’ve got to be prepared for that," Brown said.
Brown said the game will come down to turnovers, touchdowns in the red zone, and who can run the ball better.
"Both teams want to run it, who can establish it and do a better job on the line of scrimmage," Brown said.
Finding Their Strengths
Brown said one of the best parts of the bye week was he was able to self-scout how his team was doing.
A lot of that for Brown was looking as what works on his offense but said he doesn't want to get away from where his team excels.
"There’s a fine line between having an answer and doing things that aren’t strengths of yours," Brown said.
Brown praised tight end Treylan Davis and his ability in the run game and said his receivers blocked well in the run game against Kansas. Brown said they want quarterback Garrett Greene to run less than he did against the Jayhawks on a weekly basis, while also highlighting the importance of different weapons for Greene.
"You look at how you're getting them the ball, what part of the field, do they have an opportunity to run after the catch, are we getting them to the second level, yes, we look at all of that," Brown said of his self-scout process on offense.
Brown continued to talk about Rodney Gallagher and Kole Taylor as two guys who are really coming along as options on the offensive side of the ball.
"His confidence is growing and he's getting better as a receiver," Brown said of Gallagher. He later added, "We got to continue to get him touches. that's something we got to be intentional about."
Brown said of Taylor, "[he] is growing as a blocker but he’s a great receiving threat." He added there have been times this year they have missed him on offense when he's open but that he will be important to their success as they head into October.
Kickoff for this weekend is set for 4:00 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPN2.
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