WVSports.com looks at the weekly press conference from West Virginia head coach Neal Brown and determines the five most interesting discussion topics.
We examine what was said as well as what it means for the football team both this week and moving ahead as the Mountaineers navigate the 2024 schedule.
Next up is the second bye week.
1—Bye week at the right time. West Virginia is a beaten-up football team and the Mountaineers are expected to take a similar approach to the first bye week with a focus on getting healthy. Brown gave the team off Sunday and Monday after a difficult four-game stretch, but he will scrimmage the young players Wednesday and Thursday with one scouting period each during those two days. Then the coaching staff will hit the road to recruit in preparation for the Cincinnati game starting Sunday.
The Mountaineers are entering a critical four-game stretch at 4-4 on the season after the bye with games at Cincinnati, at home against Baylor and UCF and then on the road at Texas Tech to close the season. Brown said that he has tried not to look ahead but each of those teams are similar and there is still a lot to play for when it comes to the close of this season. Each of those teams also will present plenty of challenges when it comes to their offenses and have played well on that side of the ball.
2—Marchiol passes the test. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Nicco Marchiol made his second career start on the road at Arizona and much like his first against Texas Tech last season, he led the Mountaineers to a win. Marchiol completed 18-22 passes for 198 yards and two scores, while not turning the ball over and rushing for 39 more while leading West Virginia to 31 points in the process. Brown felt that the young signal caller played under control and avoided any of the big negative plays that often occur in those early starts in a career.
The Mountaineers put a lot on his plate in the read game and when it came to handling some errant snaps while also being very efficient on third down and when it came to throwing the football. Marchiol has made significant strides in his overall play since his last start and that’s a credit to his work and preparation to be able to step into that role. Brown highlighted some of his throws such as the third down throw to Hudson Clement, the 54-yard touchdown to Traylon Ray and the throw on third and seven to ice the game to Jaylen Anderson on what would have been his third read on the play.
3—Nothing new at quarterback. And while Marchiol played well with senior quarterback Garrett Greene out with injury, Brown reiterated that when it comes to a starter he isn’t going to really discuss the issue until Greene is healthy. Brown has always been a believer that it’s hard to lose your job if you’re injured and while Marchiol played well, and he was happy to see that he doesn’t have any sort of long-term answer right now on whether that was good enough to possibly force a change at the position.
The head coach acknowledged that Marchiol has certainly played well enough when given opportunities to deserve some playing time but they’re not going to discuss anything in terms of a long-term starter until Greene is back and healthy with the Mountaineers. Playing both quarterbacks isn’t necessarily out of the question either, but Brown did say that at a rhythm position like under center, it is hard to bounce back and forth between series for multiple players.
4—Injuries. Greene continues to deal with the injury that forced him not to even make the trip to Arizona and right now it’s too early to make any determination on his availability for the next week. Still, if the Mountaineers had a game this week Brown said that he wouldn’t have practiced Monday.
On the plus side, left tackle Wyatt Milum, who also didn’t make the trip, is making progress and will be available to practice this week which could be a big boost up front.
Brown didn’t have any update on the status of senior spear safety Aubrey Burks, while his backup Keke Tarnue’s availability is going to depend on how he heals throughout the course of the bye into next week. If either isn’t available to go the snaps could go to a pair of true freshmen in Zae Jennings and Israel Boyce.
The coaching staff will know more about the status of cornerback Ayden Garnes next week and the same can be said for running back CJ Donaldson who the coaches will need to see how he handles this coming week.
True freshman center Kyle Altuner has pads back on and they believe he will be able to do some developmental work this week, while redshirt freshman defensive lineman Corey McIntyre is about two weeks behind him and both could potentially be in the mix in November.
The final injury update is for senior defensive lineman Eddie Vesterinen who will miss the remainder of the season but due to a redshirt year will be able to return next year and is progressing well. He should be full go in January after being injured in the Albany game.
5—Issues need corrected. Brown is well aware of the issues with both the pass defense and the snaps on the offensive side of the football. The Mountaineers have tried a lot of different things to correct the first issue but overall, it just hasn’t been good enough at this stage of the year. The headman did credit the Arizona passing battery for playing well but the struggles there have been almost a weekly ordeal.
Brown said that the decision to use Tampa 2 and get linebacker Trey Lathan matched up against McMillan down the field wasn’t good defense and while once was one thing, the Mountaineers never should have put him in that position again. But when the unit is struggling you’re trying to find answers and those simply weren’t good enough in that type of situation. West Virginia used the last bye week to mix up some things and use cover 2 which confused Oklahoma State, and the program had some success with but now they’ve got to try to find the next answer against some talented offensive football teams.
And when it comes to the snaps on offense, Brown believes that Brandon Yates has done a lot of good things but they’re aware of the issues there and it has to be addressed moving forward.
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