Neal’s deal: Three key items from West Virginia's 44-27 win over NC State
WVSports.com looks at the NC State postgame press conference from West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Neal Brown and determines the three most interesting topics of discussion.
We examine what was said as well as what it means for the football team both this week and moving forward.
1. Saturday was a three-phase win for West Virginia - After last week’s 38-7 blowout loss to Missouri, West Virginia got its first real taste of adversity
This week was a big one for the Mountaineers and win or lose, all eyes were going to be on how this team responded and they delivered big time in all three phases of the game against NC State Saturday.
Offensively, West Virginia finally got its run game going with the offense rushing for 173 yards and that was with three different offensive linemen making their first career start Saturday in John Hughes, James Gmiter and Briason Mays.
Coming into the game, the Mountaineers had just 64 total rushing yards through two games and were averaging 1.1 yards per carry.
Defensively, West Virginia held the Wolfpack to just 97 yards during the second half and stood tough after an interception by quarterback Austin Kendall during the third quarter when the Mountaineers led 31-24. It was here the defensive unit held NC State to a field goal and the offense would come back and score to make it an 11-point game on the ensuing drive.
On special teams, the Mountaineers blocked a punt which later set up a third quarter touchdown and punter Josh Growden placed four of his five punts inside the 20-yard line.
“This is why I love football,” Brown said. “It mirrors life in so many different ways. To me, it’s not when you get back down, it’s how you respond. I’m so proud of not just our players, but our whole staff (and) how they responded this week. We had a tough but productive week.”
There were four main focuses for West Virginia this week and those were to give a perfect effort, be physical, do what they’re coached to do and invest. The Mountaineers did all of that and it paid off against the Wolfpack.
“We’ve got to outwork people, we’ve got to out-physical people,” Brown said. “And we embraced that his week. I think that what you saw on that field today was a product of that. We embraced who we’ve got to be.”
“I talked to our guys and I thought this was a defining moment,” Brown said. “You have defining moments sometimes, and this was really early on to have a defining moment. But whether we won or lost, I thought how we played today was really going to be a defining moment.
"What I meant by that is you have these moments where things didn’t go right last week. Some of you all were there. A lot of you watched it. It didn’t go very well. How we responded all through the week that was what was on the field.”
2. Philosophy on playing freshmen receivers - Two true freshman wide receivers saw some action during the win Saturday in Winston Wright and Ali Jennings.
Wright tallied four catches for 13 yards while Jennings caught three passes for 28 yards including his first collegiate touchdown early in the fourth quarter--a nine-yard pass from Kendall.
Saturday was a test for Brown when it came to playing these two. Both were going to play and depended on how they responded, the coaches were either going to focus on redshirting them if they didn’t respond well or go full speed ahead with them moving forward ahead if they answered the call. Both impressed.
West Virginia’s young receiver group played a critical role for the offense Saturday not only through the air but blocking on the perimeter in the run game.
“They’re all freshmen almost,” Brown said with a laugh. “They blocked well on the perimeter. That was huge. So many of those long runs were due to our guys blocking well down field.”
3. Reaction to Norwood’s ejection and targeting rule - West Virginia redshirt senior safety Josh Norwood was ejected on NC State’s second offensive drive during the first quarter after he was penalized for targeting.
Redshirt senior cornerback Keith Washington was later flagged for targeting as well but after a review, the officials determined that it wasn’t targeting, but he still received a personal foul penalty.
Brown reacted to these instances following the game.
“This isn’t a knock on officiating at all, but that targeting rule is so hard to officiate,” Brown said. “It is so hard, just by the letter of the law. I don’t think Norwood’s intent was bad because if you watch the clip, he really tries to slow up. But it is (targeting). He hits him with his helmet. Then we had one later in the game, and this is where I feel for officials.
“This is not me being negative on officials, but when the quarterback slides and Keith tackles him, I don’t know how you coach the play. I really don’t know how you coach the play because you have a quarterback who’s big, and Keith’s already left his feet when he decides to slide.”
Brown was disappointed for Norwood because he had a strong week of practice. In his place, freshman Kerry Martin had some ups and downs according to Brown, but he was pleased with how he battled through the game despite allowing a first quarter touchdown which was NC State’s first of the game.
This occurred on the same drive the targeting penalties were called. Martin finished the game with five tackles (tied for third-highest on the team) and one pass breakup.
“I thought he did a really good job in the second half,” Brown said. “The thing that I was most proud of was when he gave up that touchdown. He kind of backed up, and the kid caught the touchdown in front of him. But he showed some real maturity because he came back, and he played through that. I thought the staff did a good job with him, too, building him up.”
WATCH: West Virginia Mountaineers head football coach Neal Brown - NC State Postgame
WATCH: Musings from the Mountains - NC State Recap Episode 21
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