WVSports.com looks at the James Madison postgame press conference from West Virginia 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.

Special teams and turnovers prove key in victory - Saturday’s seven-point win for West Virginia over James Madison was far from perfect, but a couple key areas decided the game according to Brown…special teams and turnovers.

Special teams has been West Virginia’s kryptonite for the past few seasons but against the Dukes, this unit impressed and stayed consistent for most of the game.

Punter Josh Growden, a graduate transfer from LSU, was busy early on with West Virginia’s offense struggling. The Austrailia native punted five times in the first half and eight times total, averaging 40.4 yards per punt.

Among the other special teams highlights for the Mountaineers included recovering a muffed punt, defensive lineman Darius Stills blocking a 27-yard field goal during the second quarter, the team holding James Madison to just 73 total return yards (punt and kickoff) and kicker Evan Staley going two-of-three with a long of 43 (he missed a 49-yarder in the first).

In the turnover department, the Mountaineers came up victorious in the battle by forcing three James Madison turnovers and committing none themselves.

West Virginia, however, failed to capitalize on the first two James Madison turnovers which came on a muffed punt (Staley missed a 49-yard field goal after) and fumble (drive ended with punt) in West Virginia territory.

The third time was the charm with cornerback Keith Washington picking off James Madison quarterback Ben DiNucci in the fourth quarter which eventually led to West Virginia swinging more momentum to its side with a touchdown making it a 20-10 game.

“At the end of the day, we didn’t turn it over,” Brown said. “On special teams, we had a blocked field goal, which was huge. It completely changes the type of game we were in at that time. We were 2-of-3 on field goals. The one he missed he hit well.

“And I thought we covered well. We recovered a punt, a fumbled punt return. With the exception of one kickoff return, I thought we covered kills well, (both) punts and kicks. I thought turnovers and special teams were the difference.”

Two biggest plays - Speaking of the Washington interception, that was one of the two most critical plays Brown believed helped West Virginia to victory.

The other was the first play of the second half which saw quarterback Austin Kendall hit Tevin Bush across the middle who then ran up the left sideline and managed to stay in bounds for a 41-yard gain.

This catch and run was the longest offensive play for the Mountaineers and would eventually help West Virginia take its first lead of the game when Kendall hit George Campbell for an 28-yard touchdown.

Bush is one of the most electrifying players on the team, according to Brown, and hopes to get him more touches and more consistency out of him moving forward. Bush finished the game with four catches for a game-high 74 yards with a touchdown.

“The first play of the second half was as big of a play there was in the game,” Brown said. “We gotta figure out a way to get him the ball more. He didn’t have enough touches. We called probably 10-12 plays for him but I think he had in that four-to-five touch range, but he’s electric. We’ve got to get him more consistent.”

Decision to pass on third down late in the game - West Virginia had a chance to ice the game with 1:14 remaining or at least take more time off the clock.

After taking a timeout and on a quarterback run-pass option play, Kendall opted to throw the ball to an open Sam James in an attempt to get the first down which would’ve ended the game, but Kendall’s pass was dropped by James, who would’ve been close to the first down.

According to Brown, Kendall is expected to run in that situation unless the wide receiver is wide open. If Kendall runs, he could slide and get the first down and then take a knee or if it’s thrown to the wide receiver, they are expected to obviously catch the ball but stay inbounds.

“He only dropped two balls our whole fall camp,” Brown said of James. “I still trust the kid a lot. I think he’s going to be a great player. He made a huge fourth down catch for us, but I think he was worried about staying inbounds and took his eyes off the ball.”

The overall thought process is to put the game away and not have your defense be forced to go play another series.

West Virginia’s defense held strong during the drive’s final game, but the Mountaineers will still take some shots if they find themselves in that situation again.

“We practice that four-minute situation a lot,” Brown said. “The thought process in that is you get the first down and you’d never have to play, you just take a knee and honestly that’s the way we’re going to roll.”

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