James Madison’s film isn’t the only film West Virginia’s coaches have broken down over the course of the offseason.

That’s because like the Mountaineers, James Madison will begin the 2019 campaign with a new coaching staff which presents a lot of unknowns as to how each team will approach Saturday schematically and personnel wise.

With the Dukes tabbing Curt Cignetti (Elon) as their new head coach in December and bringing along other coaches and coordinators from schools like Maine, Elon and Charlotte, West Virginia’s coaches have had to watch film of each of these programs along with James Madison’s to get an idea of what the Dukes could do schematically on all three sides of the ball.

James Madison’s staff is tasked with the same challenge with West Virginia entering its first season with head coach Neal Brown at the helm.

“As a coach, you always want to prepare your players the best you can and first games are so difficult because there’s so many unknowns,” Brown said.

“We think we have an idea what James Madison’s going to do, but honestly they can come in here and be totally different in all three phases than what we expect. So we gotta be simple enough or versatile enough, however you’re going to look at it, to be able to counter whatever they’re going to show to us.”

This challenge isn’t just limited to new regimes.

Year after year college coaches may decide to change their schemes up based off the personnel they have for the season or just for the sake of changing things up in an effort to not become predictable on either side of the ball and throw oppositions in for a loop.

“The challenges are significant,” Brown said. “Because even if you’re playing somebody that’s been there for awhile, everybody changes during the offseason and you study and learn but I think it’s a challenge for them just like it’s a challenge for us.”

Although the coaching staff has a pretty good idea of what the Dukes will bring to the table Saturday in Morgantown, surprises are bound to happen and one of the biggest keys for the Mountaineers on Saturday will be responding to those unknowns during the game.

That is especially critical with the primarily young and inexperienced squad West Virginia has entering this season.

One thing the coaching staff has done to prepare the team to face and react to the unknowns is by creating a competitive situations and atmospheres for the team during practices, but whether or not the Mountaineers and can react properly to surprises in a live game remains to be seen.

“They’re going to be excited to play,” Brown said. “I don’t think effort is going to be an issue for us. It’s handling situations, adversity, something that’s not the exact same as we showed them in practice (and) it occurs on the field, how do they react? All of a sudden, we give up a big play, how do we react? Those are the things that we gotta just go out and find out.”

An example of the unknowns facing West Virginia for the season opener Saturday comes on the defensive side of the ball for the Mountaineers.

Defensive coordinator Vic Koenning is expecting the Dukes to come out in 12-personnel, an offensive formation that features a running back, two wide receivers and two tight ends. This formation was used by both James Madison and Charlotte last season.

But since West Virginia will hardly see any 12-personnel the rest of its season, this formation is one the team hasn’t practiced a whole lot but it has been addressed.

“Cignetti’s an offensive guy,” Koenning said. “They know how to hurt teams and they did a really good job of getting numbers to one side or the other. They’d run a lot of counter plays, zone plays. We’ve worked a lot of the formations. They’re going to be in 12-personnel probably a lot. Statistically I think it was 35 percent of the time. Both them and Charlotte were approximately about the same, so we’re expecting some 12 (personnel).”

West Virginia can only control their own preparation heading into Saturday and it starts by crafting a game plan that better suits the team’s strengths rather than their potential.

“You can’t overcoach this first game,” co-offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Matt Moore said. “You put all this work in camp, summer, spring and you gotta build off what you’ve done from a reps standpoint more so than what you think might work.”

Along with that, the coaching staff is putting a strong emphasis on having the players play loose and not overthink their assignments.

Mistakes are bound to happen and unknowns will be present, but part of everyone’s first official look at this year’s West Virginia team and the new era under Brown will include seeing whether or not the team can adjust, correct mistakes and continue to play fast after miscues.

“The real test is you’re going to find some things that don’t go exactly the way you want it to be and so for us, is we want our guys just to play fast, let’s not try to think too much,” Brown said. “It’s time to find out where we’re at.”

WATCH: Musings from the Mountains - James Madison Preview Episode 15

West Virginia fans we're offering our best promo to get all the coverage you need!

Sign up for a new annual subscription to WVSports.com at 25-percent off the normal cost and you'll get a $75 eCard to the Adidas Store and we'll throw in THREE EXTRA MONTHS FREE! rvls.co/2GIpcqX

----------

• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.

• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.

• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel

• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @PatrickKotnik

•Like us on Facebook