The importance of winning the Backyard Brawl wasn’t lost on West Virginia head coach Neal Brown.
That’s especially true after the way last season’s game unfolded with the Mountaineers holding a 31-24 lead late in the fourth quarter before giving up the game in heartbreaking fashion.
“It’s been something that’s stuck with us for 54-weeks. We had a chance; we had a lead in the fourth quarter 54-weeks ago and we did not finish,” Brown said. “I think the evolution of our program, a lot of it has to do with our off-season and the leadership we have.”
The Mountaineers left no doubt this time around as the Mountaineers were the more physical football team in a 17-6 win in front of 61,106 inside Milan Puskar Stadium.
The players echoed those thoughts of their head coach.
"We didn’t do it for ourselves, we did it for the state of West Virginia. We took it personal last year we didn’t come out on top and we had a bunch of West Virginia people there and this year we wanted to give them something to be proud about," safety Aubrey Burks said.
As part of that growth from that unfolded last season, West Virginia made it a point to get better in four key areas. West Virginia had to be a disciplined football team, play with high effort, be tougher both mentally and physically and finally play smart. For the most part, the team checked all of those boxes.
Brown made it a point to have the most physical spring and fall camps of his five-year tenure because that’s what he felt his team had to do to be successful. The 106th edition of the Backyard Brawl isn’t going to win any beauty contests, but it did end with the desired result.
A West Virginia win. It was the first over the Panthers since Nov. 25, 2011, and one that Brown, and his football team knew was critical for so many involved.
“Our state needed this, our football program needed this, our university needed this so this is a huge win on a bunch of different levels and that’s not lost on us,” Brown said.
It wasn’t easy though. West Virginia had to overcome a slow start and the loss of their starting quarterback Garrett Greene facing a 3-0 hole and the team responded by outscoring the Panthers 17-3 while forcing three turnovers and holding the visitors to just 211 total yards.
“They call it the brawl for a reason and that wasn’t a thing of beauty. That wasn’t a classic, not going to talk about the beauty of that game for a long time but regardless what it was it was a win for West Virginia,” Brown said.
The crowd played a significant role in the game as despite those early pitfalls, the Mountaineers were able to rally around the energy inside Mountaineer Field and out toughed a team that prides itself in that category. West Virginia ran the football for 151 yards and held the Panthers to just 130.
Backup quarterback Nicco Marchiol saw only 25-percent of the reps leading up to the game, standard for players in his position, but was thrust into his first Brawl. The redshirt freshman responded after misfiring on his first three passes to complete his final six and operate within the offense with minimal mistakes.
The play sheet was essentially cut down to half a sheet of paper given what Marchiol was comfortable with, but he responded with a strong overall effort.
“Tonight, in a really tough spot. The biggest rivalry we have, national television and he gets thrust in there in the third series and a lot of times people don’t win football games. A lot of time people lose them. He didn’t lose the game,” Brown said.
So, the Mountaineers relied on their ground game and their defense in what was an ugly but satisfying win for the program on many different levels.
There was no update on the status of Greene moving forward following the Brawl, but Brown confirmed that he was in a walking boot and couldn’t have really performed the way he was expected. That is why the decision was made to go with Marchiol. And if he is given the opportunity to start next week that playbook will obviously expand with a full week of practice.
“The expectation is that he’ll be much improved, and I believe he will,” Brown said.
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