West Virginia head coach Neal Brown isn’t concerned about needing motivation for this weekend.

No, the setting of the Mountaineers simply hosting No. 11 Texas should provide more than enough.

“I think if you’re not motivated to play this game coming off a bye week, playing on national television against one of the top programs in the country. I don’t think we’ll need a whole lot of motivation this week,” Brown said.

The Longhorns roll into Morgantown with a high-powered offense averaging 41.8 points per game, good for tenth nationally. Junior quarterback Sam Ehlinger is the engine to the unit as he has accounted for 16 combined touchdowns while completing almost 73-percent of his passes against one interception.

The key for the Mountaineers if they want to try to derail the attack is going to involve keeping the Longhorns behind the sticks and attempting to force some turnovers.

West Virginia is coming off a bye week where the bulk of the work was focused on improving themselves instead of jumping head first into preparation for the Longhorns. That work is now underway and what Brown has seen is a talented football team on both sides of the ball.

The Longhorns are dealing with several injuries in the secondary, but Brown believes that their replacements are up to the task after handling their own against Oklahoma State.

“They’re multiple looks, a lot of different fronts, and a lot of different coverages. I think they’ve got really good team speed,” Brown said of the defense.

West Virginia will welcome redshirt sophomore linebacker Vandarius Cowan back into the fold after serving a four-game suspension and his addition could help at the bandit spot. There, the Mountaineers have had to rely on overextending the snaps for senior Quondarius Qualls as they looked for more help.

The plan is to throw him into the mix at bandit as well as special teams but the coaches are not looking to put too much on his plate given this will be his first playing experience of the year. But he has played well in the developmental practices Monday night and provides an athletic option off the edge.

“Really the first time he’s going to play meaningful snaps in a college football game,” he said.

As for the topic of horns down gesture that was a part of the game between the two teams last year?

“I think that’s much ado about nothing. We respect everybody we’re going to play we’re not going to be disrespectful but that’s not something we’re spending a lot of time on,” he said.

Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. and the game will be televised by ABC.

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