West Virginia football team looking to reset during bye
Neal Brown wants to see one thing above all from his young football team: improvement.
That was something that West Virginia had shown in every game since the debacle at Missouri until the third quarter of the Oklahoma game where the Mountaineers were outscored 21-0. Still, the Mountaineers were able to limit damage in the fourth by holding the Sooners to only a field goal.
Now with a bye week and then five remaining games it presents the perfect opportunity to push the reset button and focus on what has to improve in order to make the most of what’s left on the schedule.
“We’ve got to get some things figured out on our end. We’ve got to make sure we have our best personnel on the field at all times and we’ve got to do a better job and focus on trying to get our run game on track,” Brown said.
The run game has been one of the biggest hurdles for the offense. Since rushing for 192 yards against Kansas, the Mountaineers have only generated 188 in the three games since for an average of 2.3 per tote.
That makes things difficult for any offense, but especially one that isn’t built to air the ball out a significant amount of times with inexperience littered across the offense.
For the year, West Virginia has only 19 runs over 10+ yards a number that ranks near the bottom of college football signifying the struggles in that department.
So how can it be fixed? Well, the coaches are looking at everything from personnel to schematics to different presentations in order to try to jump start things.
Same can be said for the downfield passing as the Mountaineers have managed to complete only 8 of 31 attempts over 20+ yards from starter Austin Kendall so there has been an overall lack of explosive plays.
On the defensive side of things the Mountaineers have to improve in red zone defense as opponents have scored touchdowns on 21 of their 29 trips in those scenarios. The defense also has managed to force only seven turnovers on the season which hasn’t helped their cause.
“I think we haven’t been consistent in really any phase for an entire game yet. Some of that could be due to youth, some of that could be due to opponents but our consistency hasn’t been what you want it to be as a coach,” Brown admitted.
But with the ongoing reset, it’s important to note that not everything has been negative. Brown has been encouraged by the effort his team has played with despite it not always looking good at times. There also has been an element of physicality that good football teams must possess
Perhaps most importantly is that Brown hasn’t lost his team and has liked the mindset of the seniors finishing the season the right away as well as the youthful exuberance from the rest of the roster.
“I think we have a high buy in from the kids in the program,” he said.
There’s plenty of evaluation ongoing and the team has to improve in some of those critical areas if they want to continue to show improvement but the trust in the climb is real. Now it’s about resetting, clearing the slate and buckling up for the stretch run that will ultimately define this season.
WATCH: Musings from the Mountains | West Virginia Football Bye Week Q&A | Episode 35
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