West Virginia Mountaineers News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Neal Brown: 'We're Disappointed, Not Discouraged."

Originally posted on FanNation Mountaineer Maven
By Christopher Hall | Last updated 10/11/21

The Big 12 Conference held its first head coaches teleconference on Monday. West Virginia head coach Neal Brown is currently out on the recruiting trail while answering questions from the media following the 45-20 loss Saturday to the Baylor Bears. It marked the third consecutive loss for the Mountaineers, fell to 2-4 on the season, and are winless in conference play as the team heads into a bye week.

As a head coach, Brown has suffered losing streaks in the past. In his first year at Troy, he lost four straight and was 1-5 at the season's midway point before finishing 3-3 in the final six games. The same scenario happened his first year as an assistant at Texas Tech in 2010. They started 2-0 before dropping four straight, then ended the year going 5-2, including a win over Northwestern in the Cotton Bowl. Nonetheless, Brown said each situation is different, and you have to approach them all differently.

"The bye week, it's a good time because we got to reassess and readjust what we've done to this point," said Brown. "We've been competitive in every game, and every game went down to the end except for last week. And last week was definitely our worst performance of the season, that and the first half versus Texas Tech, and really it had to do with Baylor – they played really well, but we were not very good in any of the three phases. Throughout our careers as a staff and my career as a head coach, we've had to overcome adversity - this is no different. We're in this for the long haul. There's probably not any quick fixes, but we'll play better as we maneuver through it. We knew this was going to take some time and go through some rough patches, but we're disappointed, not discouraged. I believe in our long-term future."

The biggest issue has been the offensive line. A unit that was looking to build off nearly doubling the rushing yard average from year to year two, but youth has reared its ugly head, and mistakes have become abundant.

"We're not playing very well up there, and it's been a consistency issue," said Brown. "If you go through and you watch that game from the coaches copy, we'll have a couple plays where we do the correct footwork and we do our job, and then, also we'll have plays that we completely don't do the right thing, and that's just inconsistency. And then, our running backs did a really poor job of protection - not Leddie Brown. Leddie Brown had a couple of really nice pickups, but we played some younger kids there and we gave up two sacks at the running back position and had some missed ID's. So, sometimes it's not all on the offensive line.

"And then, in the run game, we're just not doing a good job of creating space. So, we're limited in the number of available bodies. So, it's not going to be a function of playing a bunch of different people because the ones we played are the ones capable of playing at this point. So, that's been the biggest issue for us from a personnel standpoint. Now, going on three years, we feel like we've done some things with some younger players to give them an opportunity, and I've said this from the get-go (Spring) we're probably a year away from getting into that position where we feel decent about it," before noting that freshman Wyatt Milum not playing due to not be 100% and didn't feel it was fair to put him in that situation at a young age and not be 100%.

Brown also spoke on the back-to-back slow starts.

"On Baylor's first play the game offensively, our first play defensively, we tackle them for a no gain on a speed sweep, and then, we align incorrectly and miss two tackles on the touchdown. I mean, it's a simple slant pattern that, credit to Thornton, who takes it and goes the distance," said Brown.

"Offensively, we came back and scored on the first drive, we didn't do a very good job on the second drive, but they had a good plan too... I think it's fair to say they started faster than we did."

The team is scheduled to return to the practice facility on Tuesday after having Sunday and Monday off.

This article first appeared on FanNation Mountaineer Maven and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: