Coach Brown pulled no punches during his assessment of his team’s performance against a very tough Missouri Tigers squad
Coach Brown is an ER doctor feverishly trying to find a cure for an anemic offensive attack. The West Virginia Mountaineers offense is his patient and his patient is coding, on the gurney. Through the first two weeks of NCAA Division One College Football, the persistent lack of physicality and the inability to mount a running attack are starving the team of the oxygen necessary to survive. That’s my interpretation of what happened Saturday afternoon, in Columbia, Missouri. The Mountaineers hemorrhaged two turnovers in the first quarter and never recovered. Their SEC East opponent took only 3 minutes and 26 seconds to score ten points in the first quarter. That’s all that a hungry Missouri Tiger’s squad would need to secure the win in front of a friendly home crowd.
Coach Brown stated that a “nice discussion,” took place at halftime between the first-year coach and his charges. He challenged his team to play better in the second half. The Special Teams and defensive units answered that call. However, his offense continued to be offensive, during the second half.
” …Our offense continued to be a mess until the fourth quarter, when we finally started to be physical for the first time ,in two games.”
Coach Brown regretted the lack of physicality on offense after the JMU game. The Mountaineers mustered only 34 yards rushing against the FCS opponent in week one and the anemic rushing attack continued into week two, with 32 yards on 30 attempts. The only reason the Mountaineers weren’t shut out was a 46 yard scoring strike from Kendall to Campbell, with a few minutes remaining, on the fourth quarter clock.
HailWV’s Matt Waskey’s first key to victory in his post, “West Virginia at Missouri: Three Keys to Mountaineer Victory” was simply, “West Virginia must find a way to block and run.” That clearly didn’t happen.
Next week, the NC State Wolf Pack arrive in Morgantown for a Big 12 vs ACC showdown. Hopefully Dr. Brown can come up with a cure for the lack of oxygen this zombie offense brings to the grid-iron.
Coach Brown: My View
During every interaction I have seen regarding this coach, I have to say that he is as honest and earnest, as they come. He answers all questions posed to him in a thoughtful and deliberate manner. He has reiterated again and again that this #Climb is a process, the team is young and they will make mistakes. He basically wants to see the will to improve through drive and effort. His opening line in his press conference, he wanted to make this very clear…he stated, “I ‘m very disappointed. I’m not discouraged.” His job is to mold these young men into the best players and people that they can become. People find out who they really are when they are faced with adversity. When things don’t go your way. How do you react? What will you learn from your mistakes? Mountaineer Nation will find out in the days and weeks to come what this team is made of. I wish this team the best of luck. Good hunting!
#HailWV