--Great team win in a difficult place to play at Oklahoma State and they really competed. Team wise, West Virginia started fast because he felt they would get their best coming out. Won the turnover margin 2-0 and the time of possession was dominant. Special teams the things they have to get better at they allowed the explosive return and Ollie Straw has to have better situational awareness when they ran into the punter. Positive news is the opp times are good on special teams and Preston Fox fielded all of his punts with the sun. Defensively, they dropped two interceptions and they were 0-2 in the red zone. But the positives, by far their best performance they had 36 rushing yards and were 4-12 on end of possession downs with 11 first downs. They tackled well and they pulled their pin and went and got it. They had too many negative yardage plays on offense with two sacks. Poor execution on fourth down as well. The positives were 389 yards rushing and 10.6 yards per attempt. They had 31 first downs and were 11-15 on end of possession downs. They broke tackles and were very good in the red zone.
--Offensive lineman Brandon Yates played his best game of the year but the offensive lineman of the week was Tomas Rimac. Special teams wise Austin Brinkman was the player of the week. He is elite. Ty French played really well on special teams. Defensive player of the week was Josiah Trotter and he continues to get better. Jaheem Joseph was really good as well. The offensive player of the week was Jahiem White. The blue collar was Kole Taylor and CJ Donaldson with their blocking and defensively those two were Fatorma Mulbah and Sean Martin. And Jaheem Joseph also got a blue collar award win. Tyler Evans and Donovan Grayson and TJ Johnson were the developmental picks for the week.
--This one is a special one because they're wearing the coal rush uniforms and the team is looking forward to it. Brown has a ton of respect for Iowa State and what Matt Campbell has done there. They've blocked two punts and have an excellent returner. Their specialists are good. They are balanced and very multiple on offense and has run the ball well the last three weeks. Rocco Becht is playing at a high level. He pulls for him every game except this one. They will honor Anthony Becht during the game. Becht is playing at a high level and keeping plays alive and running that offense at a really efficient level. They have two receivers Higgins and Noel that are playing at a high level. Multiple tight ends and they use several running backs. Defensively, they have a system that is in place for several years and they have answers. They mix up coverages and they have done a good job picking up defensive lineman that are big bodies and long. In the back end, No. 17 and 7 are two big bodies that come down and can tackle.
--Definitely was, it was a good matchup for West Virginia with their offensive line against Oklahoma State. They had some good matchups in the interior but that was the best they've played. It was really about execution on the offensive line and communication. The Mountaineers were much better fundamentally and the wide receivers really helped. The run game is an all-11 approach and the guys bought into that and they did better job on the perimeter.
--It's next up and you have to approach your league now. You have to focus on one week at a time so you can win or lose any week.
--When you get into a game plan you have your plan on how you'll start and then counters off that. When you get up 3-4 scores there isn't a lot of reason to do that.
--Justin Robinson was close last week and should be back. The rest of the guys that were injured in the game I will know more Wednesday. Brown is hopeful and there is nobody that is definitely out right now.
--Accountability matters. When you make a mistake, you can take ownership of that and you have older guys that will hold people accountable. You want some accountability and that's what they're doing on defense. They went back to basics, they tackled well all year but they haven't covered. They had two sacks and both were coverage sacks.
--Brown believes that having Jordan Lesley in the press box has helped because you can see better there. What it does in the press box is it takes the emotions out of the game because you are so far away. It's much calmer and you can do some more thinking and be more organized between the defensive series.
--Brown said they've practiced pretty well but it's been more of a performance issue on defense. If he felt they were going to play the pass that bad he wouldn't have talked about how they were going to be better. They've practiced well but the execution on Saturday was there. They had some success against Kansas.
--Brown said they've played against Heacock at Iowa State but when you're in a system that you've been in for a long time you're always tweaking but you're able to have answers.
--The chemistry in the offensive line room has been good all year but Brandon Yates has been getting more comfortable at center. There was a lot of confidence in the plan because they were able to do different things but it was the same picture for the offensive line.
--Becht is highly intelligent and you can only do what your quarterback allows you to do. He does a good job manipulating safeties with his eyes and he's a sneaky runner. He is operating that offense very similarly to when Brock Purdy was there. He is keeping plays alive.
--Landen Livingston came in and led the team on a touchdown drive. He played and executed and they have confidence in him. Nicco Marchiol was the same and he didn't have to get ready because he was ready.
--Kekoura Tarnue they started playing him at spear and he has flexibility. He has good coverage skills and Aubrey Burks will be back this week. For his first game at that position, he made one mistake but other than that he performed well. He's played himself in position to make plays.
--In the run game, West Virginia has played above average with the exception of the Kansas game because they played a light box. They've tackled well. Coverage wise, it is there are certain land marks and depths and there are different rules whether they're condensed or extra crossers. They've got a better understanding of the rules and they're doing a better job getting at the landmarks at depths. As the year progresses, they might do more man coverage but it really hurt them on quarterback scrambles and they didn't have vision on the balls.
--Brown said they will start things a little later. They'll get up and go about 9 a.m. and will staff meet and do a breakfast then come to the IPF and do a walk through. Go back to the hotel get a light lunch and give them 3-4 hours downtime and will lead into the pre-game.
