--West Virginia head coach Neal Brown recognizes and remembers 9-11. They took care of business Saturday night after the slow start and got the win as they should have. It was a fun night after the delay and he thanked the fans that stayed. They had good energy in the crowd.
--Special teams the positive was opp time on field goal and punt is good. Great to see kickoff, touchbacks and really good hang time with kicks. They continue to get good pressure and handled speciality kicks. They have to improve punt coverage and the miscue. Defense got a three and out and they don't do a good job pointing to the ball and it was the real negative. Defensively they played great against the run but where they need to improve is pass coverage and it's a few guys playing with bad fundamentals. They have to get better and it's going to continue to get exposed until they get it fixed. They were good offensively and had a bunch of explosive plays but they had a turnover going into score and some drops.
--This is the most important rivalry game and it's a night game and first true Saturday home night game since 2016. Quarterback is a local kid and can move around. Offensive line is a veteran group that has gotten better. Tight end they have a lot of snaps and will play three. At running back they have different skill sets and at receiver they are talented. Defense they like to pressure. They play hard and at linebacker they have played the run well and they can rush the passer. In the secondary a lot of those guys return and they are going to come up and challenge them.
--Really unique atmosphere we had a lot of people in the stadium last year and you can feel it. Brown brought his son to the game last year and the students were already in the game and he learned some new words and signals. He is in favor of playing this game and it makes a lot of sense to be the non-conference power five game every year. This is heated and we understand that and our players look forward to getting back into that. Brown hopes the atmosphere is electric and it's a great opportunity.
--Every head coach meeting before the game is awkward. It's good sportsmanship but if you know the person it's different. But those are you talk without saying anything.
--Brown is hopeful at wide receiver they will get EJ Horton back. Traylon Ray worked limited today and Asani Redwood is back and is going to full participate in practice. They'll wait and see on Oliver Straw. Devin Carter and Justin Johnson will both be back for the Pitt game and practiced today.
--The Pittsburgh quarterback has played his best football with Cignetti as his coach. Coming back and playing for his school and city likely means a lot to them. He is big and that stands out. Sometimes you see those guys and they will stand in the pocket but he's not. He can move and has a strong arm. He is a guy that you can tell he is cerebral and checking plays. The scary thing is when he breaks contain and gets on the edge. He has the ability to run or the arm talent to throw the ball down the field. He has won a bunch of games.
--They've made some defensive adjustments since Penn State but were vanilla against Duquesne. Schematically, the Dukes did a good job but the issues are eye violations and not getting their hands on wide receivers to allow them free runs.
--Hudson Clement is going to play and both of those outside guys are interchangeable. They may flip him over to X, with Devin Carter playing Z. Brown felt like it was the right time to give him a scholarship offer based off what he had did. He can run and ran 22.7 on a GPS unit. If they can run and has the work ethic, he already had ball skills so he just needed to get better at the blocking game and it's something he must get better at. You knew he had talent. He did a really nice job on special teams.
--Timing is a lot of it when it comes to the in-state impact on the roster. I don't know if we'll ever have three elite offensive linemen that can start at the right time. We have Zach, Doug and Wyatt at the same time. The walk-on program goes way before me and there is a long, long history. If you can have a quarter of your roster West Virginia kids that's a really good makeup. He doesn't have to tell Doug Nester about the Backyard Brawl. If they're from different places you have to explain it to them. There is a real close identity between the state and the football program and they can communicate that to other players on the team because they lived it growing up.
--Brown said there is something unique representing the community you grew up in when it comes to the high school transfers. It doesn't affect them at all but it's been that way in Florida and some other areas for a long time.
--Brown doesn't know if there is a difference having this game week one or week three.
--Garrett Greene is a ball of energy it's his greatest strength so you don't want to tone it in, but that works against him at the start of games at times because he is so amped up. Try to get him to calm down and execute a little higher. When he gets excited the ball comes out hot and it's hard to catch it.
--Brown believes they have to help Greene with avoiding sacks by scheming for him first. They need to do a good job helping him out not getting their guys in bad matchups and not making him hold the football.
--Greene handled it better than Brown did with players dropping the ball. It didn't phase him one bit and he is over there talking to the guys. He didn't let it affect him.
--The Kentucky/Louisville rivalry is pretty intense and that would closely resemble like this from his coaching career. There is a strong dislike between the two fan bases. But it is nowhere in the same vicinity of having the history and the football programs from a rivalry standpoint. There are very few college football rivalries that have the same memorable moments as the Backyard Brawl and especially when they were in the same conference as Pitt. This is the biggest rivalry from a football perspective he's been part of in his career.
--Johnny Williams did some nice things, Jaheim White's role will continue to grow. DJ Oliver is a downhill runner. Sully Weidman did a nice job. Corey McIntyre got some snaps he is productive and has a bright future and Ben Cutter did some things that were good and others he got exposed.
--West Virginia has two games now and there is going to be some playing time and decisions made based on what they've shown. Hopefully Marcis Floyd is back this week and should help. Nobody is getting fired but some snaps will get decreased. Their numbers are not as good as they like and they've had some evaluation mistakes at that area. The personnel isn't perfect but it's better than how they have performed to date. More about putting it on film. Practice is really important but you have no chance if you don't practice well but just because you do doesn't guarantee success. Montre Miller isn't going to play this week but it's in his court.
--Special teams the positive was opp time on field goal and punt is good. Great to see kickoff, touchbacks and really good hang time with kicks. They continue to get good pressure and handled speciality kicks. They have to improve punt coverage and the miscue. Defense got a three and out and they don't do a good job pointing to the ball and it was the real negative. Defensively they played great against the run but where they need to improve is pass coverage and it's a few guys playing with bad fundamentals. They have to get better and it's going to continue to get exposed until they get it fixed. They were good offensively and had a bunch of explosive plays but they had a turnover going into score and some drops.
--This is the most important rivalry game and it's a night game and first true Saturday home night game since 2016. Quarterback is a local kid and can move around. Offensive line is a veteran group that has gotten better. Tight end they have a lot of snaps and will play three. At running back they have different skill sets and at receiver they are talented. Defense they like to pressure. They play hard and at linebacker they have played the run well and they can rush the passer. In the secondary a lot of those guys return and they are going to come up and challenge them.
--Really unique atmosphere we had a lot of people in the stadium last year and you can feel it. Brown brought his son to the game last year and the students were already in the game and he learned some new words and signals. He is in favor of playing this game and it makes a lot of sense to be the non-conference power five game every year. This is heated and we understand that and our players look forward to getting back into that. Brown hopes the atmosphere is electric and it's a great opportunity.
--Every head coach meeting before the game is awkward. It's good sportsmanship but if you know the person it's different. But those are you talk without saying anything.
--Brown is hopeful at wide receiver they will get EJ Horton back. Traylon Ray worked limited today and Asani Redwood is back and is going to full participate in practice. They'll wait and see on Oliver Straw. Devin Carter and Justin Johnson will both be back for the Pitt game and practiced today.
--The Pittsburgh quarterback has played his best football with Cignetti as his coach. Coming back and playing for his school and city likely means a lot to them. He is big and that stands out. Sometimes you see those guys and they will stand in the pocket but he's not. He can move and has a strong arm. He is a guy that you can tell he is cerebral and checking plays. The scary thing is when he breaks contain and gets on the edge. He has the ability to run or the arm talent to throw the ball down the field. He has won a bunch of games.
--They've made some defensive adjustments since Penn State but were vanilla against Duquesne. Schematically, the Dukes did a good job but the issues are eye violations and not getting their hands on wide receivers to allow them free runs.
--Hudson Clement is going to play and both of those outside guys are interchangeable. They may flip him over to X, with Devin Carter playing Z. Brown felt like it was the right time to give him a scholarship offer based off what he had did. He can run and ran 22.7 on a GPS unit. If they can run and has the work ethic, he already had ball skills so he just needed to get better at the blocking game and it's something he must get better at. You knew he had talent. He did a really nice job on special teams.
--Timing is a lot of it when it comes to the in-state impact on the roster. I don't know if we'll ever have three elite offensive linemen that can start at the right time. We have Zach, Doug and Wyatt at the same time. The walk-on program goes way before me and there is a long, long history. If you can have a quarter of your roster West Virginia kids that's a really good makeup. He doesn't have to tell Doug Nester about the Backyard Brawl. If they're from different places you have to explain it to them. There is a real close identity between the state and the football program and they can communicate that to other players on the team because they lived it growing up.
--Brown said there is something unique representing the community you grew up in when it comes to the high school transfers. It doesn't affect them at all but it's been that way in Florida and some other areas for a long time.
--Brown doesn't know if there is a difference having this game week one or week three.
--Garrett Greene is a ball of energy it's his greatest strength so you don't want to tone it in, but that works against him at the start of games at times because he is so amped up. Try to get him to calm down and execute a little higher. When he gets excited the ball comes out hot and it's hard to catch it.
--Brown believes they have to help Greene with avoiding sacks by scheming for him first. They need to do a good job helping him out not getting their guys in bad matchups and not making him hold the football.
--Greene handled it better than Brown did with players dropping the ball. It didn't phase him one bit and he is over there talking to the guys. He didn't let it affect him.
--The Kentucky/Louisville rivalry is pretty intense and that would closely resemble like this from his coaching career. There is a strong dislike between the two fan bases. But it is nowhere in the same vicinity of having the history and the football programs from a rivalry standpoint. There are very few college football rivalries that have the same memorable moments as the Backyard Brawl and especially when they were in the same conference as Pitt. This is the biggest rivalry from a football perspective he's been part of in his career.
--Johnny Williams did some nice things, Jaheim White's role will continue to grow. DJ Oliver is a downhill runner. Sully Weidman did a nice job. Corey McIntyre got some snaps he is productive and has a bright future and Ben Cutter did some things that were good and others he got exposed.
--West Virginia has two games now and there is going to be some playing time and decisions made based on what they've shown. Hopefully Marcis Floyd is back this week and should help. Nobody is getting fired but some snaps will get decreased. Their numbers are not as good as they like and they've had some evaluation mistakes at that area. The personnel isn't perfect but it's better than how they have performed to date. More about putting it on film. Practice is really important but you have no chance if you don't practice well but just because you do doesn't guarantee success. Montre Miller isn't going to play this week but it's in his court.
