--West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said that they have a last play grouping but they didn't put it in because they had two plays. They didn't have any offensive guys in it. The best defensive guys are the best vertical guys and bottom line they didn't execute. If he had to do anything again they would have pressured, they would have brought five. They played extremely poor and Houston deserved to win the game and they did all the things that they didn't do over the four game winning streak. Houston was hungrier and they won both sides of the line of scrimmage. Special teams the core guys didn't play well and it wasn't good enough overall. It was the first time they lost the field position battle all year. On the kickoff return, they got guys all off their landmarks. They didn't bully blocks and they had three guys just whiff. They had poor kick locations with the ball not in the air enough. Oliver Straw had his worst game in two years with hangtime and placement. The punt return team gave Preston Fox no chance and they didn't do well. Kickoff return team blocked it well but the returners didn't see it. By far the worst performance defensively of the year, with high pad levels and they didn't shed blocks. They needed to dominate with the front six. The zone drops were off and they didn't get to their spots which gave up easy completions. They scored touchdowns on five of their last seven drives and they had zero takeaways. Tomiwa Durojaiye played decently and Fatorma Mulbah played well but that was about it. Offensively that was their best game. Kole Taylor and Devin Carter were good. They just weren't good enough up front in the run game and a lot of missed opportunities in the first half. They had chances to put the game away and couldn't do it. They had plenty of opportunities to win that game but they didn't. They're moving forward and he isn't going to talk about that game moving forward after this press conference.
--Oklahoma State is one of the hottest teams in the country. They have won two games against ranked opponents after the bye week and they simplified what they were doing and are playing with a lot of confidence right now. Oklahoma State is focused on running the football. Alan Bowman has been through the league and has settled down and playing well. Ollie Gordon is playing very well at running back and they have some wide receivers that can really go. Their offensive line is playing better as well. On defense it's a three man front with three safeties and if you look at them they're playing fundamental football with good hands. At linebacker this might be the most talented group that they've played. At corner, they have to get hands off them better than they did the other night because this will be a tough matchup there. They've got their hands full and they are excited to get back to work and they will respond.
--Wyatt Milum should be back as Brown feels confident. Aubrey Burks practiced today limited and UCF is likely the time that Tomas Rimac would be back. Justin Johnson was sick and didn't practice last week and Tirek Austin-Cave practiced today.
--Credit Houston that was the best they've played and he isn't discrediting them but they lost the game. Then you go through the ownership and it's about the response as he looked at 15 different plays on both sides of the ball that led to this game.
--Devin Carter left about 60-yards out on the field. They played him more inside against Houston and that's more of a fit for him. He can build off that and they need him to have those type of games moving forward because he made a lot of that happen with run after the catch.
--Whatever the opposite of really good is on defense that's how they played against Houston. They did not deal well with unstructured. Brown felt that he should have handled the bye week a little different and stuck with their original plan of practicing hard on Tuesday and Wednesday. You make notes and you don't repeat the same mistake.
--Your biggest concern is you don't cover everything from a situational aspect. You go back and it was an odd situation. There's a lot of different things they can do with 7 seconds. They can throw the outcut and they could also have done the hook and ladder scenario. They do a lot of hail mary practice, but it's often one play with a dead ball. They didn't execute that play but he could have had them better prepared as well. You're always learning.
--Brown told Garrett Greene right after the game that he knew that happened. What makes him great is his energy, he doesn't have very many bad days and he's always upbeat but you have to be able to limit that whether that's playing quarterback or celebrating a touchdown. But without him West Virginia isn't even in the game, he played very well. They put a ton on him in the run/read game and it was the best he played with his decision-making. Still, he knows better.
--The rule is the rule with taking your helmet off on the field.
--Brown wanted to get Devin Carter some more free runs. They wanted to get him some free runs off the ball and be able to play him on both sides. He is smart and they knew he could handle it. They're going to continue to do that.
--Offensively they were about where they wanted to be in terms of playing the number of players.
--Brown said his name is on the program and he is responsible for it all. Love is telling people the truth and holding people accountable and as a leader you have to set that standard. He has to make more decisions than anybody in the program so he makes more mistakes. You have to be transparent and you lose credibility if you don't. He takes a lot of his approach from his dad who was a leader.
--Pre-snap movement you're trying to get some looks on alignments and get them moving sideways and take their eyes off their keys. They pick and choose because some styles of defense it doesn't matter they will line up regardless. Tempo they will pick and choose. They aren't going to be a team that presses the gas all the time.
--Mike Gundy has done it for a really long time and he's won scoring high and won being one of the top defenses in the country. So he's done it a bunch of different ways and has stayed true to himself. They rebounded from how they performed against South Alabama.
--Oklahoma State is one of the hottest teams in the country. They have won two games against ranked opponents after the bye week and they simplified what they were doing and are playing with a lot of confidence right now. Oklahoma State is focused on running the football. Alan Bowman has been through the league and has settled down and playing well. Ollie Gordon is playing very well at running back and they have some wide receivers that can really go. Their offensive line is playing better as well. On defense it's a three man front with three safeties and if you look at them they're playing fundamental football with good hands. At linebacker this might be the most talented group that they've played. At corner, they have to get hands off them better than they did the other night because this will be a tough matchup there. They've got their hands full and they are excited to get back to work and they will respond.
--Wyatt Milum should be back as Brown feels confident. Aubrey Burks practiced today limited and UCF is likely the time that Tomas Rimac would be back. Justin Johnson was sick and didn't practice last week and Tirek Austin-Cave practiced today.
--Credit Houston that was the best they've played and he isn't discrediting them but they lost the game. Then you go through the ownership and it's about the response as he looked at 15 different plays on both sides of the ball that led to this game.
--Devin Carter left about 60-yards out on the field. They played him more inside against Houston and that's more of a fit for him. He can build off that and they need him to have those type of games moving forward because he made a lot of that happen with run after the catch.
--Whatever the opposite of really good is on defense that's how they played against Houston. They did not deal well with unstructured. Brown felt that he should have handled the bye week a little different and stuck with their original plan of practicing hard on Tuesday and Wednesday. You make notes and you don't repeat the same mistake.
--Your biggest concern is you don't cover everything from a situational aspect. You go back and it was an odd situation. There's a lot of different things they can do with 7 seconds. They can throw the outcut and they could also have done the hook and ladder scenario. They do a lot of hail mary practice, but it's often one play with a dead ball. They didn't execute that play but he could have had them better prepared as well. You're always learning.
--Brown told Garrett Greene right after the game that he knew that happened. What makes him great is his energy, he doesn't have very many bad days and he's always upbeat but you have to be able to limit that whether that's playing quarterback or celebrating a touchdown. But without him West Virginia isn't even in the game, he played very well. They put a ton on him in the run/read game and it was the best he played with his decision-making. Still, he knows better.
--The rule is the rule with taking your helmet off on the field.
--Brown wanted to get Devin Carter some more free runs. They wanted to get him some free runs off the ball and be able to play him on both sides. He is smart and they knew he could handle it. They're going to continue to do that.
--Offensively they were about where they wanted to be in terms of playing the number of players.
--Brown said his name is on the program and he is responsible for it all. Love is telling people the truth and holding people accountable and as a leader you have to set that standard. He has to make more decisions than anybody in the program so he makes more mistakes. You have to be transparent and you lose credibility if you don't. He takes a lot of his approach from his dad who was a leader.
--Pre-snap movement you're trying to get some looks on alignments and get them moving sideways and take their eyes off their keys. They pick and choose because some styles of defense it doesn't matter they will line up regardless. Tempo they will pick and choose. They aren't going to be a team that presses the gas all the time.
--Mike Gundy has done it for a really long time and he's won scoring high and won being one of the top defenses in the country. So he's done it a bunch of different ways and has stayed true to himself. They rebounded from how they performed against South Alabama.
