--West Virginia head coach Neal Brown congratulated Coach Don Nehlen for his name being put in the stadium. He is one of the best people he knows and has been great to him.
--Disappointing loss to a good Oklahoma State team. They played well and they're a good team. There is a small margin error in the Big 12, they could be 6-1 but they are 4-3. They've had leads in the fourth quarter the past two weeks and they haven't finished, especially on defense. The biggest stat of the game was 17-0 was points off turnovers. They created two and they turned that into nothing while Oklahoma State had 17. Special teams, the field goal block team continues to be a strong point and affected that kick at the end of the half. They blocked a punt and Ollie Straw bounced back. They are missing too many tackles on defense and kickoff return. Defensively wasn't quite good enough. On the positive side, the defensive line played better but they didn't play well at linebacker or safety. At the spear and spur they didn't do a good job of maintaining leverage and using hands. At safety, they didn't do a good job of fitting the runs and linebackers got too close to the line of scrimmage and missed tackles. They had 16 missed tackles and the run defense wasn't as good as it needed to be. Ollie Gordon is really good and they gave him a lot of air to run in. They had a couple killer penalties, an unsportsmanlike penalty by Lee Kpogba and then Ben Cutter's late hit gave them 30-yards on that one play. That was on a drive that they took the lead. The takeaway from defense is that they have to be better fundamentally. When they've played good defense from the stretch from Pitt-TCU, they played quality defense and they played really good fundamentals. Against Houston in the fourth quarter and Oklahoma State in the fourth quarter they aren't leveraging the football and keeping their edges, and run their feet through contact. They didn't do well in the past two fourth quarters and it's cost them.
--Offensively Garrett Greene continues to play at a high level. Three really costly plays and missed a touchdown when they had to kick a field goal there. And pull when he should have handed the ball off but he ran for over 100 and continued to throw the deep ball. Really good on third down and they are getting their passing game going. They left 17-points out on the field. Kole Taylor and Devin Carter have to play better because they're both really good players.
--Known Gus Malzahn for a really long time but this is the first time they've played against him. They will run the football and play physical defense. It's going to be hot and they don't expect that to be an issue but they need to prepare for that. They are coming off one of their better performances and on special teams they have an Australian punter and can spray the ball everywhere. Their returner #0 is super fast and he's busted a lot of big returners. Townsend is their punt returner and he's been good. They are explosive on offense and want to run the ball, but can hit some explosive pass plays as well. This is one of the best rushing teams in the country. Herb Hand is there and they are creative with it and will use a lot of different motions to get the receivers in the run game. They will use tempo and play fast. Defensively they played their best game against Oklahoma, the defensive line is big long and it's the best corner tandem they have gone against since Penn State. It's about getting better and they have to put themselves in positions to win in the fourth quarter and close out games. West Virginia needs to get down and put a better product out there.
--Really limited and are extremely thin at linebacker at safety and what they have is what they have. Caden Biser is going to play in this game and get him in early and that's about what they have at linebacker. The safeties they have are who is going to play. Raleigh Collins can play a little bit at that spear.
--Oklahoma State is difficult to pressure because they get the ball out fast. Bowman gets the ball out fast because he does the back pedal drop and they got caught in a zero pressure and they hit a huge run. They didn't get enough pressure but they make it hard. Houston they just didn't play well up front.
--UCF is similar with what they do with Plumlee and McClain at quarterback. Plumlee has a lot more experience.
--West Virginia just ran into the returner. When you're playing the jammer you have to peek at the returner on the play against Oklahoma State.
--Lance Dixon was suspended for the Oklahoma State game and his situation is to be determined.
--West Virginia brought them in last night to flush that game and practice to get them past it. The past two games are two of the most unique games that he has been part of as a coach. They were ahead in the fourth against Oklahoma State and the wheels came off defensively. He doesn't think there was a hangover from the Houston game because they overcame that 10-0 start. Credit the guys for getting back into it but they didn't finish it. They need to get back to playing quality football at the same time.
--EJ Horton played the most snaps on the game on Saturday and he'll continue to do that. He has practiced for three weeks in a row and he can really run. He gives them a whole different dimension when he is out there.
--Justin Johnson earned more playing time and got downhill fast and was decisive. Jaheim White has to practice better so they can play him. They have hit some runs, but instead of eight yards it's blocked for a lot more.
--Tomas Rimac will be available, K Michael Hayes will be fine and it's too early to tell on WR Hudson Clement who got rolled up.
--West Virginia hasn't fumbled the ball on offense much but the Kole Taylor fumble was being careless with the ball.
--It's really frustrating for him because a game against a really good team was winnable and they just didn't make the plays down the stretch.
--Teams are muddying it up early and not playing the same things on film that they have against the run game against West Virginia. It's contributed to some slow starts as they have to adjust. It takes some time to see how they're going to play in the run game and they need some answers and counters but they also need to execute better. From a schematic standpoint, what you do in the run game is what you do but what you try to hide is with motions and shifts and mess with who you are reading. They try to be a little bit different each and every week.
--Disappointing loss to a good Oklahoma State team. They played well and they're a good team. There is a small margin error in the Big 12, they could be 6-1 but they are 4-3. They've had leads in the fourth quarter the past two weeks and they haven't finished, especially on defense. The biggest stat of the game was 17-0 was points off turnovers. They created two and they turned that into nothing while Oklahoma State had 17. Special teams, the field goal block team continues to be a strong point and affected that kick at the end of the half. They blocked a punt and Ollie Straw bounced back. They are missing too many tackles on defense and kickoff return. Defensively wasn't quite good enough. On the positive side, the defensive line played better but they didn't play well at linebacker or safety. At the spear and spur they didn't do a good job of maintaining leverage and using hands. At safety, they didn't do a good job of fitting the runs and linebackers got too close to the line of scrimmage and missed tackles. They had 16 missed tackles and the run defense wasn't as good as it needed to be. Ollie Gordon is really good and they gave him a lot of air to run in. They had a couple killer penalties, an unsportsmanlike penalty by Lee Kpogba and then Ben Cutter's late hit gave them 30-yards on that one play. That was on a drive that they took the lead. The takeaway from defense is that they have to be better fundamentally. When they've played good defense from the stretch from Pitt-TCU, they played quality defense and they played really good fundamentals. Against Houston in the fourth quarter and Oklahoma State in the fourth quarter they aren't leveraging the football and keeping their edges, and run their feet through contact. They didn't do well in the past two fourth quarters and it's cost them.
--Offensively Garrett Greene continues to play at a high level. Three really costly plays and missed a touchdown when they had to kick a field goal there. And pull when he should have handed the ball off but he ran for over 100 and continued to throw the deep ball. Really good on third down and they are getting their passing game going. They left 17-points out on the field. Kole Taylor and Devin Carter have to play better because they're both really good players.
--Known Gus Malzahn for a really long time but this is the first time they've played against him. They will run the football and play physical defense. It's going to be hot and they don't expect that to be an issue but they need to prepare for that. They are coming off one of their better performances and on special teams they have an Australian punter and can spray the ball everywhere. Their returner #0 is super fast and he's busted a lot of big returners. Townsend is their punt returner and he's been good. They are explosive on offense and want to run the ball, but can hit some explosive pass plays as well. This is one of the best rushing teams in the country. Herb Hand is there and they are creative with it and will use a lot of different motions to get the receivers in the run game. They will use tempo and play fast. Defensively they played their best game against Oklahoma, the defensive line is big long and it's the best corner tandem they have gone against since Penn State. It's about getting better and they have to put themselves in positions to win in the fourth quarter and close out games. West Virginia needs to get down and put a better product out there.
--Really limited and are extremely thin at linebacker at safety and what they have is what they have. Caden Biser is going to play in this game and get him in early and that's about what they have at linebacker. The safeties they have are who is going to play. Raleigh Collins can play a little bit at that spear.
--Oklahoma State is difficult to pressure because they get the ball out fast. Bowman gets the ball out fast because he does the back pedal drop and they got caught in a zero pressure and they hit a huge run. They didn't get enough pressure but they make it hard. Houston they just didn't play well up front.
--UCF is similar with what they do with Plumlee and McClain at quarterback. Plumlee has a lot more experience.
--West Virginia just ran into the returner. When you're playing the jammer you have to peek at the returner on the play against Oklahoma State.
--Lance Dixon was suspended for the Oklahoma State game and his situation is to be determined.
--West Virginia brought them in last night to flush that game and practice to get them past it. The past two games are two of the most unique games that he has been part of as a coach. They were ahead in the fourth against Oklahoma State and the wheels came off defensively. He doesn't think there was a hangover from the Houston game because they overcame that 10-0 start. Credit the guys for getting back into it but they didn't finish it. They need to get back to playing quality football at the same time.
--EJ Horton played the most snaps on the game on Saturday and he'll continue to do that. He has practiced for three weeks in a row and he can really run. He gives them a whole different dimension when he is out there.
--Justin Johnson earned more playing time and got downhill fast and was decisive. Jaheim White has to practice better so they can play him. They have hit some runs, but instead of eight yards it's blocked for a lot more.
--Tomas Rimac will be available, K Michael Hayes will be fine and it's too early to tell on WR Hudson Clement who got rolled up.
--West Virginia hasn't fumbled the ball on offense much but the Kole Taylor fumble was being careless with the ball.
--It's really frustrating for him because a game against a really good team was winnable and they just didn't make the plays down the stretch.
--Teams are muddying it up early and not playing the same things on film that they have against the run game against West Virginia. It's contributed to some slow starts as they have to adjust. It takes some time to see how they're going to play in the run game and they need some answers and counters but they also need to execute better. From a schematic standpoint, what you do in the run game is what you do but what you try to hide is with motions and shifts and mess with who you are reading. They try to be a little bit different each and every week.
