--West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said that he was very disappointed with how they played. Oklahoma was juiced and they got after them and it wasn't pretty. Special teams was the only bright spot in this game after they challenged them. They didn't coach well enough on offense or defense and they soundly were beaten up front. They got penetration on defense and their offensive line got movement. Kickoff return was the best they've played and they blocked much better. The punt team forced a takeaway, while Olliver Straw had a good day. Kickoff team was much better and would have liked to make the field goal but they didn't have a great hold on that one. On defense, just not good enough they didn't come close to slowing Oklahoma down. They picked up pressure and they didn't even slow them down. Third downs were critical and they got them into third downs but they converted them. Too many explosive plays and they just weren't good enough and didn't play aggressively. Offensively, they had a great opening drive and then came up empty. The best players weren't good enough in the game. On fourth down it was a bad call. He's not pleased with how they played after the initial touchdown of the second half. Garrett Greene's decision making was poor and he was inaccurate, but the offensive line just didn't play well enough up front. West Virginia practiced yesterday just to flush out that game. When you get exposed in certain areas you better get prepared for it and correct it because your opponents will use that. Today was the day off and they'll get back to it tomorrow.
--Cincinnati should kind of grow into a rivalry and as both fan bases as time goes on it should become better. The Bearcats played well on the road beating Houston and he knows coach Satterfield well after squaring off against him in the Sun Belt a few times. If you look at the stats and not the record, they are one of the top rushing teams in the conference and stop the run well. But they've not been able to get it done in the win and loss record. The Mountaineers have a great deal of respect for them. They have an Australian punter and their field goal kicker is very good. Offensively it starts with the rushing attack and they rely on the outside zone. They've got the nakeds and play action off that. The quarterback is dual threat and the running back they know well as they tried to recruit him in Kiner. They have wide receivers that can run and a slot that they get the ball too in a lot of different ways. Defensively, they are close to the top in league games. They play a three-man front and they have the best interior lineman in the conference. He is a disrupter and you appreciate how he plays. The strength of their defense is up front and they do a lot of slants and pressures to mix up their coverages. Brown has zero doubts that they will bounce back and finish strong here at home.
--The Mountaineers are going to honor Don Nehlen and he hopes that the fan base shows up to recognize him. It's a weekend about celebrating him and they are looking forward to getting back on the field and redeeming themselves.
--They probably dropped about five passes in the game which hasn't been an issue. It wasn't a case where they had guys open, but Garrett Greene has to get some things corrected. He didn't get away with the same mistakes he did against Oklahoma than he did against BYU. The next question is are they running the right plays that he can see and are they getting enough repetition on the plays that they are running? Brown has been looking at what he is really good at and thin down what they're doing in order to get good at the pass plays they're comfortable with. Greene knows and Brown believes that he'll be better and they'll give him a better chance Saturday.
--Brown would say if you looked at the body of work that would be the only outlier. West Virginia didn't play very well against Houston or in the fourth quarter against Oklahoma State those are examples of bad football, but Oklahoma is the only game that this occurred. Oklahoma has good players, they are in the top ten in recruiting every year and they deserve credit but the Mountaineers didn't play good enough and they aren't that much better than the Mountaineers.
--In general senior day has lost some meaning with all the transfers and the current climate. With the COVID year, he doesn't know who all is walking. It's a tough emotional day on Senior Day and they should honor them on the first game to take some emotion out of it. Football is a game of passion and just before the snap of the ball, they're put in mental frame where there's a lot going through their mind so they have to think through how they will handle it throughout the week.
--Cincinnati will do a little bit of tempo but it's not their bread and butter.
--Brown said that CJ Donaldson and Doug Nester didn't practice yesterday, but he'll have a better answer later in the week.
--Brown said that Oklahoma's success was on early downs and they missed some easy completions which got them into bad situations on offense.
--The second drive, West Virginia had two really good plays the first play of the second series they did a hand-off to Rodney Gallagher and it was second and five and they false start. Then they fall down on a back side zone and on third down Devin Carter was wide open and they didn't see him. The frustrating series was the third one after the turnover. If they turn that into points, it's going to be a game but they didn't and they immediately scored and it went from there.
--West Virginia was trying to get some perimeter stuff early in the game because they knew they would junk up their run game. They had some good hits on that but when any pretty good offense struggles it ends up being a guy here or guy there. They had some guys cross-faced up front and they had to make a cut sooner rather than later.
--It's hard to get the game back when they're scoring. They had to throw the ball more than they wanted to because it was getting away from them.
--This is a copy cat deal, the things that they did Cincinnati and Baylor can get into very easily. They are things they handled earlier in the year. That's what they worked yesterday and will this week.
--Oklahoma and West Virginia haven't done that. The hit was clean in the end zone, Anthony Wilson shouldn't have stood over him but they shouldn't have done what they done but he talked with Brent Venables after the game and got it cleaned up.
--We're not the only team that got ran off the field Saturday. The truth of the matter is you're dealing with 17-23 year olds and some different things that the common person doesn't understand. Travel plays into it, being home or away plays into it and there's not a lot of difference outside a few teams. There's some clear cream and clear bottom but there's a whole bunch of teams that are similar at the power five level. And matchups are critical. Houston was a tough matchup with their receivers. Central Florida is a tough matchup for Oklahoma State.
--Cincinnati should kind of grow into a rivalry and as both fan bases as time goes on it should become better. The Bearcats played well on the road beating Houston and he knows coach Satterfield well after squaring off against him in the Sun Belt a few times. If you look at the stats and not the record, they are one of the top rushing teams in the conference and stop the run well. But they've not been able to get it done in the win and loss record. The Mountaineers have a great deal of respect for them. They have an Australian punter and their field goal kicker is very good. Offensively it starts with the rushing attack and they rely on the outside zone. They've got the nakeds and play action off that. The quarterback is dual threat and the running back they know well as they tried to recruit him in Kiner. They have wide receivers that can run and a slot that they get the ball too in a lot of different ways. Defensively, they are close to the top in league games. They play a three-man front and they have the best interior lineman in the conference. He is a disrupter and you appreciate how he plays. The strength of their defense is up front and they do a lot of slants and pressures to mix up their coverages. Brown has zero doubts that they will bounce back and finish strong here at home.
--The Mountaineers are going to honor Don Nehlen and he hopes that the fan base shows up to recognize him. It's a weekend about celebrating him and they are looking forward to getting back on the field and redeeming themselves.
--They probably dropped about five passes in the game which hasn't been an issue. It wasn't a case where they had guys open, but Garrett Greene has to get some things corrected. He didn't get away with the same mistakes he did against Oklahoma than he did against BYU. The next question is are they running the right plays that he can see and are they getting enough repetition on the plays that they are running? Brown has been looking at what he is really good at and thin down what they're doing in order to get good at the pass plays they're comfortable with. Greene knows and Brown believes that he'll be better and they'll give him a better chance Saturday.
--Brown would say if you looked at the body of work that would be the only outlier. West Virginia didn't play very well against Houston or in the fourth quarter against Oklahoma State those are examples of bad football, but Oklahoma is the only game that this occurred. Oklahoma has good players, they are in the top ten in recruiting every year and they deserve credit but the Mountaineers didn't play good enough and they aren't that much better than the Mountaineers.
--In general senior day has lost some meaning with all the transfers and the current climate. With the COVID year, he doesn't know who all is walking. It's a tough emotional day on Senior Day and they should honor them on the first game to take some emotion out of it. Football is a game of passion and just before the snap of the ball, they're put in mental frame where there's a lot going through their mind so they have to think through how they will handle it throughout the week.
--Cincinnati will do a little bit of tempo but it's not their bread and butter.
--Brown said that CJ Donaldson and Doug Nester didn't practice yesterday, but he'll have a better answer later in the week.
--Brown said that Oklahoma's success was on early downs and they missed some easy completions which got them into bad situations on offense.
--The second drive, West Virginia had two really good plays the first play of the second series they did a hand-off to Rodney Gallagher and it was second and five and they false start. Then they fall down on a back side zone and on third down Devin Carter was wide open and they didn't see him. The frustrating series was the third one after the turnover. If they turn that into points, it's going to be a game but they didn't and they immediately scored and it went from there.
--West Virginia was trying to get some perimeter stuff early in the game because they knew they would junk up their run game. They had some good hits on that but when any pretty good offense struggles it ends up being a guy here or guy there. They had some guys cross-faced up front and they had to make a cut sooner rather than later.
--It's hard to get the game back when they're scoring. They had to throw the ball more than they wanted to because it was getting away from them.
--This is a copy cat deal, the things that they did Cincinnati and Baylor can get into very easily. They are things they handled earlier in the year. That's what they worked yesterday and will this week.
--Oklahoma and West Virginia haven't done that. The hit was clean in the end zone, Anthony Wilson shouldn't have stood over him but they shouldn't have done what they done but he talked with Brent Venables after the game and got it cleaned up.
--We're not the only team that got ran off the field Saturday. The truth of the matter is you're dealing with 17-23 year olds and some different things that the common person doesn't understand. Travel plays into it, being home or away plays into it and there's not a lot of difference outside a few teams. There's some clear cream and clear bottom but there's a whole bunch of teams that are similar at the power five level. And matchups are critical. Houston was a tough matchup with their receivers. Central Florida is a tough matchup for Oklahoma State.
