--West Virginia head coach Neal Brown thought they controlled the game on the line of scrimmage. Special teams they only punted one time and the coverage was good. The kickoff coverage was much improved with the technique. Field goal protection and field goal block was good. Special teams wise, Oliver Straw has to keep that punt out of the end zone and the punt return group has to give Preston Fox a better job with space. The defense had a fast start to the game and they held them well below their average rushing. The run fits were really good and had a bunch of hats to the ball. They missed some tackles but had guys to cover it up. They need to finish better and have to get some takeaways. Offensively they ran the ball for 424 yards and averaged 9.8 yards per play. A lot of explosive plays but they had some penalties that killed drives. They need to clean those up.
--Players of the week, offensive lineman of the week was Zach Frazier at 95-percent, special teams players of the week are Daedae Hawkins and EJ Horton, defensive player of the week was Lee Kpogba and he played a great fundamental game, Jaheim White and Garrett Greene were the offensive players of the week. The blue collar award was Treylan Davis and Ja'Quay Hubbard and defensively Jared Bartlett played his best game and he did a good job fitting the boundary along with Ben Cutter. The scout team players were CJ Cole on offense, defense was Corey McIntyre who is coming along and is going to be a really good player and special teams was Taran Fitzpatrick. The juice award was Graeson Malashevich.
--This is the week you're in training there is no class in session so it's all football. Baylor is a tough place to play and he has a lot of respect for Dave Aranda. The Bears are really good on punt and their kickoff returns have had several explosives and their punt return team has been very good. The Bears have ran a lot of fakes and they'll need to be aware. Offensively Baylor is unique in the league with 12 and 13 personnel. Their tight ends have a multitude of skills and alignment will be key and they have a good wide receiver group. They've done a really good job passing the ball and they have two really good running backs. On defense, Brown has a lot of respect for Aranda and they are extremely well coached on the defensive line. They're going to play a lot of different fronts and simulate pressures. It will be a challenge and they will try to confuse Garrett Greene. They need to handle the travel and handle playing at night.
--If the Oklahoma game wasn't stuck in his mind, Brown would be happy with how the offense is progressing. They are becoming who they thought they would be when they made the shift offensively late last year. They are making it difficult to defend the entire field and they are splitting the defense and doing a bunch of different things. It's all dependent on how the quarterback plays and outside the Oklahoma game he has gotten better and better.
--Early in the year they were having drives that took forever, but that's hard because one negative play knocks you out. Brown feels like they've got some guys that can make explosive plays. Brown is excited about the young wide outs, Traylon Ray, Hudson Clement and Rodney Gallagher.
--Brown said early on when he started calling plays they were top five in passing and now they've flipped it. It's been a 180 for him in his career but it's what's best for this team and the most effective way to win is with a dual threat quarterback and the game has changed, too.
--Brown says that if you go back and look a dual threat gives you a chance and you don't have to be perfect. You have to do some things that are non-traditional to protect the passer, where the dual threat doesn't have to be as perfect.
--CJ Donaldson they took him out early, he didn't practice today or tomorrow and same with Doug Nester. Brown expects both to be ready to go. Brandon Yates came out early and is going through protocol.
--Blake Shapen is really tough. He's gotten hit quite a bit this year and steps up in the pocket. He can spin it.
--The true freshmen came in and are all really good friends on offense. Jaheim White, Traylon Ray and Rodney Gallagher have all bought in this off-season will be big for Gallagher to get stronger and work on running routes. He has shown he can make plays and breaks tackles but as he understands route running he could be special. Traylon Ray this off-season could be a really different guy as he puts on weight and gets faster with a chance to be an elite outside wide receiver. Jaheim White isn't really tall, but he's strong. This off-season will allow him to build straight line speed.
--If you look at who West Virginia committed, both of them are dual threat guys and they're going to stay with that.
--West Virginia had to be a lot more conservative early in the year because they didn't have much experience behind Nicco Marchiol when Garrett Greene went down. The running backs have made significant improvement, they've blocked at a high level all year but they're doing a better job with the paths to the line of scrimmage and breaking tackles. From a game plan perspective, they are doing a little more.
--After TCU where they felt he was happy and can run they wanted to win games because of Garrett Greene. Brown wanted to make sure he had an understanding of what they wanted to do. They were careful with him against Penn State because that was a tough environment.
--Brown isn't sure his team needs to be overlooking anybody. Baylor has dominated West Virginia down there they are 1-4. West Virginia understands it's a tough place to play and they need to handle things from a travel perspective. They need to continue to play well.
--Brown said there is a season for everything. There is a season people will worry about NIL, transferring or bowls. They need to have a singular focus on this week.
--In a team meeting he says whoever is going to walk for senior day, you stay and that's how they take it.
--Players of the week, offensive lineman of the week was Zach Frazier at 95-percent, special teams players of the week are Daedae Hawkins and EJ Horton, defensive player of the week was Lee Kpogba and he played a great fundamental game, Jaheim White and Garrett Greene were the offensive players of the week. The blue collar award was Treylan Davis and Ja'Quay Hubbard and defensively Jared Bartlett played his best game and he did a good job fitting the boundary along with Ben Cutter. The scout team players were CJ Cole on offense, defense was Corey McIntyre who is coming along and is going to be a really good player and special teams was Taran Fitzpatrick. The juice award was Graeson Malashevich.
--This is the week you're in training there is no class in session so it's all football. Baylor is a tough place to play and he has a lot of respect for Dave Aranda. The Bears are really good on punt and their kickoff returns have had several explosives and their punt return team has been very good. The Bears have ran a lot of fakes and they'll need to be aware. Offensively Baylor is unique in the league with 12 and 13 personnel. Their tight ends have a multitude of skills and alignment will be key and they have a good wide receiver group. They've done a really good job passing the ball and they have two really good running backs. On defense, Brown has a lot of respect for Aranda and they are extremely well coached on the defensive line. They're going to play a lot of different fronts and simulate pressures. It will be a challenge and they will try to confuse Garrett Greene. They need to handle the travel and handle playing at night.
--If the Oklahoma game wasn't stuck in his mind, Brown would be happy with how the offense is progressing. They are becoming who they thought they would be when they made the shift offensively late last year. They are making it difficult to defend the entire field and they are splitting the defense and doing a bunch of different things. It's all dependent on how the quarterback plays and outside the Oklahoma game he has gotten better and better.
--Early in the year they were having drives that took forever, but that's hard because one negative play knocks you out. Brown feels like they've got some guys that can make explosive plays. Brown is excited about the young wide outs, Traylon Ray, Hudson Clement and Rodney Gallagher.
--Brown said early on when he started calling plays they were top five in passing and now they've flipped it. It's been a 180 for him in his career but it's what's best for this team and the most effective way to win is with a dual threat quarterback and the game has changed, too.
--Brown says that if you go back and look a dual threat gives you a chance and you don't have to be perfect. You have to do some things that are non-traditional to protect the passer, where the dual threat doesn't have to be as perfect.
--CJ Donaldson they took him out early, he didn't practice today or tomorrow and same with Doug Nester. Brown expects both to be ready to go. Brandon Yates came out early and is going through protocol.
--Blake Shapen is really tough. He's gotten hit quite a bit this year and steps up in the pocket. He can spin it.
--The true freshmen came in and are all really good friends on offense. Jaheim White, Traylon Ray and Rodney Gallagher have all bought in this off-season will be big for Gallagher to get stronger and work on running routes. He has shown he can make plays and breaks tackles but as he understands route running he could be special. Traylon Ray this off-season could be a really different guy as he puts on weight and gets faster with a chance to be an elite outside wide receiver. Jaheim White isn't really tall, but he's strong. This off-season will allow him to build straight line speed.
--If you look at who West Virginia committed, both of them are dual threat guys and they're going to stay with that.
--West Virginia had to be a lot more conservative early in the year because they didn't have much experience behind Nicco Marchiol when Garrett Greene went down. The running backs have made significant improvement, they've blocked at a high level all year but they're doing a better job with the paths to the line of scrimmage and breaking tackles. From a game plan perspective, they are doing a little more.
--After TCU where they felt he was happy and can run they wanted to win games because of Garrett Greene. Brown wanted to make sure he had an understanding of what they wanted to do. They were careful with him against Penn State because that was a tough environment.
--Brown isn't sure his team needs to be overlooking anybody. Baylor has dominated West Virginia down there they are 1-4. West Virginia understands it's a tough place to play and they need to handle things from a travel perspective. They need to continue to play well.
--Brown said there is a season for everything. There is a season people will worry about NIL, transferring or bowls. They need to have a singular focus on this week.
--In a team meeting he says whoever is going to walk for senior day, you stay and that's how they take it.
