--West Virginia head coach Neal Brown offers his thoughts and prayers to the family of Cohen Craddock and the people of Madison.
--Brown said that he is very appreciative of the opportunity to be the head coach here and it matters here. He thought about that a lot at the end of the last week. They had Senator Joe Manchin there, John Chambers spent some time here, Joe Mazzulla was here and more. They had a great fund-raising event for the Country Roads Trust and he was thankful for Mazzulla to be here with his schedule and he is a really humble person. Charles Wesley Godwin played at the end of the event. This is the voice of the Mountaineers 40th season in Tony Caridi and this will be one to remember.
--Penn State is one of the top programs in the country and they have a lot of respect for James Franklin and what he has done. Defensively is where it starts for them, the defensive line is deep and talented and has multiple NFL players. A lot of returning players at linebacker and No. 41 makes them go and they have high level talent at safety. Offensively, the offensive coordinator did a great job in his previous stops and there is a lot to review in order to get a view of what they could do. Their running backs and tight ends will present challenges. On special teams, the coordinator did a really good job at Vanderbilt and they have talented specialists. Their returners are both running backs and those are high end guys.
--Most of them on the roster they are very familiar with. It's going to be a great challenge and while it won't make or break the season he knows it's a big game. He expects the fans and community to blossom under the bright lights.
--They start from a personnel standpoint and evaluate them there on who they think they will see but there will always be some surprises on who made big improvements. Then you start evaluating schemes and it's a best guess. They don't know what West Virginia will run and all their coordinators are back because it's always different every year. The best guess is they will see some remnants of what they did but some new things that all three coordinators did at their previous stops.
--Brown wishes they would have picked up where they left off last year and just play Penn State after the Bowl game. They don't let you do that. The players have changed for both teams and they've evolved in different areas.
--You have to dig a little deeper when looking at how Drew Allar will fit into the new offense. Buffalo, where the offensive coordinator was before, had a quarterback that was similar in size and had a big strong arm that was similar to Allar. Penn State's offensive coordinator is a very talented play caller and has been on Brown's radar for a long time now. They are going to figure it out and will try to have a plan for that.
--The quarterback gets too much blame and too much credit for success. If you go back and look at it last year, Allar was the difference in the game last year and was accurate with the football. If you look at his complete body of work a lot of people struggle against Michigan and Ohio State so that's a little unfair.
--We stayed relatively healthy. There are things they feel good about and some question marks but they won't know until they play. He is eager and glad they have this week to prepare but he feels good about it. West Virginia is going to have a good football team. You're always going to have some first game jitters but he is eager to see his guys compete.
--Abdul Carter and Dennis-Sutton are two players that really stand out. That seems like a really deep position for them across the defensive line at edge rusher.
--Brown had the game on in the background (FSU vs. Georgia Tech) but he didn't pay a ton of attention to it. Brown doesn't know enough about their roster to say how close they are to West Virginia, but they do some things schematically the same although the Mountaineers will likely throw the ball more than they did. Brown feels like if they play their game they have a chance to win against anybody although they respect Penn State a ton. They have been working on building their brand and they're going to play with a chip on their shoulder and really physical.
--Recognition comes and goes but the pre-season stuff is just entertainment you will know in the first month. West Virginia has a lot to prove still. He has been more disappointed by how his players have been portrayed in the pre-season such as Garrett Greene, Wyatt Milum, the running backs and more. For the football team time will tell but they play a tough schedule and has a chance to make some noise nationally.
--Third and fourth down were critical last year in the game and West Virginia didn't take advantage and Penn State did. They will see how the last year treats you.
--They moved the mock game up in order to allow some more lead-in time to prepare for Penn State. The mock game is more of a mental deal where you work transitions and special situations.
--Brown said if they do tackle better, if the line of scrimmage play on both sides is better than the focus on being more physical worked. Ask him about that Saturday after the game but they've stayed relatively healthy and he really believes what they did in the pre-season gives them the best opportunity to be their best week one.
--The late touchdown last year is what it is. Brown said he doesn't have a problem with it but if the guys need something like that to motivate them, it's not the best thing. Penn State made the winning plays and this is going to be the last time that they're on the field together in Morgantown for the foreseeable future.
--Brown said you study what you did a year ago and you want to do things that philosophically you really believe in but you can't do it the same way. You have to change up what you're doing in all three phases and bottom line is there is going to be a bunch of adjustments and both sides are going to have to do it and the one that can do it the most efficient way will have the advantage.
--Tom Allen has been a good mix but from a structure standpoint it isn't much difference than what Manny Diaz did.
--Brown said that he is very appreciative of the opportunity to be the head coach here and it matters here. He thought about that a lot at the end of the last week. They had Senator Joe Manchin there, John Chambers spent some time here, Joe Mazzulla was here and more. They had a great fund-raising event for the Country Roads Trust and he was thankful for Mazzulla to be here with his schedule and he is a really humble person. Charles Wesley Godwin played at the end of the event. This is the voice of the Mountaineers 40th season in Tony Caridi and this will be one to remember.
--Penn State is one of the top programs in the country and they have a lot of respect for James Franklin and what he has done. Defensively is where it starts for them, the defensive line is deep and talented and has multiple NFL players. A lot of returning players at linebacker and No. 41 makes them go and they have high level talent at safety. Offensively, the offensive coordinator did a great job in his previous stops and there is a lot to review in order to get a view of what they could do. Their running backs and tight ends will present challenges. On special teams, the coordinator did a really good job at Vanderbilt and they have talented specialists. Their returners are both running backs and those are high end guys.
--Most of them on the roster they are very familiar with. It's going to be a great challenge and while it won't make or break the season he knows it's a big game. He expects the fans and community to blossom under the bright lights.
--They start from a personnel standpoint and evaluate them there on who they think they will see but there will always be some surprises on who made big improvements. Then you start evaluating schemes and it's a best guess. They don't know what West Virginia will run and all their coordinators are back because it's always different every year. The best guess is they will see some remnants of what they did but some new things that all three coordinators did at their previous stops.
--Brown wishes they would have picked up where they left off last year and just play Penn State after the Bowl game. They don't let you do that. The players have changed for both teams and they've evolved in different areas.
--You have to dig a little deeper when looking at how Drew Allar will fit into the new offense. Buffalo, where the offensive coordinator was before, had a quarterback that was similar in size and had a big strong arm that was similar to Allar. Penn State's offensive coordinator is a very talented play caller and has been on Brown's radar for a long time now. They are going to figure it out and will try to have a plan for that.
--The quarterback gets too much blame and too much credit for success. If you go back and look at it last year, Allar was the difference in the game last year and was accurate with the football. If you look at his complete body of work a lot of people struggle against Michigan and Ohio State so that's a little unfair.
--We stayed relatively healthy. There are things they feel good about and some question marks but they won't know until they play. He is eager and glad they have this week to prepare but he feels good about it. West Virginia is going to have a good football team. You're always going to have some first game jitters but he is eager to see his guys compete.
--Abdul Carter and Dennis-Sutton are two players that really stand out. That seems like a really deep position for them across the defensive line at edge rusher.
--Brown had the game on in the background (FSU vs. Georgia Tech) but he didn't pay a ton of attention to it. Brown doesn't know enough about their roster to say how close they are to West Virginia, but they do some things schematically the same although the Mountaineers will likely throw the ball more than they did. Brown feels like if they play their game they have a chance to win against anybody although they respect Penn State a ton. They have been working on building their brand and they're going to play with a chip on their shoulder and really physical.
--Recognition comes and goes but the pre-season stuff is just entertainment you will know in the first month. West Virginia has a lot to prove still. He has been more disappointed by how his players have been portrayed in the pre-season such as Garrett Greene, Wyatt Milum, the running backs and more. For the football team time will tell but they play a tough schedule and has a chance to make some noise nationally.
--Third and fourth down were critical last year in the game and West Virginia didn't take advantage and Penn State did. They will see how the last year treats you.
--They moved the mock game up in order to allow some more lead-in time to prepare for Penn State. The mock game is more of a mental deal where you work transitions and special situations.
--Brown said if they do tackle better, if the line of scrimmage play on both sides is better than the focus on being more physical worked. Ask him about that Saturday after the game but they've stayed relatively healthy and he really believes what they did in the pre-season gives them the best opportunity to be their best week one.
--The late touchdown last year is what it is. Brown said he doesn't have a problem with it but if the guys need something like that to motivate them, it's not the best thing. Penn State made the winning plays and this is going to be the last time that they're on the field together in Morgantown for the foreseeable future.
--Brown said you study what you did a year ago and you want to do things that philosophically you really believe in but you can't do it the same way. You have to change up what you're doing in all three phases and bottom line is there is going to be a bunch of adjustments and both sides are going to have to do it and the one that can do it the most efficient way will have the advantage.
--Tom Allen has been a good mix but from a structure standpoint it isn't much difference than what Manny Diaz did.
