West Virginia head coach Neal Brown held his weekly press conference on Monday afternoon.
Brown and the Mountaineers are off to a 3-1 start after they beat Texas Tech 20-13 this past Saturday. West Virginia now turns their attention to TCU, heading on the road to face the defending national runner-up.
Offense needing to get better
It is not a crazy concept to Brown that WVU’s offense needs to get better sooner than later. While part of that can be attributed to the backup quarterback playing the majority of the last two games, Brown wants improvement from this group especially at the skill positions.
“We didn’t play well enough at running back or receiver. We got to play way better at either one of those positions. We got to do more, we got to make more plays to help the quarterbacks and our pass game all around just has to be better. We just didn’t do a very good job of executing. We need to throw it better at quarterback, we need to protect him a little better. But we just didn’t make a whole lot of plays in space and we got to be better than that.”
Brown said they are going to shorten the rotation this week at receiver, hoping to find more production.
“We’re going to shorten the rotation up, I thought we played too many guys,” Brown said. “I think EJ Horton’s going to play more. He and Hudson (Clement)and Traylon Ray, we’re going to get those guys up more and ready.”
Defense holding strong
Despite the offense not living up to its potential, West Virginia’s defense might have passed preseason expectations through just four games. The Mountaineers are first in the Big 12 in third down conversion rate at just 25 percent. This, along with the development of multiple guys in the secondary and along the defensive line have helped WVU be dominant over the past few weeks.
“We’re getting in some more friendly down and distance which means we’re better on first and tens and we’re getting into some more third and longs,” Brown said of his third-down defense.
Brown also assessed his defense’s performance from this past Saturday, impressed with how they played early, but knows they still have to get better especially later in games.
“Defensively I thought the positives were we started pretty fast… they usually come out of the gates fast and four out of the first five drives were three and out,” Brown said. “I thought we got tired at the end. We didn’t play as well late. We missed some tackles that we didn’t miss early in the game… I think we can play the run better, but I think as the year progresses we need to play the run better.”
TCU Prep
West Virginia will hit the skies, traveling by plane for the first time this season when they head to Fort Worth to face TCU. The defending national runner-up, TCU had two losses last year, including losing to Georgia in the National Championship.
“We lost a tough one here last year. It was 34-31 we had a chance with just under four minutes to go and we didn’t get it done… missed opportunity,” Brown said. “This is our last opportunity before we get a much-needed bye. This is about proving if we’re going to be a contender in the league or not. We’re going on the road in a tough environment and we need to take advantage of that opportunity.”
TCU will enter Saturday at 3-1, with three consecutive wins following a week one home loss to Colorado.
“We got to prove that we’re a contender,” Brown said. “We’re 1-0 but I’m not sure we grabbed national attention or anything yet.”
