West Virginia head coach Neal Brown held his weekly press conference on Monday during which he talked about WVU’s win over UCF, gave multiple injury updates, and officially opened BYU week.
UCF Win
West Virginia went down to Orlando and beat UCF 41-28 in convincing fashion. A big part of that was WVU’s ability to run the ball, finishing with 286 yards on the ground in the win, as well as forcing four turnovers.
“Good program win on Saturday. I thought our suport staff was critical. You go play in 86 degree weather, we don’t even have that in fall cmap here,” Brown said. “I thought the two keys in the game were number one points off turnovers, 21-0 and then starting field position which was plus-18 in our favor.”
Special Teams: “42 yard net punt, that’s winning football. I thought Michael Hayes was special… Only one of his eight kickoffs were returned then he had two field goals.”
Defense: “Four takeaways were huge. I thought when we turned the ball over, the answer in getting the ball back was really big. We still got to work on our tackling, first half we missed too many tackles.”
Offense: “really controlled the game I thought. Really good on third and fourth down. We got to improve our pass game execution, we left a lot of yards out there in the pass game.”
Players of the Week:
Lineman – Wyatt Milum
Special Team – Michael Hayes
Defense – Beanie Bishop
Offense – Garrett Greene
Injuries
West Virginia still continues to deal with injuries on the offensive line as well as in the middle of their defense. Some good news for the Mountaineers as they should get a pair of receivers back, but there is still some concern over others and their availability to play this week.
“Doug (Nester) I would say would be doubtful. Hudson (Clement) and Traylon Ray will both play. Hershey (McLaurin) I’ll know more tomorrow, but I”m hopeful there. Andrew Wilson- Lamp will return. Graeson Malashevich missed the game. It’s nothing real serious, but it’s an issue that’s going to keep him out at least one more week.”
Welcoming BYU
Brown and the Mountaineers return home to Milan Puskar Stadium as they look to secure bowl eligibility with a win over BYU.
“BYU, very proud program. Our fans really need to show up and be loud. We need their support here. BYU’s a national brand, they travel well wherever they go. I think this is really their only east coast game of the year so I’m sure there will be a lot of their fans here.
“Very disciplined group, physical. Special teams, their specialists are extremely talented. Offensively, they’ve got a first round pick in their left tackle. They’ve got two wideouts that I see repeatedly on the top-10 plays on sports center, so they’re doing something right there. But they’re really good players, they’re going to be an issue for us.
“Defensively, very good front. They’re long, that’s the thing that sticks out to you is they’re really, really, long. They got a couple good cover guys and they’re one of the best teams in the country in takeaways. Really a formidable opponent.”
