There was a lot to be happy about and not a lot to complain about from West Virginia head coach Neal Brown following their 37-7 win over BYU on Saturday.
Brown emphasized the complete nature his team played as well as what impressed him the most offensively and defensively in the victory.
Team Win
“Great win. Lot of respect for BYU’s program,” Brown said. “Really a good win for us. I thought it was a complete game, defense, offense, special teams. I felt ike the last two weeks we played what we call good football. Today was probably our most complete game where we played good in all three phases.”
On his defense: “If you look at it, I think the stats pretty much tell the story. Defensively, we only gave up 277 yards, held them to seven points and that was with some backups. I thought we were good on third and fourth done. Anytime you hold a team to 67 yards rushing, that’s a pretty good day, you’re going to have a pretty good chance to win that game.
On his offense: “Offensively, we continued to play at a high level.I think that’s several games in a row now that we’re doing that. The things that sticks out 336 yards rushing, two, 100-yard rushers, we held the ball for over 35 minutes.”
Improvement of the defense
West Virginia’s defense held BYU scoreless for the majority of the game. BYU went with new quarterback Jake Retzlaff who had not played in a game this season.
“That’s hard, he hasn’t played all year and he’s going to make his first start on the road, two time zones away, national tv, all those things, that’s a tough ask,” Brown said.
As for his team’s performance though, Brown said they tackled well and they played really well at the second and third levels of their defense.
“I thought we tackled well after a couple initial quick screens, I thought we tackled well, got them behind the chains, that helped,” Brown said.
“I thought, when you watch the tape, Cutter and Biser, those guys probably played better. D-line wise, I think we’re doing a better job of keeping it clean for those guys then without question, that was the best our safeties played in a long time. Anthony Wilson was really good in game. Aubrey Burks is back looking like he did Pre-TCU. I think those are some of the reasons why we played better.”
Sprinting to Success
West Virginia has now been dominant rushing the ball in back-to-back games. Tonight the Mountaineers had 336 yards on the ground, and a large part of that was CJ Donaldson and Jahiem White.
White led WVU in carries with 16 for 146 yards, while Donaldson rushed 14 times for 102 yards and two scores each from within the two yard line.
“This game is really hard to play as a true freshman and there’s a reason why you don’t see a whole lot,” Brown said of White. “He’s got a chance to be special. Where he’s at right now and what he can be, there’s a big gap. If he continues to do the things that it takes to be great then he is going to be a great one.”
On Donaldson, it’s about him getting back to basics of the position and that helping him succeed.
“What was happening when he went through that stretch where he really wasn’t playing well, he was really pressing, people were playing him different, and he was just leaving a lot yards out there,” Brown said.
“Last week, and I’m pretty sure this is the case this week is he went back and just did the basic things as far as setting up his runs, not being impatient, using his blockers, lowering his pads on contact. It hasn’t been anything that’s necessarily been a revelation by any means. We kind of just went back to basics and it’s paying off for him.”
Playing your best ball at the right time
Earlier this week Brown made it a point to identify that good teams play their best in the month of November. Well, West Virginia had their best win of the year in the first week of November, and are now set up to play Oklahoma next week.
“To me it’s about the best teams play their best in November and that was the best game we played this year. We have a four-game stretch in November, that’s the way we’re attacking it. We’re 1-0,” Brown said.
“What I told them is, results bowl eligibility all those types of things —we’re alive and well in the conference race and that’s what we’re talking about. Obviously a big game next week to continue to play our way in. We’re on a quest to play our best and I felt like tonight was the most complete game we’ve played.”
