Why the first of two bye weeks comes at the perfect time for WVU

Bye weeks can be a beautiful thing for football teams in desperate need of a system reset. Whether for rest, schematic changes, or an extra week to prepare, the bye week is an opportunity for a team to change for the better.

That is exactly what the WVU football team needs after a very important comeback win over the Jayhaks to start conference play 1-0. With a trip to visit the Oklahoma State Cowboys on the other end of the bye, WVU can fully take advantage of their first bye week.

For Neal Brown, the main positives of the bye week come to settle things down before entering the hardest part of the schedule for WVU. Starting with Oklahoma State, WVU will then take on Iowa State and Kansas State before traveling to take on Arizona in four straight weeks.

“I think it’s a positive for us just because of our schedule, the way it plays out. We play 11 really good teams, and so I think it’ll help us,” Brown said. “We’ve got a really tough stretch coming off this bye, and this gives us an opportunity to kind of catch our breath a little bit, get healthy, and then we got a tough stretch in between the two bye weeks. And so we’ll take it, I like it, I think the first one comes at a good time the second one comes at a good time.”

The major point that fans will look to celebrate over the bye week is the team’s opportunity to rest and heal after a brutal week of injuries. During the game against Kansas, the Mountaineers’ watched multiple players go down. Wyatt Milum, Josiah Trotter, TJ Crandall, Aubrey Burks, and Garnett Hollis Jr., were all names of players banged up against the Jayhawks.

Reid Carrico and Preston Fox were also banged up the week prior. Carrico missed the game against Kansas while Fox worked his way onto the field to return a couple of punts.

Crandall and Burks are both listed as questionable but are both doing well and okay according to Brown.

Despite a rocky first four weeks of the season that included a disappointing showing against Penn State, a comeback win, a comeback loss, and questions surrounding different coaching staffs’ futures, the Mountaineers have battled to a .500 record and a 1-0 start in Big 12 play.

The most important part of the season is now starring the Mountaineers in the face. There could not be a better time for teh Mountaineers who are in desperate need for both rest and a team reset after an emotional start to the season.

The game against Oklahoma State has been selected as a 4:00 p.m. ET kickoff on Saturday, Oct. 5, and can be viewed on ESPN2.