West Virginia shut down UCF with a score of 31-21 Saturday afternoon. This was the Mountaineers’ first home win since their matchup against Kansas in September. Neal Brown had positive things to say about his players following the game.
“Two team stats stick out. We won the turnover battle 1-0 and we scored on that turnover. So points off turnover, which is probably the most important stat with 7-0,” said Brown.
He shared the second most important team stat was the domination the team showed in the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. Brown believes that is where the Mountaineers won the game.
The Mountaineer defense totaled 58 tackles, 26 solo tackles, and one sack. Brown shared his players did a good job of containing the run game and he was pleased with their performance.
“Defensively, we bounced back. I’m really proud of those guys, proud of the staff,” said Brown.
With dicy weather conditions the Mountaineers didn’t have one turnover. West Virginia was 12-of-18 on end of possession downs, four-of-four on fourth downs, and five-of-five in the red zone.
“More so, I thought our guys competed. They fought. It hasn’t always gone our way, but our guys always show up and compete. You don’t have to worry about them fighting,” said Brown.
Being the last home game, the seniors experienced their last time playing on Mountaineer Field.
“I’m happy they really can take in Country Roads one last time here,” said Brown.
Following their win this evening, Brown shared they still have more to play for and focus on. The Mountaineers will hit the road next Saturday for their last regular season game against Texas Tech. West Virginia hopes to get their seventh win of the season and sixth conference win.
