College Football

A Big Reason Why WVU Football Has Been Winning in 2023

Published

7 months ago

October 11, 2023

How has WVU been able to win this season despite dealing with adversity and noticeable issues? Well, playing as clean as possible in games is a big help.

Most teams that struggling offensively don’t win. Most teams that are forced to turn to the backup quarterback for multiple games don’t win. But the West Virginia Mountaineers are 4-1 nonetheless.

Fox’s college football Twitter (X) account posted a graphic that speaks to how WVU has been successful so far this season. West Virginia has been among the least penalized teams in the country. In fact, only four teams at the FBS level have fewer penalties tan West Virginia.

A look at the teams with the fewest penalties through 6 weeks of football 👏 pic.twitter.com/xK0bWDwSkv
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 10, 2023

The Mountaineers have only been called for 18 total penalties through five games. And that’s tied with Minnesota and Wake Forest for the fourth fewest in the nation. Michigan owns the lowest numbers of penalties to this point with just 14 called against the Wolverines.

Most importantly, only one Big 12 program is beating WVU in this category. UCF has only been penalized 15 times through six weeks of action, which is even more impressive because the Knights have played one more game than the Mountaineers.

This has to be a statistic that head coach Neal Brown loves to see, but it’s also likely something a team can’t rely on all season long. Brown has been honest about saying West Virginia will have to become more explosive offensively in order for the team to achieve its goals. It’s also worth noting those goals are very much obtainable due to the hot start.

It will now be interesting if this trend continues on Thursday night when Brown leads the Mountaineers into hostel territory in Houston and faces off against his predecessor Dana Holgorsen and his desperate Cougars team.

WVU and Houston will kickoff from John O’Quinn Field at TDECU Stadium at 7 pm ET. The game will be televised nationally on FS1.

Based on current odds, West Virginia is considered a three-point favorite. The line initially opened at four points, but has been consistently predicting a close game.