Four Downs With Neal Brown | Disappointed By Last Week, Opportunity To Bounce Back

Following a collapse against Maryland at College Park on Saturday, West Virginia football head coach Neal Brown spoke with the media on Tuesday about the 0-1 start and what the team is going to do to adjust this week.

The Maryland Game Was a Whole Bunch of Miscommunication

Brown opened his introductory statement with addressing the loss.

“Saturday’s loss was disappointing with anybody associated with our team, fans or anybody inside the building,” Brown said. “I really appreciate our fans who made the trip, our bands and spirit squads. They created a great atmosphere.”

The Mountaineers gave up 120 yards on offense due to miscommunication. The coaching staff wanted to get running back Leddie Brown 25 rushes but only were able to get him 17. The flow of the game threw the staff off, so they went from running the ball to throwing it.

Brown mentioned that stat on Tuesday and will look to fix the errors against Long Island on Saturday.

Brown Knows Long-Term Goal But Also Recognizes The Reality

The third-year coach at West Virginia knows that everyone is disappointed about the slow start to the season, which resulted in a lot of outcry from the fanbase over the Labor Day weekend. Brown read a passage from a book by Jim Collins that he read to the team on Monday.

“You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose with a discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality,” Brown read.

During practice on Tuesday, the coaching staff will show the team other schools that are 0-1 that lost ’50/50 games.’

Brown mentioned that he still has ‘extreme faith’ in the long-term goals of the program but realizes the reality that the team is 0-1 and did not show up to play against Maryland over the weekend.

Brown Says Jarret Doege Is “Getting Better”

Against the Terrapins, quarterback Jarret Doege completed 24-of-40 passes for 277 yards. The former quarterback at Bowling Green threw for one touchdown pass and two interceptions—which were two out of the four turnovers on Saturday.

Brown pinned Doege has the most improved player during the spring and the staff praised his mobility all off-season. Brown still shows his faith in his quarterback but knows what he needs to work on.

“He is better. The things that he’s got to get better at is he can’t make the bad plays worse,” Brown said. “Some of that [the issues] is that he’s got to be more firm out of the pocket, some of it is his instincts got to be better.”

Saturday’s Game Against Long Island is an Opportunity To Fix Some Issues

On Tuesday, Brown mentioned that Maryland won the game, they played well.

“They won the game,” Brown said.

Brown also addressed the problems on the defensive side and the struggles that the offensive line presented against the Terrapins. On the defensive side, Brown stated that the defense only played to their full capability in the third quarter against Maryland, didn’t play the best in any other quarter.

Long Island’s offense is a lot similar to Maryland’s, as they run some screen plays and include two good wide receivers to watch out for.

“It’s about making improvements. Offensively they’re [Long Island] similar to what Maryland was on Saturday,” Brown said. “They’re going to give us a lot of misdirection screens. They’ve got a couple of guys that are going to belong. The receivers are really talented. One of their names is [Derick] Eugene.”

(Top Photo: Ben Queen)