Storylines to Keep an Eye On for WVU-Albany

Week 2 for the Mountaineers is about playing good football and getting back on the right rack after the major disappointment against Penn State. But since WVU is facing an FCS opponent in Albany, it’s unlikely anything that happens this week will appease concerned fans.

However, no matter what anyone may think of this matchup, it’s still essential for WVU to get a win and head into the Backyard Brawl with some confidence.

Here are the storylines to keep an eye on when West Virginia plays Albany under the lights at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday night.

Neal Brown asks fans to still trust the climb….

Despite WVU’s poor performance in their 34-12 season opening loss to Penn State, Neal Brown has one clear message to fans doubting the Mountaineers.

Brown, who knows there are plenty of West Virginia fans who now regret buying in throughout the offseason, does not want to lose the faith of Mountaineer Nation just yet. During his weekly press conference on Monday, Brown told the fans to not lose faith after just one game. Brown then added that he still has a good team and they’re going to go out and show it.

Brown’s rallying cry to fans came after reiterating a lot of what he said immediately following the game on Saturday. At that time, Brown said WVU “played bad football” before getting to any further analysis. And Brown did more of the same after watching film all Sunday.

“I’m not sure we could have beat a subpar team on Saturday. The product on the field is on me and I wasn’t very fired up about it,” said a clearly frustrated Brown.

WV Sports Now’s Mike Asti and Ethan Bock discussed if fans should still trust the climb on a recent episode of their Mountaineer Report podcast.

WVU still getting top 25 votes despite poor play against Penn State

While this might sound crazy, watching WVU lose 34-12 to Penn State wasn’t enough for the Mountaineers to fall completely out of the top 25 picture. In fact, West Virginia is still receiving votes in one major poll.

Shockingly, WVU earned two votes in the Associated Press poll.

Below are the other teams outside of the actual rankings to secure votes.

Texas A&M 97, Boston College 49, Boise St. 47, Iowa St. 32, Memphis 27, Nebraska 27, SMU 23, Washington 20, Liberty 12, Vanderbilt 8, Wisconsin 8, Auburn 8, Tulane 4, North Carolina 4, UTSA 3, Appalachian St. 3, Kentucky 2, West Virginia 2, Arkansas 2, UNLV 1, Colorado 1.

What triggered lack of execution on offense?

Just as WVU head coach Brown said while flushing awaythe stench of his team’s season opening loss to Penn State, the numbers don’t always tell the story of a game, but they did on Saturday. But beyond playing “bad football” and only putting 12 points on the scoreboard, what actually went wrong for the West Virginia offense?

After offensive coordinator Chad Scott admitted he was disappointed and surprised by how his players performed, he offered a simple explanation for what happened while talking to the media on Monday.

“That was disappointing and surprising. We’ve been very discipline the entire camp. We’ve worked a tremendous amount of red zone throughout fall camp and had a lot of success doing it. So that was surprising as well, didn’t execute that,” said Scott.

What Triggered Lack of Execution from WVU Offense Against Penn State?

He pointed to discipline, ball security and execution in the red zone as three main things that caused WVU problems.

And to further hammer home Scott’s comments, West Virginia only managed to score one touchdown in the red zone all game, otherwise settling for two field goals and a failed 4th down attempt.

By the numberers, the Mountaineer offense totaled just 246 yards (161 passing and 85 rushing) and turned the ball over three times, including once on the very next play after the WVU defense handed them the ball after securing an early fumble recovery. Another glaring issue was third down efficiency, succeeding on 4-of-14 plays on third down.

Quarterback Garrett Greene completed 15 passes on 28 attempts for 161 yards and ran for an additional 5 yards off 10 rushes.

Clearing up the poor snaps….

Even though West Virginia fans might be missing Zach Frazier, it wasn’t an issue with his replacement at center.

When asked about what led to the poor snaps, West Virginia head coach Neal Brown defended Brandon Yates by saying “it wasn’t the center.”

Brown then expressed his confusion on what actually took place. “Hell, Mike (Asti), if I knew, I’d have told you,” responded Brown to a direct question from WV Sports Now. 

"Hell, Mike, if I knew, I'd have told you" 😂

— George Gerbo (@Gerbo3) August 31, 2024

Echoing that sentiment, Greene, who was on the other end of the plays, said what Brown alluded to. He put the blame on himself. Greene explained that timing mistakes on his part led to the poor snaps.

For a related story, Mike Asti explains what WVU needs to accomplish beyond just beating Albany.