WVU HC Neal Brown on Atmosphere at Backyard Brawl: ‘Players Fed Off That’

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – WVU head coach Neal Brown knew how big of a game the 2023 Backyard Brawl was before kickoff, but he was able to fully put it into words after his team’s 17-6 win.

“It’s been something that’s stuck with us for 54 weeks. We had a chance, we had a lead in the fourth quarter 54 weeks ago and we did not finish. It was ugly and we can play ugly ball,” Brown said about not being able to shake the feeling of last year’s loss to Pitt.

WVU HC Neal Brown starts off by saying the crowd really played a factor in the game. “I want to credit the crowd.”

— Mike J. Asti (@MikeAsti11) September 17, 2023

In 2022, WVU fell to the Panthers in Pittsburgh. But this time around the Mountaineers had the benefit of being home. And Brown made sure to point out how much of an impact the fans truly had on the outcome of the game.

“We had some bad things happen to us in that football game. Playing at home in that type of atmosphere I especially thought our defensive players fed off of that,” he said to open his postgame press conference Saturday night.

Brown did follow that up by saying West Virginia needs that same energy from the fans next week and in future home games. But Brown’s hope for an electric atmosphere all week came true.