Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Monday Football Notebook
September 23, 2019 05:00 PM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – If you go back and study Neal Brown's teams when he coached at Troy you will notice they improved as the season progressed.
We're seeing the same thing this year with his West Virginia team.
Take the running game, for instance.
After two weeks, the Mountaineer run game ranked 129th out of 130 football teams, averaging an anemic 32 yards per game.
Even worse, West Virginia was getting just 1.1 yards per carry from a backfield that returned experienced players Kennedy McKoy, Martell Pettaway and Leddie Brown.
Brown and his offensive staff made tweaks on the offensive line and demanded better blocking on the perimeter. He also demanded his running backs get north and south and quit dancing at the line of scrimmage.
Well, two weeks later West Virginia has advanced to 115 in the rankings this week.
Two weeks ago, the ground game produced 173 yards and an average of 6.2 yards per carry in the NC State victory. This past Saturday, it churned out 192 yards and three touchdowns on a very windy afternoon in Lawrence, Kansas.
McKoy and Brown topped 70 yards against the Jayhawks and their season rushing totals are inching forward as well. McKoy now shows 151 yards on 48 attempts, an average of 3.1 yards per rush, while Brown has now topped 100 yards and is averaging a solid 5.5 yards per carry.
Pettaway, who didn't see action against NC State, returned against Kansas to score two critical second-half touchdowns. His 23-yarder on the opening drive of the third quarter was a thing of beauty when he made a complete 360 to elude a tackler to break free.
"We've done a better job of playing physical on the perimeter," Brown pointed out Monday morning. "I think our tight ends and our fullbacks have been more of a factor in the run game. I think our wide receivers have gotten involved in the run game much better than they have been previously.
"Our offensive line, we've gotten hats on hats. We're not always blocking them exactly the way we want to, but we're not allowing run-throughs and negative yardage plays like we did the first two weeks," Brown said.
Brown attributes that to better communication up front with freshman Briason Mays taking over at center and freshman James Gmiter handling right guard in place of injured junior Josh Sills. Brown said he will have more on Sills' health status when he meets with local media on Tuesday.
Overall, Brown said he's been most pleased with the way his young team has found ways to win football games, especially last Saturday when he felt his team didn't play particularly well in any phase.
"I think to be 3-1 at the end of September with the schedule we've played, I feel good about the growth we've made," he concluded.
Briefly:
* Brown was asked to list some offensive and defensive standouts through the first third of the season. He readily offered senior left tackle Colton McKivitz on offense.
"He's our leader," Brown said. "He's played physical. He's protected the passer well, and I think he's playing at a high level."
On the other side of the ball, Brown indicated the whole has been greater than the sum of its parts.
"There really has not been just one standout. We've kind of been a group that's played well together," he said. "I think we're doing a good job schematically on the defensive side of the ball. I think our defensive line, as a group, has probably been the bright spot."
* Earlier today, the Big 12 announced that West Virginia's game against Texas at Milan Puskar Stadium will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally on either ABC or ESPN. The decision likely came down to which team won at Kansas last Saturday because the Jayhawks are facing Oklahoma at noon on Oct. 5 in Lawrence.
* Some personnel updates: Brown said Monday linebacker VanDarius Cowen's four-game suspension has been lifted, and he will be available to play against Texas on Oct. 5.
"He will get heavily evaluated during this bye week leading into the Texas game," Brown said.
Injury has prevented touted junior college cornerback Dreshun Miller from seeing action so far this year, and Brown indicated it may be a week or so before he knows Miller's long-term availability for this season.
"Dreshun has been out with injury and is still rehabbing," Brown said, without specifying the type of injury Miller has.
Meanwhile, Brown was asked about junior linebacker Charlie Benton. His answer, "Charlie has been available but just hasn't played yet."
* Junior quarterback Austin Kendall had another solid showing at Kansas, completing 25-of-37 passes for 202 yards with no interceptions and no touchdowns. In four games, the former Oklahoma transfer is completing 65.3 percent of his passes for 871 yards and six touchdowns.
Kendall was also the victim of a couple of drops last Saturday at Kansas.
"I think he's done some really good things," Brown said. "I thought he managed the game well at Kansas. It was not his best throwing game – it was windy, I don't know if that played into it, but I would hope not. I thought he managed the two-minute situation before the end of the half and the four-minute situation at the end of the game well."
One area where Brown is seeking improvement is West Virginia's downfield passing. The Mountaineers misfired on all of their deep throws last Saturday at Kansas and the longest pass from scrimmage this year, a 51-yarder to Sam James against NC State, was actually a jet sweep.
WVU has still been unable to connect on a long pass down the field.
"We've got to be more productive in our explosive plays," Brown said.
We will have more from Brown during his regularly scheduled news conference on Tuesday at noon.
We're seeing the same thing this year with his West Virginia team.
Take the running game, for instance.
After two weeks, the Mountaineer run game ranked 129th out of 130 football teams, averaging an anemic 32 yards per game.
Even worse, West Virginia was getting just 1.1 yards per carry from a backfield that returned experienced players Kennedy McKoy, Martell Pettaway and Leddie Brown.
Brown and his offensive staff made tweaks on the offensive line and demanded better blocking on the perimeter. He also demanded his running backs get north and south and quit dancing at the line of scrimmage.
Well, two weeks later West Virginia has advanced to 115 in the rankings this week.
Two weeks ago, the ground game produced 173 yards and an average of 6.2 yards per carry in the NC State victory. This past Saturday, it churned out 192 yards and three touchdowns on a very windy afternoon in Lawrence, Kansas.
McKoy and Brown topped 70 yards against the Jayhawks and their season rushing totals are inching forward as well. McKoy now shows 151 yards on 48 attempts, an average of 3.1 yards per rush, while Brown has now topped 100 yards and is averaging a solid 5.5 yards per carry.
Pettaway, who didn't see action against NC State, returned against Kansas to score two critical second-half touchdowns. His 23-yarder on the opening drive of the third quarter was a thing of beauty when he made a complete 360 to elude a tackler to break free.
"We've done a better job of playing physical on the perimeter," Brown pointed out Monday morning. "I think our tight ends and our fullbacks have been more of a factor in the run game. I think our wide receivers have gotten involved in the run game much better than they have been previously.
"Our offensive line, we've gotten hats on hats. We're not always blocking them exactly the way we want to, but we're not allowing run-throughs and negative yardage plays like we did the first two weeks," Brown said.
Brown attributes that to better communication up front with freshman Briason Mays taking over at center and freshman James Gmiter handling right guard in place of injured junior Josh Sills. Brown said he will have more on Sills' health status when he meets with local media on Tuesday.
Overall, Brown said he's been most pleased with the way his young team has found ways to win football games, especially last Saturday when he felt his team didn't play particularly well in any phase.
"I think to be 3-1 at the end of September with the schedule we've played, I feel good about the growth we've made," he concluded.
Briefly:
* Brown was asked to list some offensive and defensive standouts through the first third of the season. He readily offered senior left tackle Colton McKivitz on offense.
"He's our leader," Brown said. "He's played physical. He's protected the passer well, and I think he's playing at a high level."
On the other side of the ball, Brown indicated the whole has been greater than the sum of its parts.
"There really has not been just one standout. We've kind of been a group that's played well together," he said. "I think we're doing a good job schematically on the defensive side of the ball. I think our defensive line, as a group, has probably been the bright spot."
* Earlier today, the Big 12 announced that West Virginia's game against Texas at Milan Puskar Stadium will kick off at 3:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally on either ABC or ESPN. The decision likely came down to which team won at Kansas last Saturday because the Jayhawks are facing Oklahoma at noon on Oct. 5 in Lawrence.
* Some personnel updates: Brown said Monday linebacker VanDarius Cowen's four-game suspension has been lifted, and he will be available to play against Texas on Oct. 5.
"He will get heavily evaluated during this bye week leading into the Texas game," Brown said.
Injury has prevented touted junior college cornerback Dreshun Miller from seeing action so far this year, and Brown indicated it may be a week or so before he knows Miller's long-term availability for this season.
"Dreshun has been out with injury and is still rehabbing," Brown said, without specifying the type of injury Miller has.
Meanwhile, Brown was asked about junior linebacker Charlie Benton. His answer, "Charlie has been available but just hasn't played yet."
* Junior quarterback Austin Kendall had another solid showing at Kansas, completing 25-of-37 passes for 202 yards with no interceptions and no touchdowns. In four games, the former Oklahoma transfer is completing 65.3 percent of his passes for 871 yards and six touchdowns.
Kendall was also the victim of a couple of drops last Saturday at Kansas.
"I think he's done some really good things," Brown said. "I thought he managed the game well at Kansas. It was not his best throwing game – it was windy, I don't know if that played into it, but I would hope not. I thought he managed the two-minute situation before the end of the half and the four-minute situation at the end of the game well."
One area where Brown is seeking improvement is West Virginia's downfield passing. The Mountaineers misfired on all of their deep throws last Saturday at Kansas and the longest pass from scrimmage this year, a 51-yarder to Sam James against NC State, was actually a jet sweep.
WVU has still been unable to connect on a long pass down the field.
"We've got to be more productive in our explosive plays," Brown said.
We will have more from Brown during his regularly scheduled news conference on Tuesday at noon.
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