Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
United Bank Playbook – More Bye Week Work
October 07, 2020 11:59 AM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The question West Virginia football fans from Weirton to Welch, Martinsburg to Matewan and all points in between is asking this week is how does West Virginia capitalize on its impressive, 27-21 double-overtime victory against Baylor last Saturday?
Morgantown's Tony Caridi posed that very question to coach Neal Brown during their weekly United Bank Playbook segment, distributed worldwide through the modern magic of social media.
"I think you have to talk to them about why we have success on defense in our coverage units versus Baylor on Saturday, and it was because of the effort and the physicality that we played with," Brown began. "We've got to be able to repeat that each and every Saturday in our league.
"Then, we've got to say, 'Okay, offensively, what did we do well?' There were some things we did well. The opening drive was 15-plus plays and we were able to go down and score. Then, you look at what we did in overtime and how we ran the football," Brown added.
"There were some things we can take away from that game offensively and say these are building blocks. But then you say, 'What didn't go well?' Offensively, we had penalties. We didn't do a very good job in protection at some places, we didn't do a very good job of little detail things that extend drives so we need to get better at those things," he concluded.
Brown said the beginning part of this week will be about becoming a better West Virginia football team. The latter part will involve working on a Kansas game plan.
One key area where the Mountaineers are really performing well is in the red zone, on both sides of the ball.
It was a major point of emphasis for Brown during preseason camp, and his team has really responded through the first three games, with two of those coming against a couple of the better teams in the Big 12.
West Virginia ranks fifth nationally in red-zone defense this week allowing just a 60% success rate. In fact, only two of the opponents' five red zone trips have resulted in touchdowns.
That's lights-out good!
Offensively, the Mountaineers rank 20th this week in red-zone effectiveness, a drastic improvement from last season. West Virginia has been successful on 13 out of its 14 trips into the red zone this season, which includes 11 touchdowns.
Another area where the offense has shined is on fourth down where it has been successful four out of six times, including a fourth-and-inches conversion during overtime last Saturday that resulted in a touchdown.
WVU converted fourth-down plays on two of its four scoring drives last Saturday against the Bears.
Defensively, West Virginia ranks in the top 20 nationally this week in these major categories:
* Total Defense (6th)
*Passing Defense (9th)
*Scoring Defense (14th)
*Rushing Defense (18th)
WVU and its Department of Intercollegiate Athletics are welcoming fans back to Milan Puskar Stadium for next Saturday's game against Kansas. The stadium will operate at 25% capacity as part of the health, safety and wellness measures being implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the 25% capacity limit at Milan Puskar Stadium, the priority opportunity to purchase tickets is currently being given to previous WVU football season ticket holders to obtain the best available seats first, with any remaining going on sale to the general public the week of the game.
Additional information pertaining to WVU student ticketing will be released on Friday, Oct. 9, with the student ticketing process for the Kansas game beginning the week of the game on Monday, Oct. 12. Student seats in Milan Puskar Stadium will be limited to approximately 2,000 seats between upper, lower and Mountaineer Maniac sections.
Once the information is released on WVU Student Ticketing, details will be available at http://www.WVUGAME.com/students.
The Kansas game will kick off at noon and will be televised nationally on FS1.
Morgantown's Tony Caridi posed that very question to coach Neal Brown during their weekly United Bank Playbook segment, distributed worldwide through the modern magic of social media.
"I think you have to talk to them about why we have success on defense in our coverage units versus Baylor on Saturday, and it was because of the effort and the physicality that we played with," Brown began. "We've got to be able to repeat that each and every Saturday in our league.
"Then, we've got to say, 'Okay, offensively, what did we do well?' There were some things we did well. The opening drive was 15-plus plays and we were able to go down and score. Then, you look at what we did in overtime and how we ran the football," Brown added.
"There were some things we can take away from that game offensively and say these are building blocks. But then you say, 'What didn't go well?' Offensively, we had penalties. We didn't do a very good job in protection at some places, we didn't do a very good job of little detail things that extend drives so we need to get better at those things," he concluded.
Brown said the beginning part of this week will be about becoming a better West Virginia football team. The latter part will involve working on a Kansas game plan.
One key area where the Mountaineers are really performing well is in the red zone, on both sides of the ball.
It was a major point of emphasis for Brown during preseason camp, and his team has really responded through the first three games, with two of those coming against a couple of the better teams in the Big 12.
West Virginia ranks fifth nationally in red-zone defense this week allowing just a 60% success rate. In fact, only two of the opponents' five red zone trips have resulted in touchdowns.
That's lights-out good!
Offensively, the Mountaineers rank 20th this week in red-zone effectiveness, a drastic improvement from last season. West Virginia has been successful on 13 out of its 14 trips into the red zone this season, which includes 11 touchdowns.
Another area where the offense has shined is on fourth down where it has been successful four out of six times, including a fourth-and-inches conversion during overtime last Saturday that resulted in a touchdown.
WVU converted fourth-down plays on two of its four scoring drives last Saturday against the Bears.
Defensively, West Virginia ranks in the top 20 nationally this week in these major categories:
* Total Defense (6th)
*Passing Defense (9th)
*Scoring Defense (14th)
*Rushing Defense (18th)
WVU and its Department of Intercollegiate Athletics are welcoming fans back to Milan Puskar Stadium for next Saturday's game against Kansas. The stadium will operate at 25% capacity as part of the health, safety and wellness measures being implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the 25% capacity limit at Milan Puskar Stadium, the priority opportunity to purchase tickets is currently being given to previous WVU football season ticket holders to obtain the best available seats first, with any remaining going on sale to the general public the week of the game.
Additional information pertaining to WVU student ticketing will be released on Friday, Oct. 9, with the student ticketing process for the Kansas game beginning the week of the game on Monday, Oct. 12. Student seats in Milan Puskar Stadium will be limited to approximately 2,000 seats between upper, lower and Mountaineer Maniac sections.
Once the information is released on WVU Student Ticketing, details will be available at http://www.WVUGAME.com/students.
The Kansas game will kick off at noon and will be televised nationally on FS1.
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