MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Don't look now, but West Virginia has won five of its last seven football games dating back to last year.
Say what?
That's right, the Mountaineers won two of the last three to conclude the 2022 season and are off to a 3-1 start so far this year. Two + three = five, at least that's what I learned back in the first grade.
Starting center Zach Frazier was unaware of it. So too was offensive coordinator Chad Scott.
"No, I was not aware. Five out of our last seven?" Scott repeated earlier today. "It's probably because we've been so focused on playing the games right in front of us. We've taken care of business winning these three home games, a couple of really tough games, that have now put us in a position to move forward."
What you need to know about this year's West Virginia football team won't be found on a stat sheet, so don't bother looking.
Now, a little more about those five victories.
One came last year in comeback fashion against Oklahoma - a team West Virginia had not defeated since joining the Big 12 in 2012. The other last year was at Oklahoma State, a team Neal Brown had not defeated since taking the West Virginia job in 2019.
Two of the three wins so far this year were clearly unanticipated by the so-called experts who picked West Virginia to finish 14th in the Big 12, or to the one anonymous Big 12 coach who told a magazine that West Virginia had a bunch of Mid-American Conference-level players on its defense.
Here is that exact quote from coach Anonymous: "The defense is legitimately bad. They look like a MAC team compared to the rest of the league, and he (Neal Brown) didn't fire his coaches."
Well, this year's first unexpected victory was against a rival Pitt team coming off a Sun Bowl triumph over UCLA and a touchdown win over West Virginia in last year's Backyard Brawl. Losing back-to-back games to your archrival is never a good thing.
Then, last Saturday, West Virginia did a little more surprising by upsetting touchdown-favorite Texas Tech 20-13 at Milan Puskar Stadium. The Red Raiders have been perhaps the biggest thorn in West Virginia's side recently, winning the last four games in the series by scores of 38-17, 34-27, 23-20 and 48-10.
Beating Tech last Saturday was significant in that regard, or the fact that the starting defense has given up just two touchdowns in its last 12 quarters since the Penn State game.
"It all starts up front," Scott explained. "Zach Frazier won offensive linemen of the week the last two weeks and Wyatt Milum was the offensive player of the week (against Texas Tech). This is the first time anywhere I've ever coached where an offensive lineman won the offensive player of the week. That's big time!"
"This is the most physical team up front, in totality, on both sides of the ball since I've been here," Brown added.
As for those two defeats, both were clearly understandable. One came against a 23rd-ranked Kansas State team that knocked off national runner-up TCU in the Big 12 championship game and faced Alabama in last year's Sugar Bowl.
The other was in this year's opener against a sixth-ranked Penn State team that appears to be a playoff contender based on how it completely dominated Iowa last Saturday night in Happy Valley.
"Other than the first half defensively against Kansas State, we've strung together some pretty good football," Brown pointed out. "When you go through that seven-game stretch, there are a couple of pass plays we'd like to have back against Duquesne and Penn State, but we've played better defensively. And we've played a pretty good run of teams, too."
Not to mention four of these last five victories have come under some difficult circumstances, whether it was coming from behind to beat Oklahoma, battling impossible weather conditions in Stillwater, overcoming an injury to starting quarterback Garrett Greene on the sixth offensive play of the game versus Pitt, or preparing freshman Nicco Marchiol for his first collegiate start last Saturday against Texas Tech. Quarterback Nicco Marchiol made his first college start in last Saturday's Texas Tech win (All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks, photo).
Greene was the guy who bailed West Virginia out against Oklahoma. Marchiol bailed the Mountaineers out at Oklahoma State, and he also came through in the Mountaineers' two hard-fought wins so far this year against Pitt and Texas Tech.
No, these five victories have not come in beauty-pageant style, which is probably why no one has taken notice, but this team is starting to demonstrate a grit, mettle and determination that is required to win tough, difficult football games.
"I mean, I'm not shocked we're 3-1. Nobody else wanted to listen, but I thought we had a chance," Brown said.
"They've got to go win. The whole goal is to get into November with a chance to win your league," he added. "Now, I'm not standing in front of the team in meetings saying that, but from a staff standpoint that's the goal – get to November with a chance to go to Dallas. To do that, you've got to defend your home turf and then you've got to beat quality teams on the road."
As legendary Raiders owner Al Davis used to say, "Just win, baby."
