Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
United Bank Playbook – WVU Once Again Hits Pause Button on Weekend Action
October 30, 2024 01:02 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia hits the pause button a second time on game action this weekend following another grueling four-game stretch that featured road wins at Oklahoma State and at Arizona and home losses to nationally ranked Iowa State and Kansas State.
After eight weeks of action, the Mountaineers are 4-4 overall and 3-2 in Big 12 play, one of four teams logjammed in fifth place.
Undefeated BYU sits atop the league standings at 5-0, followed by 4-0 Iowa State, 4-1 Kansas State and 4-1 Colorado.
West Virginia's next opponent, Cincinnati, is among the teams sitting at 3-2 and still entertaining thoughts of getting into this year's Big 12 championship game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
West Virginia is coming off a 31-26 road win at Arizona last Saturday, and WVU coach Neal Brown said during his weekly United Bank Playbook visit with Tony Caridi that his team sorely needs some time off.
"And just like last time, we're coming off a win and you are heading into a really important stretch of the season," Brown pointed out. "These four games in November are going to make or break our season.
"We still have a lot of football to play; we're right in the middle of the conference football race, and I think our fans need to understand that," Brown added.
The coach thought last Saturday's win against the Wildcats was a big win for his football team.
"To go 2,000-plus miles away without three of our four captains, without our starting quarterback, without our starting left tackle and with a bunch of injuries … I think it says a lot about our guys to go on the road against a team that was preseason top 15 and get a quality road win, so I am really proud of them," he said.
Brown indicated the team will have two different plans for the players. The objective for the regulars is to get rested and healthy, while the younger players will get scrimmage work to identify if any of them are ready to help the team during the final third of the season.
"The first plan is for the guys that are playing week in and week out and they need to get rested and recovered. We need to get the injured guys that are capable of getting back, we need to get back," Brown pointed out. "I think hitting the mental reset is as important as anything. This has been a grind of a season with a really hard schedule with a lot of ups and downs, and we need to get mentally refocused for the back third of the season these last four games.
"The second plan is for the guys who aren't playing as much that are our future," he said. "We'll scrimmage them twice this week, and we'll get a lot of live action work for them and see if anybody is ready to step up and help us these last four games."
Also, down the road is signing day just six weeks away in December.
"We have to solidify our commitments first," Brown said. "We feel good about the commitments we got back in the summer, and then the second thing is we need to add a few pieces - not a large number – and we'll get out on the road Thursday, Friday and Saturday."
West Virginia's Nov. 9 matchup at Cincinnati will kick off at noon and will be televised nationally on FS1.
WVU's final two home games will be played on Saturday, Nov. 16 against Baylor and on Saturday, Nov. 23 against UCF. Tickets remain for both games and can be purchased through the Mountaineer Ticket Office by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
The Mountaineers wrap up the regular season on the road at Texas Tech on Saturday, Nov. 30.
After eight weeks of action, the Mountaineers are 4-4 overall and 3-2 in Big 12 play, one of four teams logjammed in fifth place.
Undefeated BYU sits atop the league standings at 5-0, followed by 4-0 Iowa State, 4-1 Kansas State and 4-1 Colorado.
West Virginia's next opponent, Cincinnati, is among the teams sitting at 3-2 and still entertaining thoughts of getting into this year's Big 12 championship game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
West Virginia is coming off a 31-26 road win at Arizona last Saturday, and WVU coach Neal Brown said during his weekly United Bank Playbook visit with Tony Caridi that his team sorely needs some time off.
"And just like last time, we're coming off a win and you are heading into a really important stretch of the season," Brown pointed out. "These four games in November are going to make or break our season.
"We still have a lot of football to play; we're right in the middle of the conference football race, and I think our fans need to understand that," Brown added.
The coach thought last Saturday's win against the Wildcats was a big win for his football team.
"To go 2,000-plus miles away without three of our four captains, without our starting quarterback, without our starting left tackle and with a bunch of injuries … I think it says a lot about our guys to go on the road against a team that was preseason top 15 and get a quality road win, so I am really proud of them," he said.
Brown indicated the team will have two different plans for the players. The objective for the regulars is to get rested and healthy, while the younger players will get scrimmage work to identify if any of them are ready to help the team during the final third of the season.
"The first plan is for the guys that are playing week in and week out and they need to get rested and recovered. We need to get the injured guys that are capable of getting back, we need to get back," Brown pointed out. "I think hitting the mental reset is as important as anything. This has been a grind of a season with a really hard schedule with a lot of ups and downs, and we need to get mentally refocused for the back third of the season these last four games.
"The second plan is for the guys who aren't playing as much that are our future," he said. "We'll scrimmage them twice this week, and we'll get a lot of live action work for them and see if anybody is ready to step up and help us these last four games."
Also, down the road is signing day just six weeks away in December.
"We have to solidify our commitments first," Brown said. "We feel good about the commitments we got back in the summer, and then the second thing is we need to add a few pieces - not a large number – and we'll get out on the road Thursday, Friday and Saturday."
West Virginia's Nov. 9 matchup at Cincinnati will kick off at noon and will be televised nationally on FS1.
WVU's final two home games will be played on Saturday, Nov. 16 against Baylor and on Saturday, Nov. 23 against UCF. Tickets remain for both games and can be purchased through the Mountaineer Ticket Office by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
The Mountaineers wrap up the regular season on the road at Texas Tech on Saturday, Nov. 30.
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