West Virginia Fighting Neal Browns vs Pitt

[YaketySax]

Scattered first half thoughts:

Pitt - they went from a modern spread offense to getting a new OC and now running the ball 70% of plays in the first half. Lots of I-formation despite landing a pretty decent QB who has three seasons worth of starts at USC. Weird in today's game to see a team elect to emphasize the run more and play to win low-scoring games. Really glad Stoops gave up on that a few years ago. You got to have balance but running off-tackle out of a basic formation is unimaginative and doesn't seem to work much anymore.

WVU - Pretty impressive Brown got the UGA QB transfer and these big tall WRs are also play-makers. Lots of YAC and the announcers said WVU lost their top 3 WRs from last season. I don't know how good Pitt's defense is this year, but maybe 10 first half points is impressive. Brown hasn't been good at WVU, but was good at Troy. I think he's a good coach but WVU can't recruit like it use to but maybe he'll have more success with the portal.

 

[AustinTXCat]

And just like that, Mountaineers score one play after a blocked punt.

 

[Doctor-J]

WVU blew it by not going for it on 4th and inches when they were up 7 and with a ton of momentum. Dumb call.

 

[YaketySax]

Brown still to beat a ranked opponent at WVU

 

[RingoLucky]

So glad we got away from brown

 

[ArtLaibsGhost]

Brown chocked this one away, not impressed

 

[3632]

WVU blew it by not going for it on 4th and inches when they were up 7 and with a ton of momentum. Dumb call.

yeah could be but as a kentucky fan i can't say much. that's stoops' ball right there. that's the end of game decision making we do. we play the odds you don't go the entire field.

 

[Ugoff]

Neal appeared to be on the verge of punching a ref at several points in that game.

Can't blame him for punting on 4th down there. If he goes for it and turns it over those cretins would have his house in flames

 

[ArtLaibsGhost]

Faint hearts don't win fair maidens, Brown will be lonely tonight

 

[Blueworld_3.0]

Been saying it here for a while, I think bringing Pitt into the SEC would be such a baller move. Lol. Of course it will never happen but, it would be an awesome middle finger to the B1G to establish a presence in their territory. Good sized market with a solid fanbase but, geographically doesn't really fit the SEC footprint. If that is even still important.
Come to think of it, Pitt doesn't really fit in with the ACC either.

 

[rye48]

WVU blew it by not going for it on 4th and inches when they were up 7 and with a ton of momentum. Dumb call.

Right call ,,damn near every head coach would make the same call including stoops

 

[seccats04]

Bottom line, Neal Brown has stunk at WVa. I was hoping he would do well and be the heir apparent to Stoops but he will probably get fired after this year. Hopefully Stoops will get over all the BS the past year or so and stay at UK.

 

[highlysuspicious]

When you can’t line up under center, it influences your decision on 4th and 2 inches.

 

[Ugoff]

Faint hearts don't win fair maidens, Brown will be lonely tonight

He might hunker down with a biggin' though.

 

[Soupbean]

WVU blew it by not going for it on 4th and inches when they were up 7 and with a ton of momentum. Dumb call.

Thought the same thing. When you have control of the situation keep control. If you go for it and get it you have control of the game. If you punt it back you give up that control for what? 30 maybe 40 yards field position. That field position can be regained in or two good plays by the offense then you wasted the chance to have complete control for nothing. Is that really a good risk reward decision.

I guarantee the other guys behind are praying that you choose to punt it in that situation everytime. The pressure is on them to stop you and the odds are strongly against them 4th and inches.

Last point, even if you go for it and fail, you can still stop them from scoring which is what you were planning on doing if you punted anyway right? If you couldnt stop them from 80 yards away then you werent going to stop them from 50 either so go for it and take both possibilties of that happening out of play. Control the situation.

 

[Blouman]

The punt didn't cost them the game. The receiver letting the ball go through his
hands and resulting in a pick 6 is what cost them the game. Not a coaching issue.

 

[kb22stang]

I remember when when Neal was the "in" thing on this board, now I see national guys comparing him to Scott Frost.

 

[Dddjdd]

Glad we got to see Brown flounder before someone gave him a shot here. If he was still an unknown I guarantee Mitch would want to hire him when the time comes

 

[JDHoss]

I remember when when Neal was the "in" thing on this board, now I see national guys comparing him to Scott Frost.

Brown hasn't been good, but he's been better than Frosty, who is a dreadful 15-30 overall and 10-26 in the B1G.

 

[StubbornPenny]

The punt didn't cost them the game. The receiver letting the ball go through his
hands and resulting in a pick 6 is what cost them the game. Not a coaching issue.

in the moment sure, but when you’re on the road against a ranked team in a rivalry, on 4th and 1 with momentum - go for it. Up your odds of winning with no drama instead of allowing it to come down to a bonehead mistake in a crucial situation. A good bit of hindsight there, but I guarantee the math says go for it in that situation.