COACH SPEAK: Brown talks Backyard Brawl, Injuries and More

NB:” I put that video on Sunday, saying what I basically wanted to say. It was a great atmosphere and I appreciated everyone for showing up. It was one of the best atmospheres I’ve ever been apart of. Thought our guys competed hard and played the game the right way, but made some mistakes at critical times.”

Thoughts: After dwelling on it, I understand a bit more why the coach may have put the video out. A tough loss to an opponent followed by a lackluster opponent could have reduced some fan participation. I think the tone of the message and the timing were not great but hopefully everyone packs the stadium and a few consecutive wins can put the video behind us and get on to enjoying the fall.

NB: “Positives are we ran the ball really well and had a 100-yard rusher. Pitt gave up a 100-yard rusher for the first time since 1999”

Um....that cannot be right. White and Slaton had over 100-yards versus Pitt.

Tackling issues - because it was their first game together?

NB: “I think its a fundamental [issue]. Its been a strength of ours for three years, we’ve been a good tackling team. We’ll get back to work on it. “

More than anything else from Thursday’s game is the fact that the secondary could not tackle. I expect the next two games will be better because we should be the more talented team. Hopefully these games will be used to get the fundamentals down.

Injuries

NB: “Really don’t know just yet. We’re waiting on some guys. Obviously Charles Woods got hurt. I don’t really have an update on him. Jordan White, he’s moving around and I think he’s probable for the game. We’ll know more after practice today. [Austin-Cave] didn’t play. He’ll be questionable again. He has not practiced since our second scrimmage full speed”

The loss of Woods could be detrimental to a secondary that already has fundamental tackling issues and is starting a bunch of new transfers.

CJ Donaldson

NB: I sat up here and said his name a bunch during fall camp and that doesn’t always translate. Sometimes when the lights come on, those guys who played really well [shy away], but he didn’t. We thought he would [play well] but you’re never sure. You’re always hesistant to put too much on a young player too early...his role continued to grow”

I agree with coach and understand you can’t just make a prediction on a career based on one game. Donaldson looks like a GAM and the staff should look to find ways to get him the ball but don’t expect him to rip 40 yard runs every time he gets the ball.

McCormick / Mumu Bin-Wahad

NB: “Sha-don [Brown] he had a plan and it would be better for him [to explain]. We always go through these selections on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and you say ‘what if?’ I’ll always say what-if this, what if that, and the reason is it makes you have to think on the fly like you would in a game...but its a gut-feel as far as that goes, who goes in. This week what we’ll do if Charles can’t go is we’ll have a full fledged competition”

Officiating

NB: “First one was on I knew both of those guys fair caught the ball [Sam James and Davis Mallinger]. It just took them longer to get it right, but they got it right, so credit to them. As far as the last catch or non-catch goes....you can see the ball hit the ground just like you can see the other ball hit the ground. So my argument is either both of them are catches or neither of them are catches and we agree to disagree”

In the moment, the angle for replay on the Pitt catch was poor and aided in the reviewers being unable to tell it wasn’t a catch. West Virginia suffered from the fact that they had great angles on Reese’s catch. I do agree with coach that neither were catches and the Pitt one should have been ruled a non-catch but the replay during the game was poor. The angle was from behind the QB and made it tougher to see. Reese had the zoom on him which did him no favors.