Neal Brown Asked About Penn State's Late TD in 2023 Opener

The WVU head football coach moved on from last year's game a long time ago.

Matthew O'Haren-USA TODAY Sports

In the season-opener last year in Happy Valley, Penn State had a 31-15 lead over West Virginia and got the ball back with a little over three minutes remaining in the game. Instead of just running the clock out, they made an effort to go down the field and score one more time, getting the touchdown back they just gave up. James Franklin had an opportunity to take a knee with time set to expire, but ran one more play which found the end zone with six seconds left.

It didn't sit well with the Mountaineer faithful and although he didn't really comment on it in his postgame press conference, you could tell head coach Neal Brown felt some sort of way about it. Maybe he didn't, but that's how I perceived it.

On Monday, he was asked about that late-second touchdown once again and if he's used it as a tool for motivation.

“It is what it is. I’m not really using it. It’s just kind of is what it is. They scored late. I don’t necessarily have a problem with it, but it is what it is. Here’s the thing, if our guys need something like that to motivate them then, eh. But I will say this, the score of the game is the score of the game. We didn’t play very well. We had a chance to win the game in the third quarter when winning plays were required and we didn’t make those winning plays and they did.”

A great piece of advice I received when I was younger and actually played was that you can only worry about the game that's right in front of you. While the late touchdown probably didn't sit right with many of those on the West Virginia sideline a year ago, it's a thing of the past. It's pointless, done, and over with. The only focus should be on this Saturday's game and it is.

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