Sunday Morning Thoughts: What Is There to Trust in This "Climb"?

Final thoughts on West Virginia's loss to Iowa State.

Schuyler Callihan | Oct 13, 2024

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West Virginia Mountaineers

Another big opportunity, another massive flop from Neal Brown and the West Virginia Mountaineers. There's no shame in losing to the 11th-ranked team in the country, but when you beat yourself and make critical errors over and over again, particularly on the big stage, there's a lot to question.

If you've followed this team closely over the last six years, you knew that what took place Saturday night was almost a certainty to happen. Brown has been atrociously bad against ranked teams, now owning a 3-16 record versus such teams during his tenure as the Mountaineer head coach.

The deeper we get into the season, the more it looks like the 2023 season was an anomaly and a byproduct of a weak schedule. Halfway through the 2024 campaign, it's been a massive disappointment.

You can be fooled into believing this WVU team is a Big 12 contender and in weeks past, I'm guilty of it. Not anymore. WVU's three wins? UAlbany and two teams who have a combined 0-6 record in Big 12 play. Their three losses? Penn State, Pitt, and Iowa State - all ranked opponents who have a combined 18-0 record.

What does this mean necessarily?

Neal Brown beats the teams he should beat and loses to the teams he's expected to lose to. In order to be a contender or have national relevance of any kind, you have to win some games that you're not favored in or at the very least, beat teams who are fighting for more than just bowl eligibility.

I do understand that the Mountaineers are 2-1 in conference play and mathematically are right in the thick of things, but it doesn't matter. What has this group done to prove they are worthy of even being in the conversation? Nothing of note to this point.

This time next week, I'll more than likely be stating the same things. After a while, the messaging is going to grow stale, The postgame responses of complimenting the opposing team and talking about how they just lost to a "really good football team" will become monotonous as well. For some folks, it's already reached that point.

I'm not igniting a bunch of flames on Neal's seat this week because things could change next week and then down the stretch with a weaker schedule.

The point I'm attempting to get across is at what point should the fanbase feel comfortable with this staff? Every other week Brown gets on the "hot seat" just to find his way off of it after a lower-tier win. Rinse and repeat.

When you're six years into a tenure and you still don't know if the coach you have in place is the guy, that should tell you all you need to know.

What is there to trust? What can Brown and his staff point to as reason for hope? Where are the signature wins? How long does it take for a coach to get his team into the top 25? More than six years? Give me a break.

At some point, the results, the record, and the product on the field are going to be too loud to ignore. What happened last night is a clear indicator that this team can't play big-time football on the big stage. They've had three cracks at it this year and have failed in different ways each time.

One more time to make my point clear, the season isn't over. I'm not saying things can't get turned around. All I'm asking is, what is there to trust that it will turn around?

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