What Neal Brown Said Following the Win Over Arizona

West Virginia University head coach Neal Brown provides his initial thoughts on the Mountaineers win against the Arizona Wildcats

West Virginia University head coach Neal Brown. / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

The West Virginia Mountaineers (4-4) improved to 3-2 in Big 12 Conference action after defeating the Arizona Wildcats (3-5, 1-4) Saturday evening 31-26.

The West Virginia Mountaineers (4-4) improved to 3-2 in Big 12 Conference action after defeating the Arizona Wildcats (3-5, 1-4) Saturday evening 31-26.

Opening statement

Big win. Really proud for everyone - everyone associated with the program. We had a really good turnout from our fans. We had a good turnout in gold and blue. The gold is obviously easy to spot, but I thought we had a good crowd for being that far away.

Over 2,000 miles traveled after a really tough stretch. Our guy’s backs are against the wall. A lot of negativities, a lot of adversity and we come out here without three of our four captains. (senior defensive back) Aubrey Burks didn’t make the trip, (senior left tackle) Wyat Milum doesn’t make the trip, (senior starting quarterback) Garrett Greene doesn’t make the trip, so three of our four captains don’t make the trip but we come and just fight. And I think it’s a credit to our guys.

Our character of our team is really good. Our season hasn’t gone exactly the way we wanted. Now, part of that is we played really good people and I think that story continues to unfold. But we’ve had a tough stretch. In-between the bye weeks, this four-game period, has been really tough, and we wanted to be better than 2-2, but we went 2-2. Now that sets us up for a November stretch.

We need some time to heal up. We got to get away and rest and recover for a few days but then we get back and that November stretch is going to be really critical, and how we finish is going to matter. We got to continue to win and stay in the conference race. I think that’s the big picture of it.

Offense

I thought we really controlled the game. It got a little interesting late but I thought we controlled the game. We were really efficient. We had the ball for 35 minutes. 11 of 16 on end of possession downs. Four for four on fourth. We scored all three times we were in the redzone.

I thought we were really balanced tonight too. If you look at it, 203 rushing, 198 passing.

(redshirt sophomore quarterback) Nicco (Marchiol), I thought he did well, he handled it.

We had some different guys step up. (senior receiver) Justin Robinson converts a big fourth down. Jaylen Anderson gets a big third down. I thought Jahiem White on the next to last conversion on that last drive – we had not used him on short yardage, but we used him there but he grinded out a couple of yards.

I was really pleased on how we played. I thought, maybe, we left a touchdown out there, but I thought we did some good things offensively and really controlled the game and that’s what we tried to do.

Defense

The run defense was good, and we struggled versus the pass. And that’s kind of been our MO this year.

The receiver (junior Tetairoa McMillan) is special. The quarterback (redshirt sophomore Noah Fifita), he kept some plays alive. If you look, a lot of those explosive plays, he just scrambled around and kept those plays alive, and I don’t think we did a good job matching him… But he’s special.

Special teams

I thought today, our special teams was huge. On of the guys who didn’t play today that didn’t get talked about was (senior) Austin Brinkman. He’s as good as a long snapper as there is in the country and he was hurt. He made the trip but he was hurt. (redshirt sophomore) Macquire Moss comes out in his first real action – I think he snapped it one time versus Albany, but does a great job because the three punts were critical.

(Senior punter) Ollie (Straw) had another big day. They had zero punt return yards – he averaged 46 on three punts and that was huge.

Obviously, the fake field goal. (redshirt senior) Leighton Bechdel – I call him the Swiss Army [knife] – he can do it all. He was our backup long snapper tonight, he can punt, he’s a really good athlete. Played lacrosse. If you remember we ran that fake in the bowl game and we came up short. And so, I said, ‘Hey, were going to run it, man. You got to score.’ And he got in there – credit to him.

Kickoff coverage - What about the play (freshman safety) Zae Jennings made at the start of the third quarter? That was really good.

The made field goal to start the game. That was a long kick into some wind, and I credit (senior kicker) Mike (Hayes) for getting it started.

Nicco Marchiol’s performance

I thought he was really efficient on end of possession downs – third and fourth downs. That was a great throw he had downfield to Traylon Ray, that was huge. We really needed it and that proved to kind of a deciding factor too. But I thought he was calm.

He’s so much a better player than he last time he started a game. The last time he started a game versus Texas Tech, and that was a year ago. He’s mature, he’s been patient, and he’s gotten better, and I’ve said that a lot… and then he showed that today. He didn’t play very well in the second half of the Kansas State game which was a tough setting for him. But I thought he really stepped today when we needed him and I thought he played really well.