West Virginia

What I Think About The Coal Rush Game

Published

1 year ago

October 13, 2024

Welcome back to your weekly column where we can rationally and irrationally discuss the state of affairs of the West Virginia Mountaineers football program. Last night was one of the bigger games in a season where big games are going to happen and the program needs to take three or four steps forward. It is Neal Brown’s best team in his six years at the helm of this program and he is blessed with a dual-threat quarterback who is fast and slippery enough to make plays appear out of thin air; he has a senior, capable offensive line that grades out as one of the best units in the country; two very capable and very different running backs and supposedly had a very good transfer portal class. All in all, we aren’t judging this game and this tenure on one outcome or one play, we are judging it on the culmination of six years and the words spoken by the head coach

We’re coming off a 9-4 (season), I look at most of the preseason Top 25 (lists), we’re not in it,” Brown said. “With a team that finished strong last year, that returns a lot of production, that has one of the most-dynamic players in all of college football in (quarterback) Garrett Greene … and we’re picked seventh in the league. And we’re not in most of these preseason Top 25s.

Let’s talk about it.

Iowa State

This was a good game and Iowa State is a good team. They are a smart, talented, well-coached team that does everything you want in your program. They have smart quarterbacks who can make throws and pick up yards when needed. They have tough running backs. Matt Campbell has concocted a defensive scheme that forces you to use the entire field and earn your points.

Losing to Iowa State is not losing to Iowa State from 2012-2017. Iowa State is a good team. Matt Campbell is a good coach. This year Iowa State was 5-0 entering Morgantown and there were questions about just how good they were, “who have they played?” were the questions asked. Maybe those questions are still asked because who have they played and beaten but this game was different. Morgantown. At Night. COAL RUSH. IT was supposed to be harder and in some rights, it was a hard game for the Cyclones. West Virginia got the ball and the lead early. Iowa State misses a field goal and that fickle mistress of momentum was all with the Mountaineers.

Then came the passes. Then came the miscues. Then came the playing right into Iowa State’s hand. Bad snaps. Bad reads. Bad throws. Miscues on the defensive side. All the things that happen all the time to teams that are coached by Brown. It came unraveled in a way that is familiar and haunting and tiresome. So tiresome.

Losing to Iowa State wasn’t on any one person and in reality losing as an unranked team to a highly ranked visitor shouldn’t cause fans to be angry in droves, because the game was good, we were in the ball game competitively for 50 minutes before we made too many mistakes, but those mistakes are always happening and always a reason why WVU can’t overcome itself. The rakes returned.

Brandon Yates

According to Brown, Yates had a hand issue that contributed to the bad snaps and while Brown contemplated changing centers but Yates is their starting center and in their opinion their best guy so no change was made. Probably should have been.

Whether we should have or shouldn’t have, that’s probably up for discussion. Brandon had played so well. He’s our starting center…. he’s clearly our best option….

Garrett Greene

I feel for Greene. At this point, he is who he is, which is a one-two read guy and then scramble and teams know this and have a certain type of defense they play. They have to carry a single or double spy to contain Greene and they have to stop the run. This should, in theory, open up the pass but Greene does struggle with the intermediary passing game, specifically the crossing routes and timing routes of the position. He is generally good on the deeper routes so teams play a deeep safety and double or triple the deep receiver and take their chances on the inter-middle throws. It worked well for this game as Iowa State as the Cyclones held Greene to 18/32 for 200 yards and picked him off twice.

What Iowa State did well was get ahead and force Greene to have to play a game he isn’t comfortable playing, threading the needle against 7-8 coverage and having no real room to run. Greene is capable of making those plays in those situations and when West Virginia gets in that situation they can’t overcome themselves.

The Neal Brown Tenure

I wanted to talk about this but felt that I needed to talk about the game first and to be honest, I felt nothing. It was what it was. I thought we’d lose, I thought we would do some dumb stuff that cost us and in general I didn’t really expect us to win or be competitive or do anything worth noting.

Neal Brown is now 3-16 versus Top 25 teams but where is Brown in relation to the past coaches. Let’s look. Just to remind you I did all of this research years ago. Those who are doing it now can just quote me since I did it SEVEN YEARS AGO. (Still ahead of the curve on this stuff!)

Since I wrote that, Dana would go 4-4 and finish with a 10-21 record against Top 25 teams.

Nehlen – 27%

Rodriguez – 46%

Stewart – 50%

Holgorsen – 32%

Brown – 15%

To match Nehlen, Brown would have to win 3 straight Top 25 matchups. To match Dana, he would need to win 5 straight. To match Rodriguez he would need to win 10 straight. To match Stewart he would have to win 14 straight.

At this point we know that big games and Neal Brown don’t mix. He has never beaten a team that finished ranked. He has been ranked one week in his entire tenure and that was in the coaches poll at 25. Not in the AP. In the coaches poll where GAs fill out the ballot and coaches game the system to make their team better week to week.

Next week will be much of the same and as the seat warmer overheats and gets hot, West Virginia will go to Arizona and make a statement and get back to 4-4. Then a loss to Cincy, but a bounce-back against Baylor and UCF, sitting at 6-5 and a loss to Texas Tech to finish the year.

Nothing changes. Nothing gets better. Nothing moves. Dear West Virginia administration do the merciful thing. Do the right thing. Make the call that needs to be made. Right now fans are not apathetic, they are not mad, they are DONE. Fans are choosing to go pick pumpkins with their wives, paint the boat, mow the yard, help their in-laws, do homework, they are actively choosing NOT to watch your product. They don’t want to be a part of this anymore because they worry that you are going to tell us at 7-5 this was fine. The team sold out multiple games. Season tickets were sold and lots of people came to games so everything is ok. Its not ok. We’re tired. There is no joy with this team. There is no fun with this team. There is nothing to tell me that next week will be better. There is nothing to tell me that I should believe. My money isn’t going to the football team anymore. Why should the fans of this team spend money when every time they do they get reminded of why they shouldn’t? You have to do better. WE have this conversation every week. If we were dating, my friends would tell me to just break up with you by now. Your friends would be asking “why are you with him if you fight all the time”? You know how that relationship goes, you stay, you try, you promise and then finally one of you acts like an adult and does the mercy killing and you both realize how much better you are now that you aren’t shackled to the dead weight you had. Dear Wren, Dear Gee, Dear Athletic Department, end this madness and let’s start over. This isn’t working and we need to be single for a while.

Source link

Related Topics:about Coal Featured Football front page game i musket rush smoking the think Virginia west west virginia mountaineers football What what-i-think-about

Click to comment

West Virginia

West Virginia falters late in 71-66 loss to 17th-ranked Texas Tech – WV MetroNews

Published

9 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

West Virginia falters late in 71-66 loss to 17th-ranked Texas Tech – WV MetroNews

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The third quarter of Wednesday’s contest against 17th-ranked Texas Tech was among West Virginia’s best this season from an offensive standpoint.

What followed in the fourth, however, was perhaps the worst 10-minute stretch on that end through 16 contests. The Mountaineers missed numerous decent looks and shot 3 for 19 from the field and 6 for 12 on free throws in the final frame, while squandering a six-point advantage with inside 8 minutes remaining and falling to the unbeaten Red Raiders, 71-66.

“We took one bad shot that I didn’t like at all and had a bad turnover late, but we got 19 shots off in the fourth quarter and most were pretty good looks,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. “We just didn’t convert. The defensive end concerns me as much as the offensive end. Giving up 40 points in the second half is way too many.”

Of WVU’s three fourth-quarter buckets, only one within the first 9:34 — a layup from Kierra ‘MeMe’ Wheeler with 7:10 remaining that left the home team with a 58-53 lead and came directly after Texas Tech’s Bailey Maupin had made a three-pointer.

Despite the offensive struggles, WVU dug in enough defensively to maintain a 61-57 advantage with inside 2 minutes remaining before the game turned in the visitors’ favor over a 7-second stretch.

Snudda Collins scored on a drive to the basket, while being fouled by Carter McCray in the process. With 1:59 left, Collins stepped to the free-throw line but was unable to convert the three-point play. Tech’s Jalynn Bristow came up with a pivotal offensive rebound, and found Maupin on the perimeter, who drained her fourth and final triple to give the Red Raiders (17-0, 4-0) a 62-61 lead at the 1:52 mark.

“They’re really good in the third quarter and I would venture to say we’re really good in the fourth quarter from previous games,” Red Raiders’ head coach Krista Gerlich said. “I’m not real sure fatigue played a factor in it as much as our kids just kind of locked down, really tried to defend and we got better on the glass. They missed a lot of easy shots early in the fourth quarter and that maybe played toward fatigue, but our kids did a good job on the glass and limiting second-chance opportunities, and we quit fouling a bit.”

Jordan Harrison missed a pair of threes on WVU’s ensuing trip, before Maupin made two free throws for a three-point advantage with 38 seconds left.

“What a basketball game. We knew coming in this was going to be a huge challenge and I’m super proud of our kids for being resilient for four quarters,” Gerlich said.

Harrison scored from close range 13 seconds later, but the Red Raiders continued to excel from the free-throw line and Collins made a pair for a 66-63 lead with 20 seconds to play.

Maupin then stole a Gia Cooke pass and made 1-of-2 free throws to make it a two-possession game, before another Mountaineer turnover all but ended any hope of late heroics for the home team.

“We made a lot of mistakes. They sped us up a little bit, but the mistakes we made were on us,” Harrison said. “When we go back and watch the film, we’ll see there was an easier way to score — slow down and read the defense.”

The third period was a far different story as WVU (13-3, 3-1) overcame a 31-28 halftime deficit by making 10-of-13 shots in what amounted to a 25-point frame. Harrison was the catalyst for the success, scoring 11 points on 4-for-4 shooting and dishing out three assists, while McCray continued to be a presence inside and scored seven points on 3-for-3 shooting.

But Texas Tech managed 19 points in the third to stay well within striking distance, with the Red Raiders making half of their six three-point attempts in that quarter, including both from Denae Fritz.

“You’re up six in the fourth, you’re supposed to find a way to win that game,” Kellogg said.

The entirety of the game was played within six points, with Tech’s largest lead coming at 29-23 after a Collins triple.

McCray and Harrison combined for the next five points, before Maupin capped the first-half scoring with a pair of free throws. She scored 11 of her game-high 27 points through two quarters and 13 more in the fourth.

“No basketball game is all ups and no basketball game is all downs,” Maupin said. “It’s finding a balance between your highs and lows and managing that to be able to come out with a win.”

Collins scored 19 points to help her team finish with a 25-2 advantage in bench points.

Tech finished with a 37-33 rebounding edge, and despite having 16 offensive boards to WVU’s 18, the Red Raiders accounted for 20 of the game’s 28 second-chance points.

“We got a lot of offensive rebounds and didn’t convert very many of them,” Kellogg said.

Harrison led four WVU double-figure scorers with 22 points and added five rebounds and five assists.

McCray added 15 points and Wheeler scored 11 to go with a team-best nine boards. Sydney Shaw scored 10 but shot 4 for 14, while Cooke was held to six points on 2-for-9 shooting.

The Mountaineers forced 20 turnovers, but managed only four steals.

“We had too many things go wrong that we had control of,” McCray said, “and that led to our detriment in the end.”

Source link

West Virginia

Public Service Commission holds hearing regarding Cabell County utility

Published

21 hours ago

January 7, 2026

Press Room

Public Service Commission holds hearing regarding Cabell County utility

BARBOURSVILLE, W.Va. (WCHS) — State regulators are reviewing whether a Cabell County septic system is failing or distressed.

The Public Service Commission heard public comment and testimony on Wednesday on the Linmont septic system in Cabell County.

The Linmont subdivision is located just outside the city limits of Barboursville and has about 85 residents.

Linmont said it cannot afford the required DEP treatment upgrades estimated at more than $300,000.

The manager of the septic system is wanting someone else to take over the system. Kenneth Toler testified that he can’t secure a loan to get the necessary work done.

Toler said if rates were raised to an amount to pay for the work many of the residents wouldn’t be able to pay it.

Ten witnesses were expected to testify during the hearing. Barboursville Mayor Chris Tatum also testified objecting to the possibility that Barboursville could be forced to take over the system.

“Why should our residents be punished with rate increases because another entity has not done their due diligence to take care of their system,” Tatum said.

The administrative law judge said a decision would not be made Wednesday.

A DECISION WOULD NOT BE MADE TODAY

Source link

West Virginia

West Virginia Lottery results: See winning numbers for Mega Millions, Daily 3 on Jan. 6, 2026

Published

1 day ago

January 7, 2026

Press Room

Are you looking to win big? The West Virginia Lottery offers a variety of games if you think it’s your lucky day.

Lottery players in West Virginia can choose from popular national games like the Powerball and Mega Millions, which are available in the vast majority of states. Other games include Lotto America, Daily 3, Daily 4 and Cash 25.

Big lottery wins around the U.S. include a lucky lottery ticketholder in California who won a $1.27 billion Mega Millions jackpot in December 2024. See more big winners here. And if you do end up cashing a jackpot, here’s what experts say to do first.

Here’s a look at Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026 results for each game:

Winning Mega Millions numbers from Jan. 6 drawing

09-39-47-58-68, Mega Ball: 24

Check Mega Millions payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Daily 3 numbers from Jan. 6 drawing

4-6-3

Check Daily 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Daily 4 numbers from Jan. 6 drawing

1-7-7-8

Check Daily 4 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Cash 25 numbers from Jan. 6 drawing

03-04-10-19-21-24

Check Cash 25 payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results

When are the West Virginia Lottery drawings held?

Powerball: 11 p.m. ET on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Mega Millions: 10:59 p.m. ET Tuesday and Friday.
Lotto America: 10:15 p.m. ET on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Daily 3, 4: 6:59 p.m. ET Monday through Saturday.
Cash 25: 6:59 p.m. ET Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Winning lottery numbers are sponsored by Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network.

Where can you buy lottery tickets?

Tickets can be purchased in person at gas stations, convenience stores and grocery stores. Some airport terminals may also sell lottery tickets.

You can also order tickets online through Jackpocket, the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network, in these U.S. states and territories: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., and West Virginia. The Jackpocket app allows you to pick your lottery game and numbers, place your order, see your ticket and collect your winnings all using your phone or home computer.

Jackpocket is the official digital lottery courier of the USA TODAY Network. Gannett may earn revenue for audience referrals to Jackpocket services. GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). 18+ (19+ in NE, 21+ in AZ). Physically present where Jackpocket operates. Jackpocket is not affiliated with any State Lottery. Eligibility Restrictions apply. Void where prohibited. Terms: jackpocket.com/tos.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a USA Today editor. You can send feedback using this form.

Source link