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.
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.
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….
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.
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.
PITTSBURGH — Pitt Panthers women’s basketball suffered their first defeat of the season, an 82-54 blowout to rival No. 15 West Virginia in the Backyard Brawl on the road on Nov. 12.
The Panthers (2-1) lose their seventh straight to the Mountaineers (3-0) since 2011, when they both played in the Big East. It also makes it 59 straight losses to a ranked opponent since 2015.
This is the fourth game they’ve played since departing the Big East, with losses at home in 2018 and 2023 and losses on the road this season and in 2017. This also drops Pitt to 7-15 on the road vs. WVU and 18-30 in the all-time series.
Pitt saw one of their best players suffer an early injury in the first minute of the first quarter, as junior guard Amiya Jenkins fell to the ground and grabbing her left knee. Medical staff helped her off the court, but her abscence didn’t help Pitt at all, especially on offense.
The Panthers shot 19-for-58 from the field, 32.8%, and 5-for-22 from 3-point range, 22.7%, as they struggled to break down the Mountaineers’ halfcourt defense.
Pitt also had a tough time dealing with WVU’s press, as they turned the ball over 30 times, leading to 34 points for the home team.
The 30 turnovers Pitt committed is the most since they committed 35 turnovers in an 81-39 defeat to then ranked No. 3 Louisville on the road on Jan. 6, 2022.
The Mountaineers shot poorly themselves, 27-for-68 from the field, 39.7%, and 6-for-30 from behind the arc, 20%.
Both teams shot well from the foul line, with Pitt making 11-of-15 attempts, 73.3%, and West Virginia converting 22-of-27 attempts, 81.5%. The rivalry featured both teams committing more than 20 fouls each, leading to large number of foul shots.
Graduate student center Khadija Faye led the Panthers with her second double-double of the season, 14 points on 6-for-8 shooting and two free throws, plus 12 rebounds before fouling out.
Sophomore forward Lauren Rust had the best game of her Pitt career, scoring 12 points, making a 3-pointer and all three free throws. Senior forward MaKayla Elmore added nine points herself, making a 3-pointer and two foul shots.
Players that struggled for Pitt included guards in redshirt sophomore Mikayla Johnson, who shot 4-for-20 from the field and 1-for-10 from deep and both senior Brooklynn Miles and junior Marley Washenitz, who combined for 0-for-9 from the field and scored zero points.
West Virginia got production from guards in senior JJ Quinerly, who led the way with 17 points, and juniors Jordan Harrison and Sydney Shaw, who scored 14 points and 11 points each, respectively.
Pitt will stay on the road this weekend and look to bounce back as they face Binghamton in Vestal, N.Y. on Nov. 17 with a 1:30 p.m. tip-off.
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One week after winning his bid to be West Virginia’s next governor, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey on Tuesday shared his plans and priorities as he prepares to advance to the state’s highest office.
Helping Morrisey will be a team of seven transition team “co-leaders” who — along with yet-to-be-named members of the full transition team — will assist the governor-elect in creating policy priorities that he says will allow him to get to work on his first day in office. Among those co-leaders is a former coal lobbyist and operator, House Majority Leader Eric Householder, R-Berkeley, and several Republican political operatives, among others.
All members of the transition team are volunteers, Morrisey said. The transition work is being organized through the West Virginia Prosperity Group, an independent nonprofit organization focused on “advocating for conservative values.”
According to the Secretary of State’s Office, the West Virginia Prosperity Group was formed as a 501(c)4 nonprofit on Sept. 11 and was incorporated by Scott Will, who previously worked as Morrisey’s campaign manager for his attorney general races. Will also worked as a senior advisor with the Black Bear PAC, a political action committee that spent more than $11 million this election supporting Morrisey’s bid for governor, according to Open Secrets. Morrisey said Tuesday that Will — along with Marisa Findlay, president of the state’s Federation of Republican Women — was working as a consultant for the transition
The goals for a Morrisey administration at this point seem, for the most part, to echo the priorities of his predecessor, Gov. Jim Justice, who is preparing to start his first term as West Virginia’s newest senator.
“I’m looking forward to building on past successes but really also taking some additional steps to really help West Virginia rise in those economic rankings,” Morrisey said. “I’m not satisfied with being 48th, 49th, and 50th. So I think what you’re going to see over the course of the next four years is an aggressive effort to rise in those rankings.”
In the weeks and months leading up to him taking office, Morrisey said he wants to meet with legislative leaders to discuss legislation that could come up in next year’s regular session and, maybe, reach consensus before the Legislature even gavels in.
“We want to develop a common agenda where the governor, the House, the Senate, all come together and we could move a series of bills that might be agreed to up front,” Morrisey said. “I’m excited to do that, and so I’m looking forward to sitting down at great length with them to develop the agenda.”
Morrisey said he wants to see advancements in the state’s economics and commerce through more investment from the private sector, a focus on policies to help the state reach its “energy potential” and efforts conducive to “maintaining West Virginia values,” including defending the Second Amendment and the “sanctity of life.”
“I’ve always been very worried that there were agendas coming out of the Biden-Harris Administration,” Morrisey said.
“You’ve heard the word ‘woke’ before, you’ve heard the word ‘DEI’ before, and those are not, in my mind, West Virginia values, and we’re not going to be an administration that’s going to be advancing those values,” he continued, referring to the acronym commonly meaning diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
As attorney general, Morrisey’s office has spearheaded and participated in numerous legal proceedings to limit the rights of and health care access for people who are transgender.
Throughout his time in office, Morrisey has been vocally anti-abortion and critical of policies he associates with liberal ideology. He’s been a proponent for “school choice” educational policies — including the school voucher program, which gives public dollars to private institutions — saying during last month’s gubernatorial debate that he wants to see them expanded in coming years.
On the environment, his office has actively fought against measures to increase environmental regulations that reduce the impacts of climate change and hold companies accountable for the damage their extraction activities cause to communities and public health.
On Tuesday, however, the soon-to-be governor said that he wants his administration to work for all West Virginians, even those he disagrees with and those who have been on the opposing side of or targeted by his legal work. Anyone in the state is invited to submit feedback on the West Virginian Prosperity Group’s website, Morrisey said, and he wants to read everything that is sent in.
“I make no bones about it. I am conservatively oriented, but I like to be open-minded to different ideas and listen to people to try to come up with the right decisions,” Morrisey said. “… we have specific values, and I don’t hide what they are. So I will say that, and if we disagree, I think we could disagree respectfully and we can do so in a civil manner. That’s the approach I try to use, and I’ve always tried that and I think people can have a chance to see that.”
Morrisey’s inauguration will be on Jan. 13. He said that more announcements will be made in coming weeks regarding staffing for his administration, policy priorities and more.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
Greer Arthur from the North Carolina Collaboratory will discuss how strategic partnerships drive transformative research programs and amplify real-world outcomes at noon Wednesday (Nov. 13) on Zoom.
Attendees will learn how collaboration can elevate your research impact and foster community connections.
Register to attend.
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For questions, contact Brooke Eastman at Brooke.Eastman@mail.wvu.edu
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