West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Neal Brown could end up being the first coach fired in the 2023 college football season. WVU entered a big game on the road against No. 7 Penn State on Saturday night, arguably the biggest of Brown’s tenure at the school. It was close for a few quarters, mostly on miscues by the Nittany Lions, and then PSU eventually pulled away in a 38-15 win. At times, WVU was in the game. It’s still going to result in a blowout loss and more of the same since he joined the program.
You can’t really blame the defense but some of the plays on offense were perplexing at times. We knew that WVU would lean on the running game and that worked early on. But it was that long completion to Devin Carter that set up the touchdown. The lack of a consistent passing game, particularly downfield, was what hurt the Mountaineers all game. QB Garrett Greene did what he could and accounted for a big chunk of the team’s offense. He was able to score late in the game after Penn State had pulled away.
It wasn’t like Greene was unable to make some plays in the passing game. He found TE Kole Taylor a few times for some big conversions. Carter finished with 90 yards to lead the team. Brown was unable to find another option behind those two and it stunted the offense. Sure, it’s a lot of new faces but that can’t be an excuse anymore. WVU can’t be patient with Brown. It’s better to just rip the bandaid off.
Now, does all this mean the Mountaineers will move on from Brown after this loss? Probably not. Duquesne next week should be a cake walk and could get the offense going. That would mean the Backyard Brawl vs. Pitt at home would be Brown’s make-or-break game. Beat Pitt and you afford yourself a little bit of wiggle room this season at 2-1 entering Big 12 play. God forbid a slip up against Duquesne but a loss to Pitt would almost certainly cost Brown his job.
As someone who has suffered through these past four seasons, this loss to Penn State sure does feel like a last straw. This just isn’t a West Virginia offense. I think the school needs to bring in someone who can get people excited about the offense again. Sure, it’s early and maybe Greene and CJ Donaldson run all over Big 12 teams. But the play-calling felt like an issue all night and the team is just never able to break through in these tight games.
To make matters worse, WVU didn’t even cover the +21 spread. Insult to injury …
