Between The Eers: The Morning After Cincinnati
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00:00 [MUSIC]
00:09 >> Good Sunday morning, everybody.
00:11 I'm Skylar Callen here on Between the Ears.
00:13 West Virginia winning 42 to 21 yesterday over Cincinnati.
00:18 They moved to seven and four and five and three in Big 12 conference play
00:23 with only one game left being at Baylor next Saturday.
00:26 So there's a lot of things that we can talk about.
00:31 We could talk about the game specifically, but
00:34 I'm gonna take more of the macro look at this, okay?
00:38 And that's pretty much kind of what I did in my Sunday morning thoughts article
00:42 that you can check out on Mountaineers Now.
00:44 And look, this football is a game of inches.
00:51 Saturday's game, not necessarily what, but
00:54 football is a game of inches.
00:57 And I think it's just more than the game itself.
01:00 It's the big picture.
01:03 It's in terms of wins and losses.
01:07 It's head coaches and their job security.
01:12 And look, West Virginia is this close to being an eight and
01:18 three football team right now, that close.
01:21 All it takes is one ball hitting the ground on a Hail Mary for
01:27 this team to be eight and three.
01:30 And I know we could go back at that game and say it was really probably a game.
01:33 West Virginia should have never won in the first place because they just did not
01:36 play well in that second half against Houston.
01:39 And got down two scores, had to battle all the way back, and
01:44 it was probably a game they should have never won.
01:46 But they did battle back, and when you take the lead with 12 seconds left,
01:52 you shouldn't lose that game.
01:55 So it is a game of inches for sure,
01:58 just like it is a game of inches for Neil Brown.
02:03 Who again, I've talked to Eugene about this, and
02:07 I think he's on the same boat as me with this.
02:12 Neil has to put the ball in the end zone in terms of his job security.
02:22 Because it feels like every time you start to believe that, okay,
02:28 this is the guy, this is where West Virginia starts to make its climb.
02:34 Something happens.
02:38 He wins four out of the first five games of the year, you're thinking,
02:43 my goodness, okay, four and ones, the schedule is setting up really nice now.
02:47 And you've got a really good chance to go home five and one.
02:51 Houston Hail Mary happens.
02:53 You think, okay, well, you come back home,
02:56 you have a chance to bounce back against Oklahoma State.
02:59 Who have been playing well at the time, but at the beginning of the season,
03:02 really wasn't one of the better teams in the Big 12.
03:06 And you have the lead going into the fourth quarter, and you stubbed your toe.
03:11 They gave that game away, and boy, did they give that game away.
03:16 So then you start to think, boy, is he the guy?
03:23 You start questioning, my gosh, if they go to UCF and they lose in their four and
03:27 four, there's no way he can survive that,
03:30 especially with the remaining schedule that he has left.
03:33 Well, they go to UCF, he does more than survive, they win pretty comfortably.
03:38 Comes back home, beats BYU soundly, you're thinking,
03:46 all right, the way the schedule's setting up, now you've got an opportunity here
03:51 to where if you go out to Norman and pull off the unthinkable,
03:56 something that's never been done since West Virginia's joined the Big 12,
03:58 and that's beat the Sooners at their own place.
04:02 I mean, you do that, you're right in the conversation to make it to Dallas.
04:08 But we all know what happened there, 39 point beat down, and
04:14 then all of a sudden those talks start to reemerge back at the one or
04:18 the two yard line with this job security.
04:22 Losing to Oklahoma is not something that you should be
04:32 bringing the pitchforks out and the torches.
04:36 It's the way they lost that game and the magnitude of that game.
04:43 It's a Big 12 elimination game.
04:47 And for that to be the product that was put on the field,
04:53 that's going to cause fans to show that type of anger and cause fans to say,
04:59 we want Jimbo Fisher, and all that other stuff.
05:03 So, This week again, you go into it, you're six and four.
05:11 And on paper, again, we've said this many times,
05:15 on paper, West Virginia was the better team.
05:18 But there's a reason why these games are actually played,
05:22 just like the Houston game was earlier in the year.
05:26 You go into it thinking, okay, it looks like Neil's gonna be fine.
05:30 They're six and four, they got Cincinnati and Baylor.
05:33 Both teams entered the weekend three and seven.
05:35 You're not really thinking that either one of them are gonna have much of a chance.
05:39 But there's always, always a chance that something crazy can happen.
05:46 Or that West Virginia just for whatever reason just lays an egg that day and
05:51 the other team plays their best game, much like what happened to Norman.
05:56 And with Cincinnati, it's not that far fetched to think that they could hang around.
06:03 They have one of the top rushing attacks in the country,
06:07 not just the Big 12, the country.
06:09 They have one of the best defensive fronts in college football,
06:16 not just the Big 12, the country.
06:18 And when you have those two things, you have a chance against just about anybody.
06:25 Which they have for the most part all season long.
06:27 They've been playing very close games in the Big 12.
06:30 It comes down to their efficiency in the red zone and turnovers.
06:35 As I just talked about on the walkthrough game issue last week,
06:38 we broke this game down.
06:40 They had three one score losses in Big 12 play.
06:44 And in those three games, they were minus five in turnovers.
06:48 Can't do that.
06:51 That's how you lose games.
06:52 They did not generate a single turnover and they gave up five of them.
06:57 So, but anyways, back on track here.
07:01 If you lose to Cincinnati or Baylor, then all of a sudden,
07:08 there's still a little bit of a cloudy vibe in the air, right?
07:17 Because you can't lose to those types of teams really at any point in the season.
07:23 But certainly not at the end when you're supposed to be playing your best football.
07:28 And when these two teams have kind of mentally checked out of it,
07:31 especially Baylor, who is now three and eight and we'll see next week.
07:36 But Cincinnati picked up their first Big 12 win going into this game.
07:41 So you knew you were gonna get something out of them.
07:44 They maybe felt like, hey, let's finish the season strong.
07:47 Won a couple of games down here in the stretch of feel good about 2024.
07:50 Baylor, I don't know that you're gonna get that.
07:52 But again, that's why these games are played.
07:57 So if Neil were to lose at Baylor, I think that's,
08:01 I don't know that it's a fireable offense, but it's not good for the optics.
08:09 Because you already lost technically one of these games already this year
08:13 against Houston.
08:15 You play one of the worst games of the season in Houston.
08:18 Not the worst, but one of the worst.
08:20 And Houston's one of the worst teams in this conference and you lost to them.
08:27 You can't have two of those on your resume for this season, you just can't.
08:30 But getting to eight wins is huge for Neil because it hasn't been done,
08:38 seven wins hasn't even been done under his tenure until this year.
08:44 So I think you're starting to see that there is progress being made, but
08:50 you have to finish this season strong.
08:51 You have to go and beat Baylor, no questions about it, have to go do that.
08:57 Finish the season eight and four, go to a bowl game.
09:00 And look, if you lose the bowl game and you're competitive in it,
09:05 no one's gonna really fault you for it.
09:06 No one's gonna be upset.
09:08 Everyone's still gonna be feeling pretty good about this program and
09:10 where it's headed.
09:10 But you can't lose to Baylor and you can't, or
09:17 you can't go to the bowl game and just get your butt kicked.
09:20 Unless for some reason you just have a crazy amount of injuries or
09:26 you're playing some team that you probably shouldn't be playing the bowl game.
09:30 Like a 10 win team that somehow you got faced up against.
09:35 So that's really the only two things.
09:37 And even then, you gotta compete.
09:39 But also too, I wanna take a slight shot,
09:46 not a major one, but a slight shot here at some of the fans.
09:49 Because there's been a lot of fans just bitching, moaning, and
09:54 complaining about the schedule and how all Neal's gonna be here for 2024.
10:01 Because this year's an anomaly, it's a week schedule,
10:06 it's a product of a week schedule.
10:08 And if they play Kansas or Kansas State or Texas or Iowa State,
10:13 that they would have had this record or that record.
10:15 Well look, you can only play who's on your schedule.
10:18 And I get the frustration they haven't beaten many teams with winning records.
10:24 I understand that Neal Brown has now gone almost five years
10:29 without getting this team in the top 25.
10:31 I understand all those things and they're very valid points.
10:35 What's also a valid point is you can only play who's on your schedule.
10:37 Do you think that for the first time, or do you think that for
10:43 the last ten years or so that there was much complaining about having Kansas on
10:48 the schedule?
10:48 No, everyone looked forward to that game.
10:53 It was a give me win, it was a guaranteed win.
10:56 Well guess what, Kansas is no longer or wasn't on the schedule this year.
11:00 Now yes, this is a much different Kansas team.
11:03 But these things are going to be cycled.
11:07 When you have 14 teams in your conference,
11:09 you're gonna have years that are more difficult than others.
11:14 That's just the way it works.
11:15 You can't possibly have the similar strength of schedule every year.
11:20 And again, it's not constructed by the league to make
11:24 sure everyone has an even schedule.
11:28 It's a lot to do with travel, it's a lot to do with proximity to each other.
11:33 You want West Virginia to play the Cincinnati's and
11:36 Central Florida's of the world as much as possible on a regular basis.
11:40 But look, okay, there's eight other teams in the Big 12
11:47 that had Cincinnati on their schedule.
11:49 There was eight other teams in the Big 12 that had Houston on their schedule, and
11:53 BYU, and Houston.
11:55 You're not the only ones.
11:57 And there was multiple teams that had two, three, or
12:02 four of those teams on their schedule.
12:04 Here's what I have to say to this fans.
12:09 Look, this team has the potential to do something it hasn't done since 2016,
12:14 and that's win at least nine football games.
12:17 Just enjoy it, okay?
12:20 Enjoy winning, it's a hard thing to do.
12:24 Because this college basketball season is not gonna be that fun,
12:29 I can tell you that right now.
12:30 And I think you probably already know that.
12:32 It's gonna be a long basketball season.
12:35 It's gonna be a long, long, long time until we get back to September next year for
12:40 football.
12:40 Enjoy what this team is doing.
12:44 This is a good football team for the most part, I believe.
12:50 Good offensive line, you got a quarterback that is playing for
12:55 the most part really well outside of one game.
12:58 You've got some really intriguing young pieces to build around.
13:02 View this with the glass half full and think, man,
13:08 the Eric Green's coming back next year.
13:13 You have multiple pieces of that offensive line that are coming back.
13:16 You've got Jaheim White and CJ Donaldson coming back.
13:20 You've got Rodney Gallagher, Trae Lynn Ray.
13:22 A lot of those guys on defense are gonna be coming back.
13:25 This is something that you need to just kind of sit back and let play out.
13:33 If you're a Neil Brown hater, if you want him gone, or if you're somebody that wants
13:37 Jimbo or anybody other than Neil Brown to walk through that door,
13:40 just take a slight pause from that.
13:46 Step back and enjoy this.
13:49 This doesn't happen often.
13:51 No one feels sorry for you when you lose to Houston on a hill, Mary.
13:57 No one feels sorry for you when you run into your own punter, or
14:03 your own punt returner.
14:04 But at the same time, West Virginia fans shouldn't feel sorry for
14:12 having an incredibly weak schedule.
14:16 It's going to happen.
14:17 Next year, someone's gonna have this type of a schedule.
14:20 And those fans are going to maybe complain about it,
14:28 maybe not, depending on what school that is.
14:30 You can't take winning for granted.
14:33 So look, there's a lot of things that can happen in these final two games.
14:44 But I think where Neil is, he's in a good spot.
14:46 One of the articles I did, I think it was on Friday,
14:51 I did a little hot seat meter kind of article.
14:54 Because I explained this, look, if you go out, and I mean, it seems like he's safe.
14:59 I gave him like a six and a half out of ten.
15:01 The only reason I did that is because there's three games left, and
15:03 anything can happen in those three games that carry a lot of weight.
15:06 But if you would lose one of those two games at the end of the season,
15:12 it's gonna drop significantly from six and a half.
15:14 If he wins both games, he's coming back.
15:21 There's no question about it, doesn't even matter what happens in the bowl game.
15:24 If he lost both Cincinnati and Baylor,
15:28 then I don't think that that was gonna be survivable.
15:32 Not in year five, where you go six and six.
15:35 That's why I still thought that there was a chance, technically,
15:38 mathematically speaking, there was a chance that Neil could be canned.
15:43 I don't think it's going to happen now.
15:48 It especially won't happen if they find a way to get another win in Waco.
15:53 So look, enjoy the wins.
15:56 This team's doing something it hasn't done very often.
15:59 It's doing something that hasn't happened since 2016, and
16:03 that's has a chance of the win, and that's winning nine or more games.
16:09 And use this as a situation that could be where things turn.
16:17 And until it doesn't, then you can complain.
16:22 Okay, look, covering West Virginia, growing up in West Virginia for
16:28 the first 18, 19 years of my life, there's been a lot of downs.
16:35 There's been a lot of ups.
16:37 Enjoy these good moments.
16:39 They're not always going to last, as we all know.
16:42 So I understand the weak schedule argument.
16:47 I wholeheartedly agree, but this is why I say, look,
16:49 even if you go eight and four, nine and four this year, or,
16:58 I mean, excuse me, eight and five or nine and four,
17:00 it doesn't necessarily mean that Neal will make it to 2025.
17:05 Because if you win eight or nine games this year,
17:10 that raises the bar for the expectations.
17:14 You can't go to eight wins or nine wins in year five, and
17:19 then fall back to six and six type of a season.
17:23 You can't do that.
17:24 Now, coaches that have had success in the past at that said school,
17:29 they can have a down year at school to happen.
17:33 And it's gonna happen again in the future for Neal, it just will.
17:38 But you can't have that happen one year after this happens.
17:45 You just can't, because then the optics say,
17:51 over his tenure, you have one season that's not like the others.
17:57 And it maybe was because of that incredibly weak schedule.
18:02 But we don't know right now.
18:04 So this is why I'm saying let everything play itself out.
18:10 And for those Jimbo fans that want him to come to West Virginia,
18:15 just simmer down because who knows?
18:17 Who knows what Jimbo's gonna do?
18:19 He may take this next year off from football, go into a TV role, or
18:23 just sit back and collect his money and relax.
18:26 And try and go around and find what little pieces of
18:32 advice that he could pick up in his year off.
18:37 And if that situation plays out, he takes a year off.
18:42 Neal Brown takes, in this program, takes a step back from where they were this year,
18:47 and they're about a 500 team again.
18:49 Then this conversation will be had again next November.
18:52 So just relax, enjoy the wins, because there's not gonna be many more of them
18:57 coming up here in the college basketball season, at least for the men's side.
19:02 So anyways, I know that was pretty long winded, but
19:06 had to get that stuff off my chest.
19:08 We'll be back here in a couple of days,
19:09 on between the years to break down how West Virginia can beat the Baylor Bears.
19:13 And then on Thursday, I'll be rejoined with Eugene for
19:18 our final The Walkthrough Game Day show of the regular season.
19:21 And as I mentioned yesterday on the post game show, we will do a preview show for
19:26 the bowl probably two days before the game.
19:28 So we'll stay or remain consistent with that schedule.
19:32 Make sure you give us a like and subscribe on YouTube at Mountaineers Now.
19:36 Follow us on X at Mountaineers Now as well.
19:39 And we appreciate you guys for tuning in to another week of game coverage here.
19:45 And we'll see you guys here in a few days.
19:48 Take care.
19:48 [MUSIC]