Mountaineers Now Postgame Show: A Wacky Finish in Waco
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00:00 [Music]
00:10 Let's go!
00:12 Mountaineers!
00:14 And that's the perfect way to intro this show.
00:17 Hello everybody. Welcome into the Mountaineers Now post game show presented by Country Roads Air Duct Cleaning.
00:23 Take me home to comfort and Boil Boy Gene.
00:25 This was an up and down type of game. It was kind of a back and forth affair there for a little bit.
00:32 It felt like West Virginia had all the momentum.
00:34 Baylor stormed back, had a strong second half for West Virginia to pull it out in the end 34-31.
00:39 Before we dive into our analysis, take a look here at the numbers in this one.
00:43 Garrett Green, 16 of 25 for 269 yards and two touchdowns.
00:48 Of course, he engineered that game winning drive there toward the end with the touchdown pass to Jaheim White,
00:53 giving the Mountaineers the late lead.
00:55 Jaheim White also goes for 133 yards on the ground on 17 carries.
00:59 Green adds 103 and two scores with his legs.
01:02 And Hudson Clement, the leading receiver for West Virginia, four receptions for 80 yards.
01:08 And the team stats, West Virginia again dominated the first half 519 to 334 total yardage,
01:14 much of which was attributed to the two kickoff returns that Richard Reese had there in the first half.
01:20 So Gene, let's just start with the initial thoughts on this one.
01:24 Again, it felt like this was a game that West Virginia had well in hand.
01:29 Felt like they were really up 27-0 if you take away the two kickoff returns.
01:35 And you just, even though they were only up two scores, you kind of felt good about where they were at the half.
01:40 And then the third quarter happened.
01:42 Let me tell you something, Skylar. I'm at my family's house and all Mountaineer fans.
01:51 And we're watching this game. And I didn't know what to think.
01:55 Let me be honest. I didn't know what to think.
01:57 After the two kickoff returns for touchdown with Reese,
02:02 I was somewhat troubled that we allowed a 3-18 to be in the game with us
02:09 when they had no business being on the field with us.
02:12 I mean, that's just my initial thoughts. I'm just being completely honest.
02:15 As the game started going on, I'm this way about it.
02:19 Look, you can't let a poor team hang around and stay in the game with you
02:24 because they built momentum and they built confidence.
02:27 And I felt like that's what we were allowing to happen.
02:29 Obviously, I'm glad we pulled it out. Don't get me wrong.
02:33 But the mark of a well-coached football team and the mark of a good team,
02:38 you go in and you squash these type of teams immediately, efficiently,
02:44 and you beat them up in all three phases of the game.
02:47 When you don't do that, you got to come down to a situation like this.
02:51 And it did remind me a little bit of the Houston game all over again.
02:54 I wasn't happy with the outcome. I'm happy with the outcome.
02:59 I wasn't happy with the process. How about that?
03:02 Yeah, exactly. Because, I mean, it really did feel like the Houston game.
03:06 I said that over and over throughout the game.
03:08 In that Houston game, West Virginia felt like they were really dominating that game.
03:13 They ended up being down at the half. Fortunately, here you were up at the half.
03:17 The third quarter is very similar. You get down in the fourth.
03:21 You have to battle your way back.
03:23 West Virginia has to go almost the length of the field to take the lead at the end.
03:27 And then you have less than 30 seconds for the other team to come back and answer.
03:32 And it just set up just like the Hail Mary situation down in Houston.
03:36 You just wondered, "Oh, my goodness. Is this going to happen again?"
03:39 But it's not even that. And I think you hit right there with the three-win thing.
03:44 Like, had Neil Brown lost this game, that would have been two losses to teams
03:49 that finished four and eight, Houston and Baylor,
03:53 now have a combined record of seven and what, 15 or 16?
04:00 I don't even know. I can't even think off the top of my head.
04:02 But they won seven games combined.
04:05 You can't have these types of teams hang around,
04:08 especially when their backup quarterback is in the game.
04:13 And that, to me, is-- I think you look at the defense.
04:17 And to me, Gene-- I mean, I don't know about you,
04:19 but it feels like this defense has kind of regressed over the last month or so.
04:24 And, look, I know they only gave up 21 to Cincinnati,
04:27 but Cincinnati's one of those bottom-feeder teams.
04:31 You saw what they looked like against a real, legitimate offense in Oklahoma,
04:34 and they got boat-raced.
04:36 So, look, I mean, you can go back and say, "Ah, they're without Trey Latham."
04:40 But Trey Latham's been out for several weeks now.
04:43 I mean, that's not an excuse anymore.
04:45 These guys like Ben Cutter, Caden Bizer,
04:47 some of these other linebacks that are fitting in there,
04:50 they've got enough experience now to where that can't even be an excuse anymore.
04:54 There's got to be more pressure up front.
04:56 They've got to win more of those one-on-ones at the line of scrimmage.
04:59 And right now they're just not doing that.
05:01 Absolutely.
05:02 Well, okay, so we win this game.
05:06 We're 8-4.
05:08 Now you're looking at who this election will be as far as playing in a bowl, right?
05:12 Yeah.
05:13 Depending on who that bowl opponent is going to be,
05:17 if it's a legitimate team that's 8-4 or 9-3,
05:23 you're going to get the best shot from a legitimate team that's 8-4 or 9-3, correct?
05:28 Yeah.
05:29 I want to see how we answer in that scenario.
05:32 Because here's the thing.
05:34 You can't tell me that a 3-8 Baylor team
05:38 with a quarterback that can't throw from here to my window for 215 yards,
05:46 14 of 16, I believe, 215 and a touchdown,
05:50 and no disrespect to him, my point is he's doing what we are allowing him to do.
05:55 Yep.
05:56 And the mark of a good football team is you get rid of these type of teams immediately.
06:03 You don't even let them -- don't even give them any oxygen.
06:06 You don't even let them in the game.
06:08 Yeah.
06:09 We have to stop doing that.
06:10 Like, to have a slow start is one thing.
06:13 And I'm looking at the Georgia game.
06:16 They're up 31-16 with Georgia Tech.
06:18 They were having a slow start.
06:20 But do you understand what I'm saying to you?
06:22 They're up 31-16 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
06:26 Yeah.
06:27 It's like that's what you have to do if you are that caliber of team.
06:31 I'm glad we won.
06:34 Don't get me wrong.
06:35 I said, like, before the season started, you and I spoke,
06:38 we would either be 9-3 or 8-4.
06:41 That's what I said.
06:42 And we finished up 8-4.
06:44 So kudos to the fact that Neil Brown got eight wins.
06:48 It's the best he's done since he's been in Morgantown, and I'm happy for that.
06:52 I just don't like the way we play when we're playing subpar competition
06:57 and we let them hang around as if they're supposed to be on the field with us.
07:01 And maybe that's me being a little bit too harsh.
07:03 You tell me.
07:04 No, you're 100% spot on.
07:06 And because I will admit, I gave Neil a little bit of --
07:11 I don't know if I want to say love or anything like that,
07:14 but I mentioned a couple of times last week, like, look,
07:17 if they win this game against Baylor,
07:19 he should at least be in the conversation for Big 12 Coach of the Year.
07:22 And I still wholeheartedly believe that.
07:24 Just because they picked this team to finish dead last in the conference
07:28 and then they wound up in the top five of the league with a 6-3 record.
07:32 So you have to give the man credit for doing that.
07:35 I don't care if they're playing Cincinnati, Houston, Central Florida.
07:40 I don't care the strength of record because going into the year,
07:43 every one of those voters knew what the schedule was.
07:47 They said they can't win these games.
07:49 So that's why I say that he should at least be in the conversation for it.
07:52 I think Mike Gundy ultimately should be the Big 12 Coach of the Year
07:55 for guiding his team to the Big 12 title after the start they had of the season.
08:00 But, look, you know more than anybody, and you can go to bat for me,
08:05 probably just about as good as anybody when it comes to this.
08:08 I have been super, super hard on Neil Brown since he's been here since 2019.
08:14 Super hard. Very critical.
08:17 And I still remain that way because it's -- and to me,
08:21 I'm someone that kind of takes results as they come, right?
08:24 I don't look at kind of what happened the last few weeks.
08:29 I don't look at what could happen.
08:31 I'm just looking at the results as they go week by week.
08:34 For the first four years, they weren't good, right?
08:37 This year, it's kind of been a roller coaster.
08:39 You win four of your first five, you go through a little bit of a lull.
08:42 You win the last four of your last five.
08:45 But if he had lost this game, Gene, I think he's back squarely on the hot seat
08:49 if he loses this game.
08:50 Oh, absolutely.
08:51 Listen, there will be no reason to suggest or think anything other than that.
08:57 If you lose this game, he should be on a hot seat.
09:00 Yeah.
09:01 But the fact that you go eight and four, and as you say,
09:05 forget about what the so-called experts were saying because they full well knew
09:10 the schedule prior to, right?
09:12 And we were supposed to win eight games, nine games, whatever the case may be.
09:17 We were supposed to finish last in the conference.
09:19 So to finish, I believe, fit, if I'm not mistaken.
09:23 I believe fit.
09:24 Yes.
09:25 So to finish number five in the conference,
09:28 when you're supposed to finish last, that is kudos to Neil Brown,
09:32 the coaching staff, the players, and everybody else, the support staff,
09:35 the stricken conditioning, everybody that really brought into what he was,
09:39 the vision he was trying to get them to buy into.
09:41 Right.
09:42 Only thing is this, when you play teams that are not on your level,
09:47 we cannot play to that team's level.
09:50 And we have a tendency to do that.
09:53 We have a tendency to not play up.
09:56 We play down.
09:58 And you can't continue to do that if you're trying to have upward climb in
10:04 this program.
10:05 Now, this is a great way to go into a bowl.
10:08 You're eight and four.
10:10 You're six and three in a conference where you're supposed to finish last.
10:14 But again, eight and four overall.
10:17 There's something to be said about that.
10:19 I can't wait to see what bowl selection is going to look like and who we're
10:23 going to be paired with.
10:24 We have a chance to win nine games.
10:27 The first since he's been in Morgantown, the first nine win season in a long
10:31 time.
10:32 That has to be spoke about in a real glowing way.
10:35 But once again,
10:37 a game like tonight should never happen again.
10:43 You're playing a -- you blow them off the freaking field and you treat them
10:48 like they're three and 18.
10:50 Last thing before we get out of here, because I think we're on the same page
10:54 here.
10:55 Going into next year, I think he's still not 100% safe through the end of
11:00 his contract.
11:01 Because, look, you move up in the rankings, right?
11:05 You move up in the standings.
11:06 You're now eight and four.
11:07 You could finish nine and four.
11:09 Guess what that does, though?
11:10 When you go from kind of a 500 to sub 500 team to all of a sudden, boom,
11:15 in a year that you're on the hot seat, you get eight to nine wins,
11:18 potentially.
11:19 That raises the expectations, Gene.
11:21 You can't take a step back.
11:23 I'm not saying this is going to have to be a consistent nine, ten,
11:27 11 win team for him to keep his job.
11:29 We all understand how college athletics work.
11:31 You're going to have these three or four-year spurts.
11:33 You're going to have a year where you fall back.
11:35 But with the amount of talent that this coach has coming back,
11:39 potentially, as long as they retain everybody,
11:41 there's no reason why this team should take a step back.
11:45 So, for everyone that is blasting the whole, "Oh, well,
11:49 he's just lucky because he got the benefit of an easy schedule.
11:52 He won eight games."
11:53 Well, guess what?
11:55 He's not 100% safe moving forward.
11:57 I mean, he's safe right now for 2024.
11:59 But beyond that, there's no telling.
12:01 Because we'll know next year.
12:03 2024, I think, will be the real telling year as to whether or not Neal is
12:08 the right guy for this job.
12:09 Because he's going to have all that talent back, we assume,
12:12 and the schedule is not going to be as easy.
12:14 So, when we see those two things come together,
12:17 we'll have a better read on Neal.
12:19 No, I agree 100%, absolutely.
12:21 But I also say this.
12:23 Going into, again, this offseason, barring him, we get everybody back,
12:30 transfer Porter don't kill us too bad.
12:32 Hopefully it won't.
12:33 It'll be interesting to see how they're prepared going into this 2024 season,
12:38 coming off of eight and four, potentially nine and four,
12:41 you know, victories, you know, winning eight games,
12:47 possibly nine games.
12:48 Because that does raise not only expectation it should for Mountaineer
12:51 Nation, it should also raise the expectation for him and his staff.
12:55 They should go on the next season expecting to win nine to ten games.
13:00 Because that, again, you win eight games, listen, man,
13:04 you got to win nine to ten next year.
13:06 Like you said, Skylar, that's just what it is.
13:08 We're in a -- this is a performance-laced business.
13:11 This is big boy football.
13:13 So, we won eight, potentially, depending if we win a bowl, nine,
13:17 that I expect to win at least ten next year.
13:19 And the reason why we're so confident in saying that is because you have
13:22 Garrett Green coming back quarterback, you have Traylen Ray, Rodney Gallagher,
13:26 Traylen Davis -- or not Traylen Davis, I mean, Traylen Davis, too,
13:29 but Jaheim White.
13:30 Like you have so much young talent coming back on offense.
13:33 You have a bundle of guys coming back on defense.
13:36 It would be different, I think, if you were losing some of those pieces
13:40 and there were some question marks.
13:42 It would be a little bit bold, I guess, for us to say they should be expecting
13:46 eight, nine plus ten wins next year.
13:48 But when you have all this coming back off of this team,
13:52 this has to be the expectation now.
13:54 So, let's go ahead and take a look here at the schedule.
13:57 There is no road ahead because we don't know the road ahead just yet.
14:00 We'll find out West Virginia's bowl destination and opponent next Sunday.
14:04 But a look back on the 2023 regular season, eight and four, six and three.
14:08 Again, they were preseason pick to finish the league 14th.
14:13 They get a top five finish in the league.
14:15 They start -- or they end the season the same way.
14:17 They finish it winning four out of five.
14:19 And, again, obviously that Houston game, which we've mentioned a couple of times,
14:22 that's kind of the one you wish you had back, the Hail Mary.
14:26 But you found a way to close it tonight.
14:28 And it was a very similar situation from really the halfway point of the game on
14:34 and how those two games kind of played out.
14:36 And I think the one thing -- I do want to mention this, Gene,
14:39 and I want to get your thoughts right here before we get out of here.
14:42 The play where Zach Frazier carries Hudson Clement over the first down marker,
14:48 it stops the clock.
14:50 Zach limps off the field.
14:52 Brandon Yates comes in.
14:54 Seamless transition.
14:55 Does a good job snapping.
14:57 Does a good job in protection.
14:59 That can't be talked about enough and how smooth that transition was.
15:02 That was a huge critical part of the game right there.
15:05 Goes to show you what preparation looks like.
15:08 Next man up, what it looks like.
15:11 How you know that when a situation like that occurs, what that looks like.
15:15 You can tell that that's been -- I would dare say not even maybe practiced,
15:20 but when you know that if something happens, this is what your responsibilities are,
15:25 I'm going to give a whole bunch of credit to Neil Brown and that staff for having
15:29 these players prepared just in case that happens.
15:32 It was seamless.
15:33 They had no timeouts.
15:35 So it had to work.
15:36 It had to happen, and it was perfectly executed.
15:40 So, no, I would give Coach Brown and the offensive coordinator,
15:46 the line coach, all kind of kudos for that,
15:49 because that could have went left so many different ways.
15:52 Oh, yeah, it very well could have.
15:54 And that could have been a very bad ending to the game.
15:57 And then we're sitting here talking about a whole different situation,
16:00 probably more so about Neil's job security.
16:02 So let us know about your guys' thoughts on this game, on this season,
16:07 about Neil Brown in the comments section on YouTube.
16:10 And once again, we thank you guys so much for tuning in each
16:13 and every single week to the Mountaineers Now postgame show.
16:16 We are not going away.
16:17 We will have a Mountaineers Now postgame show for the bowl game as well,
16:20 so we hope you tune in for that as well.
16:22 We want to say thank you for checking in all season long.
16:25 Also, Chris has been doing the postgame with me for basketball,
16:28 so we'll be having those out after every basketball game.
16:31 And a huge thank you to Eugene.
16:33 It's been a pleasure, my friend.
16:35 As always, yes, definitely.
16:37 And let me say this.
16:38 Listen, we have a star in Morgantown, West Virginia.
16:43 Let me tell you something.
16:44 Yeah.
16:45 Jaheim White is something special.
16:47 He is.
16:48 He's something special.
16:49 Better back the brinks, Chump, up for that kid.
16:52 Oh, my God.
16:53 No doubt about it.
16:54 He is something special,
16:55 and I'm looking forward to watching the remaining part of his career
16:58 in college sports, man.
16:59 He is something different.
17:00 Yes, he is.
17:01 Electrifying, and he's only a true freshman.
17:03 He's only going to get better as his experience grows.
17:06 So we're going to go ahead and get out of here,
17:08 but we thank you guys again for watching.
17:10 Make sure you hit that subscribe button on YouTube at Mountaineers Now
17:13 and give us a follow on X at the same handle.
17:16 So for Eugene Napoleon, I'm Skylar Cowling.
17:18 Again, West Virginia winners 34-31 over Baylor.
17:21 You've been watching the Mountaineers Now postgame show.
17:23 We'll see you guys here later.
17:24 Take care.
17:25 [Music].
17:27 [Music].
17:31 [Music].
17:34 (upbeat music)