Head Coach Neal Brown was sitting on a beach when he received a text from Sports Information Director Mike Montoro. Brown did not share the precise words Montoro used, but the content was clear. The Big 12 media picked West Virginia to finish dead last in the Big XII in 2023. He told the media Thursday at Big XII media days, “[F]rom that point on, my vacation was over.” The news, he said, represents “Something that’s going to increase the size of the chip [that] was already there on the shoulder.” Good or bad, we did not hear from an indifferent Brown. He made it clear that the Mountaineers enter 2023 with a chip on their collective shoulder.
Mountaineers Enter 2023 With a Chip
Good News for the Mountaineers?
Try as we might, we struggle to put a positive spin on near unanimous agreement by the Big XII media that predicts WVU to finish last in the retooled conference. Brown certainly tried, though. “The good thing, the positive is that the media has not been, as far as predicting the Big XII, has not been successful in recent years, so I think that bodes well for us.” That a team cannot finish lower than last place, after all, may bode well. The perceived floor and ceiling are as low as they’ve ever been. While Brown says that today’s digital age makes it impossible to ignore the outside noise, he was also clear that, instead, the team’s best “opportunity is just to confront it.”
Mountaineers prove one thing true time and time again: they perform best when overlooked. The DNA of the West Virginia fanbase and the teams that represent them over the years remains: the louder the chorus of doubt, the harder they work to prove the doubt wrong. Brown finds himself “[l]ooking forward to proving everybody wrong on that front.” He seems confident, strident even, that the Mountaineers will not finish in the basement as predicted.
This question remains, though: can Brown execute that vision in Morgantown?
Mountaineers Focusing on the Vision
Brown told us at Big XII media days that the team is spending “a lot of time on … just talking about being who we are.” He added that the team “has a clear vision of what we have to improve on.” Most of those items sound familiar. He identified getting better in first-down and red-zone efficiency and supplementing a strong run game with explosive passing plays on offense. For the defense, he said, “We’ve got to limit the explosive plays.” Different year, same song here, at least until the Mountaineers prove us wrong. As the Mountaineers enter 2023 with a chip on their shoulders, we expect the team to prove whether they have the will to improve as much as they need to pretty early into the season.
Brown, for his own part, separately told the media that he intends to call the plays on offense this year. We predict a collective groan as Mountaineer fans read and digest the preceding sentence. After all, the West Virginia offense performed historically poorly while Brown called plays prior to last season.
That said, Brown makes a few good points on this front. The team features one of the best offensive line units in the last 15 years. Behind the line, budding superstar CJ Donaldson, who we predicted as one of the best returning runnings backs in the Big XII earlier this Summer, displays both explosive play and workhorse potential. By the way, behind Donaldson, West Virginia returns two experienced running backs and two incoming freshmen to share the load. “Running the football is going to be the strength of our offensive team,” concluded Brown. We find ourselves hard-pressed to disagree.
Brown did not make this point, but we will. As we discussed in our WVU quarterback preview, whoever gets the starting nod, fans will enjoy a dual-threat quarterback behind center. If the explosive pass plays follow, then the offense might just carry the load.
Defense Needs to Improve
Brown has some names to be excited about in the defense, including Sean Martin, Lee Kpogba, and Aubrey Burks, all of whom traveled to Texas to represent WVU at Big XII media days. He admitted, however, that the defense gave up way too many big plays last year. He also concluded at the very heart of the issue: “[y]ou’ve got to be able to defend the pass.” The secondary, he added, needed to tackle at a high level.
Brown knows the secondary remains the team’s weakest link on paper. That, he said, is why they added Montre Miller, Anthony Wilson, and Beanie Bishop. Can this collection step in and make a difference? Can the returning players take the next step forward in the secondary? That, it seems, will make a significant difference. If they do, West Virginia can indeed prove its doubters wrong. If they cannot, then the predictions may not be far off base. Either way, we are certain that the Mountaineers enter 2023 with a chip on their shoulders (a big one, too).
Photo courtesy: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
