WVU Football Neal Brown Penn State Postgame | Aug 31 2024

thank you'all for being here um I appreciate our crowd that was here at the start and the atmosphere in the game you know it it was a it's a great Collegiate atmosphere and uh um you know first of all I'll credit um Penn State you know good team um and I'll credit James does a really good job there he's done it for a long time um but we play Bad football you know I can I can sit here and talk for a long time but that's the deal if you have three phases you got to have offense you have defense you have special teams and special teams is the only um phase of the game today that that we gave ourselves a chance to win and so uh to say I'm disappointed in how we play it would be an understatement um we played really poorly and and it was on a big stage and and very aware of that and we and we played poorly um starts with me I'm the head coach I'm responsible for it all and and and then our staff we didn't put our our players in a position in some key in some key times um especially in the first half I thought and then um our best players just didn't play very well you know outside of I would say Josiah Trier um just watching the game and then having a chance to watch it during halftime um I thought he played at a high level uh Anthony Wilson is much improved and then after that I don't I don't think any of our players played at the level that's going to be required to beat a team like that and um I think I'll start with offense is just very erratic offensively early you know um and I'll say this I should have said this Wyatt milm who didn't play in the second half uh cramps and just some really really bad stuff as far as that goes now he played extremely well and I hope the pro Personnel people watch this first half he played extremely well but he didn't get to play the second half and that hurt us um but let's start with offense first of all let's talk about snaps I mean like that's the fundamental and we talk about the center quarterback exchange probably more than anybody and and that was a disaster we had a turnover on the second series we had a really good play that that had a chance for a big play and we snapped the ball at the wrong time and then the very next play is we we don't feel to snap again and and it ends up being second and 15 or something like that um and we just did not play with the discipline that's required and and and what I mean by that is we only had one penalty in the game and so people look at that and say oh well they only we only had one penalty that was a defense of all sides right um but our alignments were not good like they should um on offense we cut some routes short we didn't do a very good job and and some communication things and again we're we're a veteran group group and so my expectations for this group is extremely high and we didn't come close to meeting those expectations today and and I'm in charge of it but we have to execute as well and um and then on defense is they hurt us in space you know and and they've got good players but we've got to do a better job of tackling in space especially in the third quarter we weren't good enough tackling in space and then we had a we had several opportunities of 50-50 balls and they made those plays and we didn't um and and we should have had them in a better spot at the end of the first half too you know that should never happen with 32 seconds to go uh now I'll say this okay is if we're going to have replay then we need to have Replay in the first half and um and so I want I I want some explanations on that because uh having the the ability to watch the the video at halftime and we had that long break the lightning DeLay So I really watched every play of the first half and I don't understand so I'm going to have to get some explanation on that because you have replay so plays get checked um and um the touchdown at the end of the first half the ball looked like it was moving and it never went to replay so why do we have it I don't I don't understand how how we have it if it never goes and and and I'll say this this is not like the fishing is really really hard like the the crew the of the game did a nice job um and that's in live time that's fast but we shouldn't have mistakes in replay ever and so I want to get um some explanations on that now it ended up we didn't play very well in the second half so it ended up not being a factor in the game but still I don't want to forget about that and then um I thought we had some opportunities in the second half to get in the game and uh we had we had two critical drops um that would have been explosive plays I think we had four opportunities for explosive plays two in the first half two in the second half we didn't make plays on um and we made those plays last year and we've made those plays all camp and so um we've got to figure out that and then um on defense we couldn't we had them in third and long maybe two maybe three times in the opening drive and we didn't get them off and the quarterback really hurt us um with uh with his scrambling but botom line is we played poorly and and I say that giving credit to Penn State they won the game but that's not what we're capable of and we have higher expectations for ourselves I told the players in the locker room the exact same thing I told the staff the exact same thing that was not good enough and uh we had a great crowd here and we didn't give them a chance to to get in the game so questions Greg so NE I mean you probably don't have an explanation as to why but over hyped just too excited to start I don't know if I if I knew I would have prevented it and here's the the worst thing about this and I said this to Ren just a minute ago when you see this coming you can do something about it but especially offensively we got a veteran group there should not have been this um anxiety there shouldn't have been this uh lack of execution and they're just was we just we were anxious we never got comfortable um and we didn't execute you know and listen they got two DN that are not good players they're great players especially rushing the passer Lev's a great pass rusher all right but with that being said is we didn't give ourselves a chance you know they didn't necessarily beat us we didn't give ourselves a chance so um and again it wasn't young players it was people that play a lot of football here so um we got to figure that out coach on that drive right before half and really throughout the game what did you see as far as your defensive backs judging the ball maybe making mistakes better yeah not good enough you know I thought it was offensive Pi on the on the big play and and after watching on film I think no question about it it was offensive Pi anytime you have two hands and you push it uh Aubry got into him first but there was two hands extension and that's the definition of offensive pass interference but with that being said Aubrey didn't play in his correct coverage Lane we were in a cover two that ball should that ball was complete on the seam and we were in cover two that should never on that that half field should never happen and it was an unbalanced look and they do they do a bunch of junk stuff and that's fine and and we worked all that stuff they were they were very similar to what they did at Kansas and so we were prepared for all the stuff that we saw um and then you know the the one the call that you go that you as a coach you go I I don't know we wanted to be aggressive in the game and we played man covers and they caught a go ball you know on the last play we had to do it over again we probably played some Zone and made them throw it underneath um but I'm not sure that was a catch and I'm really not sure after watching it and the fact that it wasn't even taken to review I don't understand somebody above me is going to have to I mean they I got to get an explanation on that is serious for n he just he locked up I mean we tried everything and he he could not and it's disappointing because there's nobody nobody on our football team that's more prepared he's the first one in the building from a player standpoint every day he does all the recovery stuff he hydrates he eats he sleeps and he went into just full body cramps and uh never done that before um now he's a sweater it was really hot obviously intense game you know he he had an opportunity going against 11 and 33 thought he really really did well you know like I said I was able to watch the first half and um I thought he did did exceedingly well what G he he got banged up he came back and played in the second half probably wasn't his AFF in the second half what do you think led to the miscues with the snaps at Center obviously it happened once maybe it wasn't the center yeah it wasn't a center that's that's not the center what do you think led to what do you think hell Mike if I knew I would have told you like we didn't have those issues in practice I mean I'm not and that's a quality question I'm not being offensive to you I mean that but extremely frustrating um extremely frustrating we're a team we motion and shift a bunch and it hurt us because we had some really good things to to get them and they didn't adjust to us very well early on but like the two bad snaps were we were going to have real positive plays um and we want to be a group that motions and shifts and that's kind of what we do but when we had those snaps we got away from it you know because obviously we weren't able to handle it and so so we had to get away from our game plan a little bit there till we got back in track on track which we did um but no we hadn't had those issues uh if we had those issues we went and run those stle plays does that make sense um but just asking for the ball not at the right time how important was the quarterback sneak what' you say the quarterback sneak it was important it was a z00 you know um the Spy can go either way you know we got too high you should you should be low on a quarterback sneak and we were too high you know um we didn't we didn't have and and and the the ownership on my end is we we didn't have a good enough short yardage play going in I think we ended up getting all but one but they they were ugly you know it was we got to get our pads down down at running back and at quarterback bottom line we got to get our pads down um and and that's a that's what I'm saying as far as a discipline is that's a something like playing with pad leverage and understanding situational football like as a on a quarterback sneak you should be really low and you're really just taking it and getting pushed in a gap um and we've been Ultra successful in those and then we got beat at Baylor and then we lost one today now that spot flip a coin flip a coin you know I could argue very very strongly that we got that first down and I could argue with it being on on the the replay and I saw the exact same replay and I could argue very very strongly that that was a first down they marked it on the field short and you're never going to get a quarterback sneak overturned on video replay you know is that fair or right I don't know but you're just I've never seen it I should say I've never seen it I'm not going to say that it won't happen but I've never seen it uh I was right there I felt like second effort wise the ball got across but we didn't execute that well enough either we brought the official into play and the officials should never been in play on that on that particular um fourth and inches what you do during delay how do you how did you handle we just watch the game we watched the game try to get these guys calmed down we had several of them cramp um which we we haven't had that issue but that was probably the hottest game we've played in a really long time um and just tried to settle down and come up with a plan for the second half um didn't find out why it wasn't going to go till right as we were coming out you know we were kind of hopeful and then all a sudden um and Johnny got in there and competed we'll see how you know I haven't watched the second half so I don't I don't know but um you know both teams did the same thing you know that didn't have anything to do with the outcome wise you know I think if we could have got some stops on that initial drive there then we could have got back in the game talk about Not Giving yourselves a chance today big picture what does it take to get that signature win against some of the best teams in America I don't know like what do you count as a signature win like we beat we beat Texas here beat Oklahoma here beat Virginia Tech here um we beep pit here last year now you can say well okay the what were the records in the year but the bottom line those were big games at the time right and so what I'll say is is um we didn't win today you know and was it a big game absolutely it was a big game you know like everybody was here Fox was here it a big game and and but we didn't we didn't produce we were not productive um now was it because it was a big game I don't know was it because it was a first game I don't know uh if I had the answer on that then we wouldn't be in this position here but we didn't play good enough and it would have mattered you know Penn State is really good they'll have a chance to make the playoff and and I wish them the best but it could have been a number of teams today and we put not quality football on M and push car field today M near field Neil your um personnel and packages and everything that started the second half looks like new people new spots did you guys kind of do a makeover at halftime and no some of that was by necessity not necessarily because we were choosing to do that so we had some we had some injury stuff yeah and then um Aubrey got hurt there early in the third quarter and so we had to we kind of had to retool what we were doing we had another secondary guy go down and so um yeah and and we've had a really healthy camp we didn't have a single injury during camp that nobody got hurt during camp that missed this to miss this game and then we had several um we had several in this game other touchdown it seemed like I don't maybe just a miscommunication but short catch and run that just was pull away from guys that was munication you talking you talking about the one we got down or the touchdown short slant the first one for Wallace yeah so they ran a switch concept so they they caught us um good scheme by them they caught us and we didn't do we didn't do a very good job communicating we were in a man look and they just ran corner post and the post came open yep and uh good good concept by them not good communication by us I name was a catch and Ron at first one Neil you mentioned bur being out of position a little bit obviously a new kind of a new role for him yeah he was playing deep safety on that one though matee okay but just in general with him because Jordan did allude to a little bit that if things weren't going well that maybe he would have to switch back or whatever's best for the team is is that well so what we were doing no no we were just playing like we were doing it Personnel base so he's playing deep safety in 12 and then uh Rodney was playing some in our nickel package and then um it got a little fast for him defensively and so we put Aiden Garnes there and then moved Rodney back I mean moved auy back so it was going into the game we were going to do it from a package standpoint it's nothing that happened within the game what you make of Gary gre's performance today not good enough and I love the kid and he'll bounce back he'll play way better tomorrow or on Saturday I should say this coming week but he didn't play good enough and he knows it and uh nobody's more disappointed than him and um I believe in the kid I believe in what he's about I believe in his preparation but he just didn't perform well enough today and he'll be back and he'll he'll play better and next time we're on this type of stage he'll he'll he'll play a lot better football what happened on those plays on the third Downs or multiple third Downs that Drew all picked up by scrambling and running so what you try to implement to prevent that yeah so two two things first of all uh on the edge you lose contain and and that's a that's a discipline issue second thing is uh we didn't have very good eyes all right and and then we miss some tackles on him he's he's a big guy so I don't want to Discount him and that's not a surprise you know coming into the game um I think he scrambled for double digit first downs last year so it wasn't wasn't a surprise they just they he executed a higher level than we did okay y