Grading Year 2 of "The Climb"
The record still may not be where the West Virginia fanbase or head coach Neal Brown would like for it to be, but the 2020 season was quite a success. The Mountaineers finished the season with a 6-4 (4-4) record including a 24-21 win over Army in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
Expectations were rather low for this West Virginia team in 2020 due to the lack of star power at certain positions and depth concerns at several spots. With that said, the Mountaineers took the next step in the climb under Neal Brown, which is why I'm giving this coaching staff a B+ for the 2020 season. Below I listed a few reasons as to why I believe this season was a success.
Improved rushing attack
After a 5-7 campaign in 2019, there were a ton of areas that Brown wanted to see improvement from, particularly in the rushing game and the offensive line. West Virginia ranked 128th out of 130 FBS schools last season in rushing yards per game averaging just 73.4 rushing yards per game. That number jumped all the way up to 135.1 yards per game with starting running back Leddie Brown being the nation's 14th leading rusher with 1,010 yards. The offensive line is still far from where it needs to be but proved that they took a step in the right direction.
READ MORE: Austin Kendall hits transfer portal.
Better ball security
One area that really plagued West Virginia in 2019 was turnovers. As a team, the Mountaineers averaged turning over the ball 1.7 times per game, which ranked 95th in the country. Thanks to quarterback Jarret Doege doing an exceptional job of not forcing the ball into tight windows and only throwing three interceptions in the regular season, West Virginia cut that average down to just 1.1 (28th in the country). When you're battling against the likes of Oklahoma, Texas, and Oklahoma State, you can't afford to give those teams extra possessions. Although Doege did not toss many interceptions, he did have a tough time holding onto the football in the pocket and put the ball on the turf quite a few times. That'll be one area of focus for him this offseason.
READ MORE: Darius Stills and Tykee Smith Earn All-American Honors
Well-respected defense
Playing defense in the Big 12 is optional. Well, that's at least according to the folks from outside of the conference. As a matter of fact, defense is played in this league and the league as a whole has improved significantly on that side of that ball.
West Virginia made the biggest jump going from the 70th best defense nationally, to the 4th best in 2020. The Mountaineers allowed just 291.4 yards per game, which was tops among all Power Five schools. West Virginia also finished No. 1 in passing yards allowed per game (159.6) and picked off 11 passes on the season. This was a tremendous coaching job by Jahmile Addae and Jordan Lesley who served as co-defensive coordinators this season in place of Vic Koenning who mutually parted ways with the program in the summer.
READ MORE: Darius Stills Secures Consensus All-American Status
Postseason Success
Historically, West Virginia has struggled in bowl games with a 16-22 record all-time, but Neal Brown is hoping to change that. He went 3-0 in bowl games as head coach at Troy and earned a win in his first bowl appearance as the head coach of the Mountaineers. Sure it may have just been Army and sure, it may have just been the Liberty Bowl but regardless, a bowl win gives the players on the roster a small taste of what success in the postseason is like.
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