The Pressure is on for Neal Brown to Rise Above Expectations

Can West Virginia rise above expectations?

The Big 12 Conference released the 2022 football preseason poll on Thursday and although expectations for the Mountaineers are not high across the college football landscape, it was a little surprising to see them picked to finish 8th. 

Big 12 Preseason Poll as voted on by the media (First place votes)

1. Baylor (17)

2. Oklahoma (12)

3. Oklahoma State (9)

4. Texas (2)

5. Kansas State

6. Iowa State (1)

7. TCU

8. West Virginia

9. Texas Tech

10. Kansas

With the addition of JT Daniels at quarterback, an entire offensive line returning, key playmakers returning at receiver, and a talented defense, West Virginia should have been somewhere around the middle of the pack. Then again, the first three years of the Neal Brown era haven't been exactly successful and Daniels has had injury issues all throughout his collegiate career. These two things alone likely played a big factor into WVU's projection to finish in the bottom three of the league. 

Although it doesn't appear that Neal Brown is on the hot seat, it would be hard to see him return in 2023 if these preseason projections turn out to be accurate. Four years is plenty of time to get your type of guys in the building and start winning football games. The success on the recruiting trail has done this staff a lot of good but at some point, the success has to go beyond recruiting. 

"I think there's a formula to win big here and that's to play great defense," Brown said following a game last October. "I think that fits us. We've got to get more explosive on offense, we've got to continue to make strides on defense and we've got to get deeper on defense. But I think we're developing a standard that we're going to play defense at a high level. There have been people that try to outscore everybody. Not here, I'm just talking about in our league in general. I think that's a tough formula when you're playing the Oklahoma's of the world. We felt like if we could establish great defense, play great special teams, and be really efficient on offense, and recruit some difference makers, that's the formula."

That formula has to come to fruition in 2022. Does it mean WVU has to be in contention for a spot in the Big 12 title game? No, absolutely not. Even Lyons understands that's a bit unrealistic at this point in time. Progress is what needs to take place. Winning 7-8 games with a new quarterback and offensive coordinator with a challenging non-conference schedule is doable. Anything short of that is a disappointment and would indicate that the program is stuck in neutral. 

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