What Neal Brown Said Following the Loss to Oklahoma

The No. 17 Oklahoma Sooners (8-2, 5-2) produced 644 yards of total offense in a rout of the West Virginia Mountaineers (6-4, 4-3) Saturday night 59-20.

Opening statement

I didn’t see that coming, we practiced well. The last two years against Oklahoma combined score have been tied and you know, that didn't resemble anything. That football in all three phases didn't resemble anything that we put on tape this year and credit to Oklahoma, they beat a soundly, Brett (Venables) had those guys ready to go after the two losses and the home crowd was into it and they played with a lot more energy and a lot more execution than we did.

Offensively if you look at it, Garrett really struggled after that first Drive in the first and second quarter - didn't play like himself. They beat us up front, especially a thought after our first initial drive there in the first second quarter, where the game got away from us a little bit. They got after us up front, that's really the first time it's been done all year.

I thought we got in on first down, down on the goal line. I thought we got in on second down, and that's not a knock on officiating but here we are, we're playing a national TV game we don't have a goal line camera. Not one single goal line shot whether the ball got over or not, which is amazing to me. I don't think we win the game but it's a hell of a lot more interesting, but I really feel strongly that we got in on first down for sure. Second down, it'd been nice to have a shot at it. We didn't have any video of it. So, they couldn't overturn it in the rock, they couldn't overturn here because there's no video of it which I don't know how that happens.

And then, offensively, we can't be any quality teams if our pass game is in the shape, it was tonight. It is probably as bad as stats passing has ever been associated with. We had drops, we missed reads, we missed throws. We got hit more tonight than we have. And then our third down execution, this wasn't good enough.

Defensively, they pretty much did what they wanted to. You know if you look at it, basically 10 of 14 on end of possessions down. We couldn't get off the field. They exposed us in coverage. They took advantage of matchups. They went after some people tonight. We didn't fit the run, especially early. We didn't fit the run very well. Like I said, couldn't get off the field. And so, disappointed. I can promise you this, that won't be how we finish. We've had nine games, we played football at a pretty high level even the games we lost. Penn State competitive one score game going the fourth quarter. Lose on a Hail Mary, and then, up in the fourth quarter against Oklahoma State, and all that, we played pretty sound football looks like a well-coached unit and played and competed and I don't want to get into it till watch the tape. But we didn't coach good enough. We didn't execute good enough and that didn't resemble anything that the 2023 Mountaineers have been. To say that I'm disappointed would be an understatement at the at the least. Quite frankly I'm pissed and nearly embarrassed by what we put on the tape tonight.

Defense's effort

They spread us out. They spread us out and put us in one-on-one situations which credit to them. They haven't hadn't done that as much. Now, that's in Lebby’s background. And I know they're giving him a hard time but he's a hell of an offensive coach. Everywhere he's been they've been good on offense, and credit to him, what they did, and they've got a whole lot there. Their offense staff's really good and they got a bunch of analysts and stuff that have been really good offensive coaches as well. And so, what they did is, they spread us out and made it a one-on-one game, and we didn't do a good enough job putting our kids in position where when you get them some help and they exposed us and they hit us with some runs. They blocked us pretty well up front and we missed tackles that the second and third level and then in coverage, they RPO’d us. They got us and got some guys in some run fits and expose some guys and some one on one.

Getting the muffed punt and not scoring, along with the offenses struggles

That was kind of the night in a nutshell. They muffed the punt, we did a good job recovering it, and then we have to kick a long field goal. The thing that irritates you, and Garrett’s played really well most of the year but tonight wasn’t his best and it was really decision making. I can deal with errant throws and all that kind of stuff but on that series in particular we had a couple good plays, and sometimes when you see too much – he didn't see it very good. And he'll learn from it, and he'll get better. I didn't do a good enough job putting our guys in position either. We had a lot of people open in the pass game. And we had some drops more drops tonight than we've had probably all year when you go back and look at it. We're a lot better offensively than what we did. There's couple drives, that one irritates me and the one where we didn't get it in. Even with on first and second down, which I thought we scored, still should be a score on third and fourth down there too and we didn't and like I said, credit to them. That's the first time that that we've been beaten up front all year, and they got us they got after us.

West Virginia Crushed in Norman

Individual + Team Stats: WVU at Oklahoma

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