What Neal Brown Said Following the Win Over Pitt

The West Virginia Mountaineers (2-1) beat the Pitt Panthers (1-2) 17-6 Saturday night.

Head coach Neal Brown met with the media following the game and gave some insight on the Mountaineers win over the Panthers.

Brown was unable to provide an injury update on quarterback Garrett Greene and running back CJ Donaldson but expects Donaldson to be ready next week against Texas Tech.

Opening Statement

I want to recognize the crowd, first of all. I thought they played a huge factor in the game. Definitely the most intense, biggest crowd we’ve had at the Mantrip in five years. I thought they were into it from the start. They made a difference. I think Pitt had nine penalties in the game, several procedure penalties. I think noise had a factor in that. I think our guys fed off of it. (They) fed off the energy.

We had some bad things happen to us in that football game. You lose your starting quarterback. He’s not only your starting quarterback, but he’s really kind of the heart and soul of your football team. He’s the high-energy guy. He’s the leader. He’s a guy that’s easy to follow. He goes down (on the) second drive, and playing at home in that type of atmosphere, I really thought, especially our defensive players, fed off that. I want to credit the crowd. We play a game next week, too, so we’d love for them to come back and make it really hard for those guys from West Texas.

Huge win. I thought it was a team win. They call it the Brawl for a reason, and that wasn’t a thing of beauty. That wasn’t a classic. They’re not going to talk about the beauty of that game for a long time, but regardless of what is was, it was a win for West Virginia. I have a lot of respect for (Pitt coach Pat) Narduzzi and that team. They won a bunch of games the last two years, and it’s been something that has stuck with us for 54 weeks. We had a chance with a lead in the fourth quarter 54 weeks ago, and we just did not finish. I think the evolution of our program - and a lot of it has to do with our offseason, a lot of it has to do with the leadership we have, the fact that our best players are on both fronts - that has really helped us. We’re a tough football team. We’re a mentally tough football team. We’re a physically tough football team. I thought that showed.

It was ugly, and we played ugly ball. I’m proud of our guys. I’m proud of our staff. I said this to our team, and I made a point of this, it had been since November 25, 2011, since the state of West Virginia and our fanbase had experienced a win and been able to celebrate a win over Pitt on the gridiron. Our state needed this, our university needed this, our football program needed this. This is a huge win on a bunch of different levels, and that’s not lost on us. I’m so happy for our staff, not just the staff but also the families of the staff.

There’s been negativity. I can tune it out. I live in a bubble, honestly. I go two places, counting three if Dax has a flag football game. I’m in this building, I’m at my house, and I do a radio show. I’m in a bubble, but the staff and their families have to deal with that. I’m excited for them because they shouldn’t have to deal with that for a week. That’s a group that puts a lot of time and effort into it, so I’m really happy for them and that they can experience this.

That’s one of the best traditions in all of college football, singing Country Roads after a win. That feeling in the locker room, if you can bottle it up and sell it, it’d be the top seller wherever you went. It’s a great feeling when you put a lot into it, and you’re able to get the payoff.

Defense's performance

Not necessarily because we were able to hold them to a field goal. If you want to go back and really think about some big drives of the game, that’s as big as any of them. I thought the two drives defensively were huge with stopping them in the red zone, and they kick a field goal and right after (sophomore quarterback) Nicco’s (Marchiol) fumble, we get a pick. It was a huge momentum swing because we scored on the next play.

They basically ran power all the way down the field. I don’t even know if they threw one pass that whole drive. The disappointing thing was they didn’t catch us off guard. We kind of expected them to come and try to run the football. They did and had some success, but after that, they ran the ball 36 times for 130 yards. We really played the run well after that.

On redshirt freshman linebacker Trey Lathan’s performance

He’s gotten better. You think about a kid who had to make his first career start at Penn State. He’s gotten better the whole time. He’s really athletic. He’s exactly what we’ve been looking for in a linebacker. He’s athletic enough to play in coverage. He plays in our speed and our third-down packages. He should have had a pick tonight. He’s probably the one time we got our hand on the ball and didn’t intercept it. He’s getting better. He’s a guy that has a bright future. He really does. It’s a great story. (Sophomore running back) CJ Donaldson and him are from the same high school, and they’re really good friends. I thought both of them performed well tonight.

You can follow us for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us on X:

Facebook - @MountaineersNow

X - @MountaineersNow and Christopher Hall @WVHallBilly

Add us as a preferred source on Google