MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia head coach Neal Brown spoke during the Big 12 coaches teleconference Monday morning, heading into WVU’s road game Saturday at Texas Tech:
- On looking back at the 38-17 win over Kansas last Saturday: “We had a good home win on Saturday with fans, so that was a good experience for our players to get back in front of some of our fans here at Mountaineer Field. We’re 3-1 overall and 2-1 in Big 12 play. We really started off slowly. The first quarter went as bad as it probably could go. A sign of our growth and maturity as a team and as a program — we were able to overcome that slow start and a couple bad breaks to go on and take control of the game right before the half. We scored 38 unanswered points.
“We didn’t finish the game well. The kickoff at the end was disappointing, but defensively, we really played at a high level. Offensively, we did some good things. Leddie Brown was special at times. I was disappointed in our special teams play overall, we have to get better in that regard.”
- On former Arizona linebackers Tony Fields and Colin Schooler facing each other now on different teams: “Once Tony went in the portal, we had a connection. Jahmile Addae actually recruited Tony to Arizona while he was on [Rich Rodriguez’s] staff. Tony’s meant a great deal to us. He’s playing at an elite level, he’s our leading tackler, and not only what he’s meant on the field but off the field. He’s an older presence and his energy and preparation in practice has been a huge addition to our program.”
- On the improvements the team wanted to work on in the offseason: “On defense, we knew we needed to improve on 3rd and medium, rushing defense and we had to increase our takeaways. We’ve been improved in all three of those areas so far. I think we’re getting into the part of our schedule that’s really going to challenge us defensively in those areas.
“Offensively, we put a premium on rushing the football and there’s been marked improvement there. We put a premium on taking care of the ball, which has not translated. And then we put a premium on red zone scoring and scoring touchdowns. That’s improved, but again, over the next few weeks, it’s going to be a tell-tale of if we’ve reached the level of improvement we need.”
Kansas State kickoff time announced
The Big 12 announced that WVU’s Oct. 31 game against Kansas State at Milan Puskar Stadium will be televised on ESPN or ESPN2 at noon. The television network for the game will be announced after this weekend’s games are completed.
The Mountaineers earned a road win at K-State last season, 24-20.
Tickets for the final three home games will go on sale to the general public through the Mountaineer Ticket Office at 9 a.m. today.
Tickets will be available for the K-State (Oct. 31), TCU (Nov. 14) and Oklahoma (Nov. 28) games online at wvugame.com or by calling 1-800-WVU GAME.
With the 25% capacity limit at Milan Puskar Stadium, seats available in the socially distanced, reduced capacity manifest are displayed on the “Pick Your Own Seat” map on wvugame.com in seat blocks ranging from one to six seats.
Tickets are priced by seat locations in each zone (Blue/Red Zone, Orange/Gold Zone, or Green Zone) and will be reflected on the wvugame.com seat map.
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