MORGANTOWN — It’s no secret WVU head coach Neal Brown wants to establish the run no matter the opponent, but looking ahead to Saturday’s game at TCU, the Mountaineers are salivating at the opportunity.
The Horned Frogs are ranked 120th out of 130 teams at stopping the run, giving up 210 yards per game on the ground. The only team worse in the Big 12 is Kansas, which sits at 128th, allowing 250.
“That’s where we spent most of our time last week is getting our running game on track,” Brown said. “We just haven’t been consistent. [TCU] had some issues versus the run this year and it’s our hope that we can take advantage of that.”
But this isn’t the first time this season WVU had an opportunity to put up big rushing yards against a team ranked near the bottom nationally in rush defense. Texas Tech was gashed time and time again in September, but on Oct. 2, held the Mountaineers to just 94 yards on 27 carries.
Senior running back Leddie Brown had 57 yards on 17 carries — a 3.5 average — against the Red Raiders, and over the last three games overall, the preseason All-Big 12 running back has struggled to get any momentum.
Since he ran for 161 yards against Virginia Tech on Sept. 18, Brown is averaging just 52 yards per game, with a 3.6-yard-per-carry average. His 422 total rushing yards are ninth in the conference, a far cry from what many expected.
While a lot of the focus is put on the running back, the offensive line, especially the right side, has struggled to open holes for Brown all season, with the exception of the Virginia Tech game. WVU is 109th nationally in rushing yards per game at 113 per game.
“Do we need to be better these next six (games) for [Brown] as a group? Of course,” offensive coordinator Gerad Parker said. “He possesses the things it takes to play at the next level and everything we do moving forward will help his percentages of that.”
A big key coming into the season was to establish depth behind Brown to give him needed snaps off. Through six games, backups Tony Mathis and Justin Johnson have just 80 yards on 27 carries.
Backup QB Garrett Greene is second on the team in yards and attempts at 230 and 38, respectively.
Brown rushed for over 1,000 yards in just 10 games last year, averaging over 100 yards per game. With his great junior campaign, the accolades rolled in during the off-season after he opted to play another year with the Mountaineers instead of heading to the NFL.
While this year hasn’t gone the way many expected, Brown believes they can get it together, but it’ll be a group effort.
“We need to play a complete game as an offense,” he said. “In all aspects with running, throwing and blocking. I believe we’re not far off, but a couple of a plays when people get tired, we just need them to strain a little bit more. I’m not saying to be perfect because no one is perfect. We just need to go a little bit more as a whole offense.”
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