MORGANTOWN — If you spend too much time on social media or read too many people’s college football opinions, you might believe that the West Virginia football team is hopeless heading into the 2023 season.
Twitter users question if the team will win a single game this year while national magazines claim the Mountaineers have the worst roster in the Big 12.
WVU head coach Neal Brown, however, doesn’t see any of that negativity manifested in his team.
“If you’re around our players, if you come to our workouts and you’re around them, the mood of our team is pretty positive,” Brown said during an interview with the Dominion Post on Wednesday. “They like each other, I think they feel really good about the additions we’ve made. From a schematic standpoint, they feel really comfortable. We have really good systems in place whether it’s academics, nutrition, sports psychology.”
Brown feels good about the Mountaineers heading into his fifth season as head coach, but he knows his 22-25 record so far is a sticking point for the perception of the program.
“The infrastructure of our program is good, we’ve got to be able to win more close games,” he said. “In this league the margin for error is small and we’ve got to be able to win more of those.”
WVU has always won at least five games under Brown, but never more than six. That kind of mediocrity doesn’t add up to job security for a head coach or excitement in a fanbase.
However, when asked why fans should emotionally invest in a team that didn’t make any major changes following a disappointing 2022, Brown didn’t hesitate.
“Why wouldn’t they?” he replied. “We’re flying under the radar and some of it I understand, some of it I don’t. People tend to forget, we beat Oklahoma in our second-to-last home game and we beat Oklahoma State on the road. Those are the top two programs in the Big 12 really since West Virginia has joined.”
For as much negativity you can find online, Brown said he sees just as much positivity in-person.
“I’m out in the state a bunch. I’m at a bunch of different communities whether it’s my kids’ soccer or softball. I’m out in Morgantown a bunch, we do all of our caravan events and they’re full. There’s a ton of positivity too,” he said. “Especially in the last two months I’ve been around our fanbase a ton and the overwhelming majority of the people want us to do well. They want our staff to do well, they want our team to do well.
“What happens is, and it’s not unlike politics, you’ve got your vocal minority that makes the most noise. Just because they’re the loudest voice doesn’t mean they’re the voice of the people. That’s the way I think about it.”
The road doesn’t get any easier for Brown as the Mountaineers again play one of the toughest schedules in the country in 2023. WVU is one of only six teams that will play 11 Power Five opponents, adding traditional rivals Penn State and Pitt to its nine-game conference slate.
Some people see that as another nail in the coffin for WVU, saying the team won’t be able to stack up any easy wins over lesser opponents and risks missing out on a bowl game for the third time in five years.
Brown, again, sees the positive side of it.
“We play one of the more exciting schedules in the country,” he said. “Our fanbase should be really fired up about playing Penn State at Penn State. We’ve got Pitt coming here for the first time in a really long time, it’s going to be a night game with our biggest rival.”
Those games against Penn State and Pitt could make or break the fanbase’s view of the upcoming season. Brown knows that and he knows it’s a chance to change the narrative around the program.
“We’re going to play a lot of quality football teams early, there are going to be a lot of nationally televised games early,” Brown said. “Is it a challenge, yes, but it’s also a tremendous opportunity for our team and our program to make a statement early on.”
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