A little over a week ago, Mountaineer Nation was notably and appropriately subdued. Nothing about the embarrassing butt whipping at Missouri looked like what Mountaineer fans have come to expect from their team.
The Mountaineers have often played more talented teams, but WVU football has always been regarded as hard-nosed. You don’t get pushed around like the schoolyard wimp. You go down fighting.
It was dispiriting. Head coach Neal Brown was disappointed by the effort, but he made a point to say he was not discouraged. Trust the climb.
At his weekly press conference Brown spoke candidly about telling the truth, showing players the video and being honest about who did and who did not meet expectations. Multiple changes along the offensive line due to injury, sickness and poor performance sent fans searching the depth chart for the unfamiliar names of new starters.
Defensive coordinator Vic Koenning delivered the ultimate insult to some of his players, calling them “nice guys.” Maybe that contributed to WVU safety Josh Norwood’s ejection for targeting, but Koenning did say defensive players have to be a little bit crazy on the field.
Oddsmakers did not believe West Virginia could make enough significant improvements in a week to knock off North Carolina State. The Wolfpack were a touchdown favorite. I was with them. I had not seen anything after two games to suggest that the Mountaineers had a chance. I’m with Neal Brown on Trust the Climb; I just figured it was going to be a long, hard slog.
And perhaps it still will be. Being a prisoner of the moment after bad games and good ones is dangerous. However, Brown was confident enough after the 44-27 demolition of NC State to call the game a “defining moment.”
“This was really early for one, but it was a defining moment,” Brown said. “Things didn’t go well last week. How we responded in the week was what was on the field today.”
A previously non-existent running game produced 173 yards. The rebuilt offensive line not only cleared paths for runners, but also gave Austin Kendall time to turn in a performance of 27 of 40 for 272 yards and three touchdowns along with one interception. Sam James, who has quickly emerged as Kendall’s go-to receiver, caught one-third of all passes.
The Wolfpack offense came into the game averaging 525 yards, but WVU’s no-more-nice-guy defense held NC State to 369 yards and only 4.3 yards per play. The Wolfpack averaged just 3.8 yards per carry, while WVU averaged 6.1 yards per carry.
Last week, WVU was “bum rushed” by Missouri, but just a few days later and after what can only be called a masterful coaching job, WVU Gold Rushed NC State right out of the stadium. Country Roads never sounded so good.
Neal Brown’s resume includes upset victories at Troy—an improbable 24-21 victory at LSU in 2017 and a 24-19 win at Nebraska last year. Saturday’s win at home against NC State does not rank with those, but it was an upset, not only the final score, but also in how the Mountaineers played compared with the previous two games.
The definition of a “defining moment” is “an event which typifies or determines all subsequent related occurrences.” Brown’s decision to characterize Saturday’s win in that way bodes well for Mountaineer Nation.