6:00pm: Sportsline with Tony Caridi

KU’s Les Miles plans to make trip to Morgantown after COVID diagnosis

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After testing positive for COVID-19 last Thursday, it appears that the Kansas Jayhawks plan to have head coach Les Miles with the team when they visit West Virginia on Saturday afternoon.

“He is continuing to address the team and the coaching staff via Zoom,” said Kansas defensive coordinator D.J. Eliot. “Fortunately, with our technology we have developed over the pandemic, he has been able to continue the process as head coach. We have had one practice without him. That went well. Our players are motivated. We are very prepared for this week and we look forward to having good practices. And we look forward to having Coach Miles at the game Saturday.”

WVU is fresh off their second bye week of the season and it will be their last one for a while. Their next off week is scheduled between home games against TCU (November 14) and Oklahoma (November 28).

“We were able to improve on some things we need to improve on,” said WVU head coach Neal Brown. “We also needed to get some much needed rest because I think we are the only team in the league that plays five consecutive games. It is a tough stretch.”

West Virginia is heavily favored to improve to 3-1 for the second consecutive season under Brown. He hopes this past week can go a long way to sure up deficiencies in all three phases of the game.

West Virginia Mountaineers cornerback Nicktroy Fortune (11) celebrates after a missed Baylor Bears field goal during the first quarter at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. (Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports)

“Obviously our punt return team has not been as good as it needs to be,” Brown said. “I think offensively the last two weeks, we have not thrown the football efficient enough to be able to win the games we are going to have to win down the stretch here. We put a lot of time in both of those areas.

“Defensively, we spent a lot of time on tackling. I think that is something we need to get better at. Whether it is work that is going to show is to be determined. Hopefully on Saturday, we will see some of those improvements and continue to show them as they move through the year.”

Nine of ten teams in the Big 12 have played at least three games so far. Baylor is 1-1 and will not play Oklahoma State Saturday as scheduled after positive COVID cases in the program. OSU (3-0) is the only unbeaten team in the Big 12. Iowa State (3-0), Kansas State (3-0) and OSU (2-0) are undefeated in league play.

“There is some unpredictability to it,” Brown said. “I have been saying for a long time that I think that the Big 12 has the most parity in any Power 5 conference. And I don’t mean parity in a bad way. I just think that anybody can beat anybody on a given day. I don’t think that is the case in some of the other power leagues.”

Unique start time in Lubbock

West Virginia’s next contest at Texas Tech on October 24 will kickoff at 5:30 p.m. and will be televised by ESPN2.





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