Tag: Neal Brown

West Virginia coach Neal Brown earns mayo bath with bowl win

West Virginia trounced North Carolina and earned head coach Neal Brown a mayo bath

To the victor goes the condiment bath.

West Virginia won the Duke’s Mayo Bow, 30-10, over North Carolina on Wednesday.

And you know what that means. Neal Brown of the Mountaineers took a seat and was doused with Duke’ Mayonnaise as is the tradition for the winning coach.

The outcome wasn’t in doubt from the first play when Garrett Greene and Traylon Ray connected on a 75-yard TD pass.

Drake Stoops has huge game after passionate early week speech

Drake Stoops gave a passionate message earlier this week and then backed it up on Saturday with another career day.

The Oklahoma Sooners dominated the [autotag]West Virginia Mountaineers[/autotag] in Norman on Saturday. The offense played the best it has played since their win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane or Texas Longhorns.

[autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] threw for more than 400 yards and set a program record with eight touchdowns, five through the air and three on the ground. [autotag]Drake Stoops[/autotag], fresh off a passionate message earlier this week, set a career-high with 164 receiving yards and three touchdowns. The yardage total broke his previous career best from a week ago in Bedlam.

Stoops spoke with the media after the game about what was different about the offense.

“Executing plays,” Stoops said. “But I think just staying on schedule. Staying in a rhythm. Not getting behind the sticks with dumb presnap penalties or even post-snap penalties. Whether it’s running the ball and instead of losing yards, we’re getting a couple of yards here, a quick pass there, and making it a third and manageable.”

The Sooners were great on third down going 8 of 14 on the day. But it wasn’t just Stoops’ own team that noticed how well he’s been playing.

West Virginia Mountaineers Coach [autotag]Neal Brown[/autotag] said of Stoops’ performance, “Drake Stoops is a hell of a football player. Now, this might be his biggest night receiving, but he really is a hell of a football player. He’s one of those kids that you don’t appreciate when you’re going against him, but then you watch the tape and you’re like, ‘Man, that kid’s maximizing his talent.’ He’s a good player. He’ll go play in the NFL, which is good for him.”

Earlier in the week, Stoops said this season isn’t over, and there is still a lot to play for. He spoke of having pride in the University of Oklahoma and pride in the work he puts in. It was a message that garnered attention nationally. Then on Saturday, he didn’t just let his words fall to the wayside. Instead, he let his play do the talking.

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Know Your Foe: 5 Mountaineers to know for West Virginia at Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma will take on West Virginia Saturday. Here are five players you need to know.

Oklahoma is back home for the first time since their nailbiting win against UCF out of the bye week. The Sooners have yet to lose at home this season. So playing a game with the home crowd behind you could be just what the doctor ordered. Oklahoma is desperate for a win and still has a fighting spirit left to compete for the Big 12 Title. They’ll need some help, but if they don’t finish the regular season on a winning streak, it won’t matter.

Their opponent this week is Neal Brown’s [autotag]West Virginia Mountaineers[/autotag]. After being picked dead last in this year’s Big 12 preseason media poll, they are on a revenge tour. Neal Brown and his team took offense to that and are currently in pursuit of finishing the season in the top half of the Big 12. The Mountaineers are 6-3 (4-2 Big 12) and come in after beating Big 12 newcomers BYU by 30 last week.

West Virginia is a tough team that plays hard, and while they certainly aren’t among the league’s most talented teams, if Oklahoma doesn’t show up, they’ll be on upset alert.

As the Sooners prepare for their primetime contest, we’re highlighting five Mountaineers ahead of the matchup.

Week 3 Roundtable: A pair of coaches seats are heating up

Who has the hotter seat and which conference matchup is the best? These questions get answered in our weekly College Wire roundtable discussion.

Plenty of storylines are becoming clear as we enter Week 3 of the college football season.

One major storyline involves coaches who are on the hot seat. Neal Brown of West Virginia and Danny Gonzales of New Mexico were the two names at the top of most lists. However, since the beginning of this year, we can add another name to the list, Houston’s Dana Holgorsen.

Ironically enough, Brown replaced Holgorsen at West Virginia when he left for the job at Houston. Now both could be joining the unemployment line if something doesn’t change in the coming weeks.

WVU has another major test as they rekindle their “Backyard Brawl” rivalry with Pitt of the ACC. Houston gets its first taste of Big 12 play when they host the CFP runner-ups, TCU on Saturday.

The College Wire network tackles the question of who has more pressure right now among four other questions ahead of Week 3 in college football.

Best photos from Penn State’s Week 1 win over West Virginia

Relive Penn State’s Week 1 victory over West Virginia with some of the best photos from the game.

Penn State fans had plenty of reasons to be happy about what they witnessed on Saturday night in Beaver Stadium. Penn State’s season-opening victory over West Virginia saw new starting quarterback Drew Allar settle in to establish a rhythm with a variety of wide receivers, and the defense held West Virginia more than long enough to allow the Nittany Lions to celebrate a relatively comfortable victory when all was said and done.

Here are some of the best photos from Penn State’s season-opening victory over the West Virginian Mountaineers.

Best pregame photos form Penn State’s home game vs. West Virginia

Here are the best pregame photos from Penn State’s arrival at Beaver Stadium and warmups before the West Virginia game.

The tailgate parties were grilling and the speakers were blaring. And once the blue busses rolled up toward Beaver Stadium, the pregame scene was officially set for Penn State football’s first home game of the 2023 season.

Penn State welcomed West Virginia to State College for the first game of the 2023 season, a primetime matchup on national television with big expectations for the Nittany Lions ready to live up to the hype.

There is always a special feeling that goes with the first game of the season, and seeing the players walk off the bus and make their way into Beaver Stadium is a special moment for sure. Here are some of the best photos from the pregame routine on both sides of the stadium.

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West Virginia head coach lauds NFL draft talent on Penn State defense

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown knows his offense is going up a Penn State defense with lots of star power.

Penn State is preparing to open the 2023 season with a home opener this Saturday night against former regional rival West Virginia. In the first meeting between the two schools since 1992, West Virginia head coach Neal Brown is fully aware of just how much talent Penn State has to offer that his team will have to prepare for.

In a weekly press conference, Brown praised the star power on Penn State’s defense ahead of the Week 1 matchup. Brown said Penn State has nine draft picks on the defensive side of the football, according to WV Sports Now and reporter Mike Asti via X, formerly known as Twitter.

Nine players with NFL draft potential on one defense? Yeah, that’s pretty good. So who are those nine players Brown is referring to?

The three obvious ones are cornerback [autotag]Kalen King[/autotag], defensive end [autotag]Chop Robinson[/autotag], and linebacker [autotag]Abdul Carter[/autotag]. King is being viewed as one of the top cornerbacks in the 2024 NFL draft pool, so long as he declares for the draft after this season. Robinson has been called a possible first-round draft pick as well. Carter is still just a sophomore, but you have to imagine he is on the radar of the draft scouts already.

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Linebacker [autotag]Curtis Jacobs[/autotag] and defensive end [autotag]Adisa Isaac[/autotag] are probably the next two to come to mind, bringing our total to five players. Other starters developing their NFL draft stock may be defensive tackles [autotag]Hakeem Beamon[/autotag] and [autotag]Dvon Ellies[/autotag]. And safety [autotag]Keaton Ellis[/autotag] and cornerback [autotag]Johnny Dixon[/autotag] are likely players to be on the big board for some teams, even if later in the draft process.

Penn State’s defense should be locked in from the start this week and season. After a strong showing in the spring Blue-White Game, Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz has a unit that will be able to create opportunities for the offense to do its thing.

Penn State hosts West Virginia on Saturday, Sept. 2 at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

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Follow Nittany Lions Wire on X and like us on Facebook for continuing Penn State coverage and discussion. Let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this story below. Join the conversation today.

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Three head coaches headline CBS’ hot seat rankings

Which coaches are under the most pressure in 2023?

On Wednesday, CBS Sports released their annual hot seat rankings. At the very top of the list is one name that will be talked about all season, Neal Brown.

As for the other two names at the very top, we head to the Big Ten and the Group of Five. These two head coaches need a winning season in the worst of ways.

Tom Allen, Indiana Hoosiers

Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports

What CBS Sports Says…

Allen’s best (former) quarterback (Michael Penix Jr.) is chasing a Heisman Trophy in Washington. Allen’s last winning season was during COVID-19. Since then, Indiana is 6-18, its worst two-year run since 2010-11. There have been two — two! — Big Ten wins combined since 2021. That is the definition of hot seat, especially with the Big Ten changing before our eyes. IU hasn’t finished above 10th in Big Ten total offense since 2019. The Hoosiers need to be entertaining, they need to score and they need to win — right now.

What We Say…

Indiana native Tom Allen waited until 2017 to get his first shot as a head coach at the collegiate level. He joined Indiana as the defensive coordinator in 2016 and was named head coach in 2017 following Kevin Wilson’s resignation.

In 2019 Allen led the Hoosiers to an 8-5 record and followed that with a 6-2 campaign in the pandemic-shortened season. The Hoosiers are just 6-18 (2-16 in Big Ten) since the end of the 2020 season.

Allen will feel the heat in the 2023 season should the Hoosiers finish with yet another losing season. Overall, Allen is 30-40 (17-35) in his seven seasons with Indiana.

Next, we check in on the coaching seat in Morgantown

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CBS Sports Big 12 Hot Seat Ratings: ‘Pressure is mounting’ for Brent Venables

In their updated hot seat rating for the 2023 season, CBS Sports believes “pressure is mounting” for Oklahoma’s Brent Venables.

Coming out of a 2022 season where the Oklahoma Sooners had their first losing season since 1998 with one of the worst defenses in the team’s history, it’s not unreasonable to have questions about the direction of the program.

At the same time, it’s only been one year, and we haven’t seen Venables’ recruiting classes take the field and play significant snaps yet. The team may not have much success to speak about on the field yet, but the coaching staff has done a tremendous job off of it on the recruiting trail.

They’ve put together two top 10 classes, and with the way things are shaping up, the Sooners are looking at a third straight top 10 class in the 2024 cycle.

Ahead of the 2023 season, CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd took a look at every head coach in the FBS and determined where they stood on his “hot seat rating system.”

It’s a system that rates coaches from 0-5. “Zero” represents coaches that are untouchable, like Nick Saban or Kirby Smart. “Five” represents coaches that are in must-win mode heading into 2023.

Here’s a look at where the 14 Big 12 coaches stand heading into 2023. We also included where each coach ranked in CBS Sports’ head coach rankings in the Big 12 and overall and their career winning percentages.