Not a game against a bottom half.
Not a transitive team who was ranked but didn't deserve it because they upset a top 25 team.
Heck this is a worse OU team than the previous staff ever faced.
Time to see what Brown really has.
I'm calling WVU 23-20 in overtime and I finally have to admit Brown was a good hire instead of just blindly bashing our previous coach even though he did good things here.
There was a couple bad OU teams in the first few years WVU was in the BIG12. That said, they are def not as good as they have been since 2016, they are also a young team that has shown considerable improvement as the season has progressed. Its miraculous that just in his second year(very much ahead of schedule) we are even debating the chance of beating OU. Personally, I think if Brown wins 1 of the next 2, he should be considered for coach of the year award. We should appreciate how well he & staff have developed & put this extremely young team in a position to compete. With so many of our 1st & 2nd string being True Freshmen, RedShirt Freshmen, & Soph, and the talent in the 2020 & 2021 classes, we should see this program continue to "Climb" the next few years.
While I personally wont apply any expectations until the 2020 class are developed & experienced, any early success NB shows will only further reduce the timeline for obtaining realistic recruiting goals. To give us a more consistent stream of talent, to more regularly compete at a higher level. To not always have to rely on out-scheming opponents..
We need to appreciate, that Gary Patterson built TCU from nothing, and is widely known as one of the best coaches in all of D1, and NB has beat him in both of his first two years. Kstate who beat OU, a TCU who beat UT, and Im glad we are playing OU & IowaSt at the end of the season. We have a bye week, and OU plays OkieSt this week, and we play at home, so those things do work in our favor..
When you analyze first year & second year offensive & defensive metrics, NB's goal of being the most improved team in the country, actually has a chance to be a reality, depending how these last two games play out. Either way, you cant deny the level of improvement, and considering what he inherited, the staff deserves our appreciation & recognition.
If it wasnt for a Fumble+TD & Biased BIG12refs who missed a blatant endzone PI or Fumble vs UT, WVU would be 7-1 at the moment, heading into two tough games. Even if we lose both games, considering we play 2 less games this year, I think this year is still a success and aligned with yearly program growth. Sometimes progress is not shown in the W or L column, its also in how competitive we are within those games, and we have been far more competitive this year, then last year, and that matters when analyzing overall performance.
When we as fans are emotionally invested, its challenging to be patient. Tho the changes we seek requires a slow & systematic process. Personally, IM just happy to see this level of improvement in his 2nd year, and the level of recruiting he's doing thus far. IT would be great to FINALLY beat OU, but its far from being the only measuring stick.
