MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — The West Virginia Mountaineers dropped their season opener at #7 Penn State 38-15 on Saturday night in State College, Pennsylvania. Here’s what West Virginia head coach Neal Brown had to say about the game:
“We had chances. We didn’t take advantage. We felt like if we kept it within one score in the 4th quarter, we’d have a chance to win. I didn’t feel like we were out-manned or that the environment was too much for us. I think we just didn’t make the most of our opportunities.”
OFFENSE: I thought the operation of the offense was good. We ran the ball effectively. We didn’t have any turnovers and had a pretty clean game. I thought Devin Carter was good and Kole Taylor played well. I thought Nick Malone was good when he came in. I think CJ Donaldson came in with something to prove
Credit to Garrett (Greene) for his game management. He missed some throws. He’s got to make the easy throws and he’s got to make 100% of his layups. He competed and he gave us a chance.
DEFENSE: I was pleased with our front seven. We played the run pretty well. We’ve got to improve our pass coverage. There were way too many easy completions. The game plan was to make their quarterback beat us and he did. We dropped two interceptions and we’ve got to take advantage of that. Sean Martin, on the defensive line, played really well. Mike Lockhart played his best game as a Mountaineer. And Lee Kpogba had 13 catches and was all over the field.
UP NEXT: We have an important three game home stand. Duquesne is a proud program. It’s a group that we respect. They have good players, most of their players are from around here and they will be hungry to play at Mountaineer Field.
