West Virginia is looking for answers before the critical period

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown recognizes the importance of the upcoming stretch for his team.

At 4-4 overall, the Mountaineers have four games left in November, starting with a road game against Cincinnati after the bye and then back-to-back home games against Baylor and UCF before a road game against Texas Tech on the road.

It goes without saying that, despite the initial difficulties, these four games could go a long way in shaping how this season is remembered as a whole.

“There’s a lot to look forward to in November,” Brown said.

Still, the head coach isn't ignoring the issues this team has at this stage, and this week's focus is on addressing some of them before meeting the Bearcats. The first order of business is to try to get this team healthy as they are struggling with injuries at various points.

Offensively, the Mountaineers played against Arizona without starting quarterback Garrett Greene, left tackle Wyatt Milum and wide receiver Jaden Bray, while running back CJ Donaldson was injured during the game. It remains unclear whether everyone will return after the farewell, but Brown was optimistic about Milum.

The defense lost several key defensive pieces, including spearman Aubrey Burks and cornerback Ayden Garnes. Even Burks' backup Kekoura Tarnue was injured in the game against Arizona, and if those two are unable to play outside of free agency, two true freshmen in Zae Jennings and Israel Boyce will step up.

Aside from the team's health, the biggest concern for the Mountaineers was pass coverage as they continue to struggle in that department. The program is ranked 113th nationally and hasn't been able to play consistently on the back end all season despite trying different things.

The Mountaineers made a move earlier this week to relieve Jordan Lesley of his role as coordinator, and now Jeff Koonz is leading the unit. But the challenge will be the same.

“I’m not avoiding it or not being aware of it. “It just hasn’t been good enough all year,” Brown said. “I tried different things, but we were a patchwork quilt and it wasn’t very good.”

In the last game against Arizona, the Mountaineers allowed 308 yards through the air and struggled to get a stop late into the night. On two occasions, the Wildcats managed to face linebacker Trey Lathan with Tetairoa McMillan on the field when he was caught in a zone look in the Tampa 2 defense.

Brown acknowledged that the coaching staff shouldn't have put him in that position again after the first time, but when you have problems and try to find answers, sometimes it doesn't work out.

“The response there wasn’t very good,” Brown said.

As the season has progressed, West Virginia has tried to change some of the things they do and had success in the bye week by committing to a Cover 2 appearance. And while that worked for a while, teams also made adjustments, and now the focus is on coaching the team better and making some adjustments ourselves.

This particularly applies to how well the teams that are still on the schedule move the football.

“We need to use this bye week to figure out what the next answer is,” he said.

And offensively, the Mountaineers need to address the issue of center Brandon Yates' poor snaps, which have cropped up repeatedly throughout the season. While Yates has performed well in other areas, this remains a concern as it affects the timing of the game.

“That is a problem. Pass defense is a problem. I don’t avoid things,” Brown said.

But the focus now is on fixing them.