Every summer, college football conferences hold their media days to preview the upcoming season. And every summer, one team in each league is picked to finish last in the preseason media poll.
For the Big 12 this year, that team is West Virginia. And head coach Neal Brown is not happy about it.
“It really kind of pissed me off because I really think it’s kind of lazy reporting in some senses,” Brown said Thursday, per ESPN’s Heather Dinich. “We won’t finish where we’re predicted to finish.”
The 43-year-old is entering his fifth season helming the Mountaineers, and, to his credit, his team has never finished worse than seventh. That’s not to say that all is rosy in Morgantown: the team went 5–7 last season and has never posted a winning league record under Brown.
West Virginia lost four of its final six games to end last season, though the two wins came against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
Brown believes that improvements are on the way for the Mountaineers—particularly on the defensive side of the ball—and that his players will take the field with some added motivation when the 2023 campaign gets underway on Sept. 2 at Penn State.
“We went out and really corrected what we thought was our glaring weakness last year, which was our secondary,” Brown said. “So I think we have a chance to be the most improved. I’m not saying we’re going to go defensively into the top part of the country, but I do think we’re going to be vastly improved. I like our team. I’m energized. Our guys are going to play with a chip on their shoulder.”
