Morgantown, West Virginia – Progress. That’s all that West Virginia fans want from the Mountaineers football program.
If (and that’s a big if) West Virginia loses to the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday, it would be very difficult to paint a rosy picture about Neal Brown’s first three seasons at West Virginia.
Progress, or “The Climb” as Brown calls it, implies a forward advancement in the program.
With a loss, West Virginia would fall to 5-7 on the season with little to no actual improvement on the field. Losing to Kansas, the Big 12 Conference’s perpetual basement-dweller, would not only be a humiliating way for the Mountaineers to close their season, it would also signal the end to West Virginians having any trust at all in Neal Brown moving forward.
West Virginia is anywhere from a 15-17 point favorite (depending on the sports book) heading into Saturday and should win and easily cover the line, but imagine the outrage if the Mountaineers lay another egg like they did this season against Maryland, Texas Tech, Baylor, Oklahoma State and Kansas State.
Granted, those aforementioned teams are superior to Kansas, but Kansas beat Texas in Austin in overtime two weeks ago and nearly won at TCU last weekend. This is a bad Kansas team, but they aren’t bad bad like they’ve been in the past.
Neal Brown is currently ranked #23 on the website Coaches Hot Seat 2021 but a loss on Saturday would easily project him into the Top 5 in the nation.
Finishing 5-7, losing to a bad Kansas team and missing out on a bowl game could be the beginning of the end for Neal Brown at West Virginia University. How could Brown really sell the program to the people of the state when the decline is so obvious?
Vote whether you think Neal Brown should be fired if West Virginia loses to Kansas below:
Should Neal Brown be fired if #WVU loses to Kansas on Saturday?
— The Voice of Morgantown (@voicemorgantown) November 24, 2021
