Neal Brown explains what makes West Virginia such a tough place for opponents to play

West Virginia hasn’t been as consistent under Neal Brown as it would like to be, but one thing the Mountaineers have been is tough to beat at home.

West Virginia is 12-5 at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium over the past three years. That includes wins over Baylor and Oklahoma in 2022 and a perfect 5-0 home mark in 2020.

Brown spoke with ESPN at Big 12 Media Days about why WVU is such a tough place to play.

“It’s a hard place to get to. So I think that’s the first thing,” Brown said. “And then our fanbase. You’ve gotta remember, there’s no pro sports in the state of West Virginia. There’s no other Power 5 school. And so Mountaineer football on Saturdays in the fall, those are events.”

The 2023 home schedule includes matchups with Pitt, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, BYU and Cincinnati. You can bet that Morgantown will be rocking for those games.

“When the schedule comes out, those games are circled. Don’t get married. Don’t have anything else going on on those weekends. And so you can feel that passion,” Brown said. “And it is, it’s a really tough place to come in and play.”

Neal Brown breaks down West Virginia QB battle between Nicco Marchiol, Garrett Greene

While the schedule for the 2023 season is out, it remains to be seen who the Mountaineers starting quarterback will be.

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown believes he has a couple of good options at quarterback for the 2023 season in redshirt freshman Nicco Marchiol and junior Garrett Greene. Those two are competing to replace JT Daniels, who struggled last year after transferring in from Georgia.

Greene has more experience than Marchiol, having played in nine games last year and playing well at times. But Brown spoke with ESPN on Thursday from Big 12 Media Days and said the competition is far from settled after the spring.

“Well, we have a high belief in both of those guys, and I think we showed that by not going out and getting somebody in the portal in December or May,” Brown said. “Garrett’s played a lot of football. He won the game against Oklahoma last year and had a great performance. Goes on the road and beats Oklahoma State. Nicco had to come in and finish the game because Garrett got hurt. They both are growing, they’re developing. Extremely athletic. Run guys that can also make all the throws. We’re going to carry this competition into fall camp and may the best man win.”