Neal Brown believes West Virginia should be ranked in the polls after Week 5

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown is of the mind that the Mountaineers should be ranked when the Coaches and AP Polls drop Sunday.

Now at 4-1, fresh off a victory over TCU, WVU suddenly has some juice again. Brown, who was under fire to finally put something together in 2023, has the team grooving through five games.

So with the strength of schedule and the toughness West Virginia showed so far, it’s time be in the top 25, per Brown.

“I’m emotionally and physically drained and as excited as I am for winning and being 4-1 and really, we should be a nationally ranked team tomorrow in both polls,” Brown said. “To go on the road and nobody’s played, you know, obviously not nobody.

“We’ve played a really hard schedule and some other things in play, but we played a really hard schedule. And we played four or five games that have been really physical games and it’s taken its toll.”

WVU edged TCU 24-21 Saturday and prior to that, beat Duquesne 56-17, won at home versus Pitt 17-6 and defeated Texas Tech 20-13. The lone loss came at Penn State to open the season.

“Probably this is as proud of a football team as I’ve ever been,” Brown said. “And what a huge win, TCU was a really good football team and they won a lot of those games last year on their way to the national championship. And I have a ton of respect for them.

“I have a ton of respect for Sonny and really the staff that he’s put together and they do a great job and this was a fight. This was a fight.”

Brown made sure to point out that his WVU team is built for ugly football. Anytime that the game has to get really physical, his guys are up for the challenge.

“And we’re a team that’s kind of built for ugly football, for fights,” Brown said. “And we have a really tough team that’s really close. It’s a group that’s grown together, our back’s been against the wall. Nobody has believed in us. You know, I don’t want to hear anybody that’s on social media or Oh, yeah, I saw them being 4-1. Nope. The only people really believe are us.” 

That echoed Brown’s message stemming from the summer through camp.

“And I felt like that as we went through spring, summer, into fall camp, we had a team that was capable of winning close football games,” Brown said. “And that’s what we’ve been able to do. We’ve been disciplined. You know, we had two penalties tonight? And it’s because we play the way you’re supposed to play and it’s clean. 

“We got to continue to do it, but nobody plays harder than we do. We’re a tough team that’s mentally tough. And you saw that tonight.”