Texas Tech football: 5 games Red Raider fans should watch in week one
Texas Tech fans may enjoy seeing the beginning of the end for Neal Brown at West Virginia
Most Texas Tech football fans harbor no ill will toward West Virginia head coach Neal Brown. In fact, to many, he is the most sympathetic figure from the dreadful three-year Tommy Tuberville era in Lubbock given that he was shackled by his head coach and not allowed to run the offense as he wanted to as coordinator.
Still, Tech fans are smart enough to know that any time a program changes head coaches, it will likely set that program back a year or two and that’s why seeing WVU have to go through that process this offseason might be something Red Raiders are rooting for. Of course, there is always the possibility that the next guy the Mountaineers hire is the Appalachian version of Joey McGuire, so who knows?
What we do think we know is that WVU is going to be awful this year and their misery will begin on Saturday night when they lead into the lion’s den that is Happy Valley, Pennsylvania to face No. 7 Penn State in what is a traditional geographic rivalry that has not been played since 1992.
Returning 13 starters from a team that went 11-2 in 2022, Penn State is a potential Big 10 champion and playoff contender. West Virginia might just be the worst team in the Big 12 and will struggle to just keep Brown employed for the duration of the season.
The Mountaineers have gone just 9-48-2 all-time in this series and win No. 10 isn’t likely to come this year. What’s more, WVU has a brutal schedule to open the year with Penn State, Pitt, Texas Tech, and TCU as four of their first five opponents.
That’s why Neal Brown is one of the odds-on favorites to be the first coach fired and that will make the Mountaineers a fascinating watch, especially if you like train wrecks. This game will also be wrapping up as Tech plays in Laramie but the first half might be worth a watch to see if Brown’s team can put up any fight or if the writing is already on the wall after just one week.