Scott Satterfield is West Virginia's public enemy No. 1 after saving Neal Brown’s job

Neal Brown is one of the most fascinating head coaches on the hot seat in the final month of the season. Brown had been on a flaming hot seat entering last season after a 5-7 campaign in 2022. He somehow survived and got WVU to a bowl game last year under a new athletic director in Wren Baker after Shane Lyons was ousted. Once again, we find ourselves asking if Brown is going to be let go...

Entering Week 11, WVU was 4-4 on the season and 3-2 in Big 12 play. While the Mountaineers only had quality losses to Penn State, Pittsburgh, Iowa State and Kansas State, they did not exactly have a quality win. While it remains to be seen how we will view a 31-24 road win over Cincinnati, it does do one thing. Brown is now one win away from getting to bowl eligibility. That might be enough for him.

So how did this happen? Well, leave it up to Scott Satterfield. While Cincinnati is better this year than last, Satterfield continues to show us why Louisville was more than happy to see him walk away in an attempt to reset his coaching career at Cincinnati. West Virginia had only beaten Big 12 cannon fodder up to this point. A better head-coaching performance may have lifted Cincinnati in this one.

West Virginia's three remaining games are home vs. Baylor, home vs. UCF and then at Texas Tech.

Scott Satterfield does his part to make sure Neal Brown will keep his job

The big issue here is not that Satterfield got out-coached by Brown, but that it makes it even more difficult for Baker to conceivably move on from the Mountaineers' head football coach after this season. Not to say that West Virginia probably should do that, but you have to wonder if native West Virginian Jimbo Fisher really wants the job if he will get it. Fisher has been discounted a bit of late...

Because Fisher is already getting paid so much by Texas A&M as part of his buyout agreement, it may not cost an arm or a leg to hire him. This puts Brown, and honestly Baker, in an incredibly awkward spot. You cannot fire a head coach who gets his team to a bowl when that usually had not been the normal outcome under him, right? Well, this is a different age of college football so you never know...

While it is good to see West Virginia get a regional rival back in the Big 12 with former Big East foe Cincinnati joining the league two years ago, Brown should be taking advantage of the power void at the top of the conference, rather than taking advnatage of the tomato cans at the bottom of the league. Cincinnati is better than a tomato can, but West Virginia continues to be quite perplexing.

Cincinnati will now have to beat either Iowa State, Kansas State or TCU to achieve bowl eligibility.