West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen met with members of the media earlier today.

 

Opening Statement

Heading into this week, being a bye week, the biggest thing on our mind is moving forward. I'm sure you're going to have some questions as far as where you think we're at, but we're 2-2. That's where we're at. That's simply the best way I can put it. I don't want any pats on the back for keeping it relatively close in the two games that we lost. The two games that we won, we're proud of the fact that we won the games. I'm proud of the guys, because their effort has been good for four straight games. We played with energy. I think our excitement level for the game right now is pretty high. My challenge to the guys on Sunday night, once we got back in, and we got back to work, was that everyone is saying the right stuff right now it's just more about what you do. We've got to continue to do the right things when it comes to preparation, when it comes to strength and conditioning - a lot of them are down there right now - when it comes to being able to attack practice the appropriate way to continue to get better. We have a lot of football ahead of us. We've got eight games left - eight conference games at that. We expect each and every one of them to be challenging. We're, like I've said many times, excited about being in the Big 12. With that comes competition, so each and every one of the games that we play we expect them to be tough, and we expect that we're going to have to put our best foot forward to be able to compete. That was my challenge to the guys, and I think that they will respond the way that we want to. I do think that our team is in a relatively good place. They know they've competed each and every time that they've been out there. I think they really want to win, so I think they’ll continue to do the right things moving forward.

 

On if coach Holgorsen had met with cornerback Travis Bell

Yes, that's a great question. Travis is retired. Simply put - he's retired. We wish him well.

 

On if that was Bell’s decision

Yes

 

On if the attitude is different for the team this year compared to last year

Yes. Part of that is because of maturity. When you play a lot of young guys, the maturity isn't where it needs to be. I feel like our guys are in a much better place. I feel the maturity goes back to what I said - they're saying the right things, and they need to continue to do the right things, as well. With older guys, it’s important to them. I think it's important for our guys to continue to practice hard and prep hard to put us into position to win. I think that's important to our guys. I do like what the attitude is. I like how they're attacking everything that we're asking them to do. Nobody was happy about coming up a little bit short a couple games against what I consider the best two teams in the country. With that said, we can't feel sorry for ourselves or pout. We have to move forward.

 

On the special teams unit through the first four games

Unfortunately, the two glaring mistakes affected the game - affected the potential outcome of the game. A game is not won or lost on one play. With that said, the momentum was lost on that one play heading into halftime. Did we overcome it? We came in the third quarter, we didn't play great, but there was one point toward the end of the third quarter where our defense came up with a big turnover, and our offense had a chance to score to take the lead. And the offense gave it right back to them. One play doesn't make the different in a game. It did, however, suck the momentum out of everybody at that point in time, which is unfortunate. We expect to win special teams every time that we play. Our specialists are playing at a pretty high level. (Kicker) Josh Lambert is playing at a high level. (Punter) Nick O'Toole pinned three punts inside their 20 - playing at a high level. We came back on punt team and did well. Against Maryland, we had a breakdown against the punt team. I don't know if anyone knows this or not, but our opponents have good players, and they coach special teams as hard as we do. It's all competition. I think our special teams have been playing well, other than the fact that there was a very glaring mistake on kickoff team that we didn't cover. And a mistake on punt team two weeks ago that we didn't cover. That affected the outcome of the game, which was disappointing.

 

On quarterback Clint Trickett

He's playing at a high level. He probably had his worst game this last week. When he's looking at two of the best pass rushers in college football, they're probably going to affect him. We had to kind of change our game plan offensively based on the fact that they have two of the best pass rushers in college football. The first time that he (Clint) dropped back he got sacked. That affects you a little bit. Clint didn't play bad, by no means. He played well, but his sense of urgency he rushed everything because he knew that clock was ticking. Offensively, I called plays differently than I had in the first three games, because of those two end guys that are pretty good. He's managing the game very well. His leadership skills are extremely good. The guys are following him. The rapport with the receivers is great. Our communication is fantastic. He's continuing to get better. He's harder on himself than I am on him or coach (Shannon) Dawson is on him. So he's going to continue to improve through reps. I think he's looking forward to that.

 

On the play of cornerback Ishmael Banks

I thought Icky played well. I think he played well. He's got a lot of game experience. He went out there and competed. I didn't view that as an issue of anything that we had going on, on defense. He'll continue to get better, as well.

 

On cornerback Daryl Worley

He remains indefinitely suspended while we continue to gather facts that are out there. We will continue to evaluate them.

 

On the benefit of playing Alabama and Oklahoma early in the season

I've joked around saying we're the third-best team in the country, and they're the top two teams in the country. There is certainly an argument for that. There are going to be a lot of good teams ahead of us. We have to play like that all the time. I commend our guys for the effort and the attitude and the tenacity that they've been practicing with, preparing to play in those games. They're going to have to do it eight more times if we want to put ourselves in position to win. I've been talking to them a lot about how that's just who we are - we play with a lot of effort, we practice with that kind of energy, we play with that kind of energy. If we can continue to do that, having played a couple of the better teams in the country, then that should prepare us for the rest of the challenges that are ahead of us.

 

We didn't talk about that. They walked by the schedule every day, so they knew who was going to be first. We didn't talk a lot about Alabama. What we talk about is putting ourselves in position to be able to win the next game that we play. They know what's expected of them. They know what the routine is going to be, and they know what kind of effort that they're going to have to practice with, and what kind of energy they're going to have to practice with. That's got to be the standard, and if it's not going to be the standard then we're not going to be successful. That's kind of what I've been hammering home to them.

 

On the biggest improvement coach Holgorsen wants to see in the next two weeks

Just an improvement on all three sides of the ball is important. That can’t be the case in any games that are ahead of us. We have to continue to do the right things in all aspects of what they're doing. It's just improvement. We'll have an opportunity this afternoon to go out for two and a half hours and practice. We have to keep working on our timing. We have to keep working on getting better with the techniques that we're asking them to play with. We've got a long ways to go in everything that we're doing if we want to continue to improve. The teams that we're going to be playing are going to continue to improve, so we need to do the same thing. It would take forever to sit here and pinpoint every kid, every phase of the ball that we need to improve on. We've just got to keep improving.

 

On wide receiver Kevin White's performance against Oklahoma

He did well. I wish we could have gotten him the ball a little bit more. What they do defensively is pretty good. There was a lot of one-on-one coverage on the outside, but that doesn't mean we had the opportunities to be able to get it to them as much as we wanted to. He continues to play well. The rapport that he and Clint have right now is really good. We need to get out there today and tomorrow and Thursday to be able to keep working on that. If you ignore that, the timing disappears, and you're not on the same page. That can go away pretty quick. He needs to continue to maintain that relationship with him and with Mario (Alford), Daikiel (Shorts) and Jordan (Thompson), but he better start developing that rapport with Vernon Davis and Shelton Gibson and KJ Myers, because those guys are going to be in the game as well.

 

On White's development

We thought he had some potential. We saw some flashes of it last year, some flashes of it in the spring and camp. What I've been happy with is the consistency he's played with. He's shown flashes of being a great player in the past but not consistently. Right now, we're seeing flashes of it with Mario (Alford), we're seeing flashes of it with Rushel Shell. The only one that is doing it consistently at the skill spots is Clint (Trickett) and Kevin (White). The rest of those guys are showing flashes. Jordan (Thompson) has shown flashes of doing some things. Wendell (Smallwood) has shown flashes of some things, but the consistency is there with Clint and with Kevin.

 

On what needs to be done to get Mario Alford and Rushel Shell to perform at a consistent basis

Get out there and practice. Keep working hard. It doesn't happen overnight. It's been a long process with Kevin (White). He's been here a year and a half. It's been a lot of meeting time and practice time to be able to get him where he's at. He's capable of it as well. There are some guys who aren't capable of it. We will continue to work with some of these other guys to see. I don't know when the light is going to go on for some of these guys. Sometimes it never does. There are plenty of guys on our team who came in here highly recruited, everyone had high hopes for them that the light never came on. You have to show up every day in the right frame of mind, you have to practice hard and expect good things to happen.

 

On if this is critical time for the team to remain focused

Everything that we do is critical. You can't ever relax on anything. We made that loud and clear with the guys that this is not an off week. We have to get back to work. They're going to be showing up here anytime soon, and we need to get three hours of good work in this afternoon and continue to move forward. You never have things figured out. You can never relax. That's human nature. Right now, there are a bunch of guys who are on the injury report or whatever it is who want to relax for a few days. But if you do that, then you're not going to improve. Every game is critical. Every game is a big game. This is a big week, and we need to get ourselves in a great place starting Sunday heading into next week, which is a big game.

 

On what coach Holgorsen is looking to see from his defensive backs this week

This is a big week for everybody. We're going to work with our developmental guys who are scout team guys and non-players right now. We'll work with them. We'll work with guys who are second team like Jaylon Myers and Jeremy Tyler. Jeremy Tyler, I don't remember what happened with Dravon (Henry), but JT had to go in the second series. He had to perform at a high level, which he didn't. So he needs to continue to improve. Jaylon Myers was counted on to go in and make some plays. He did OK, but he's only been on campus for what? A month? So he needs to continue to improve. So there's a lot of guys who are second team guys who need this week to improve. And then, there are the starters who need to improve as well. We're 2-2.

 

On the run game this season

It's not great. It's not bad. We've called more run plays than anybody in the conference right now. We're averaging three, four yards a carry - 2.9, 3.9, somewhere in there, depending on how you calculate it. We've played two really good run defenses - really good run defenses. On top of them being very good run defenses, they're schemes put more people in the box than we can block. They can do that because they have great cover people. There are going to be teams that we play who are not going to be able to do that because of talent, cover skills and whatever it is. When we are able to get guys out into the open, we need guys to get out into the open and go. I'm OK with where we're at with it. It's based on scheme the opponents are going to throw at us. We may need to make bigger plays. We don't have many explosive plays in the run game right now, partially because of who we have played.

 

On if there is any extra motivation from last year's Kansas result

Oh boy - I'd hope so. It was a miserable performance. I've been watching it for two straight days, and it makes me want to puke ... I would hope so. We did not play very well going there, and I would expect us to hammer that point home to our games by watching the film for the next week and a half and be ready to go.

 

On the importance of recruiting during the bye week

Right now, I think recruiting is going well. We had huge recruiting weekend last weekend. We had a lot of guys on campus. The atmosphere was great, so it did us well. The fall evaluation, you've got to get out and be seen. You can't go talk to them. You can't make contact with them. You can't sit in the stands and talk with the parents. You can go be seen. You can go watch. You can go show your support being there to watch them play. You can go to the high schools and walk up and down the hallways and be seen. We will do that. We will do that a little bit Thursday, a lot Friday and a lot Saturday. It's important, but then again, there is a more important period which is contact period. That doesn't exist until December.

 

On where the staff will be going to recruit

I think you guys you can probably figure out by now. We recruit a lot of states, so we will be everywhere.

 

On how to correct mistakes and be more efficient on offense

How do we dominate? It's a good question. If we want to be a top-five team, then we must dominate on not just offense but all three sides of the ball. We're playing winning football on all three sides of the ball inconsistently. Again, if we want to be a top-5 team then we need to be able to dominate on all three sides of the ball consistently. We've made a bunch of improvements offensively - your question was more about offense. We've made a lot of improvements on offense. In order for us to be able to win that game against a top-five opponent, then we needed to be able to score a couple more touchdowns, which we didn't. Why? I don't know. It's a whole bunch of things - not making guys miss, not finishing blocks, not calling the right plays. There are a number of things.