West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen met with members of the media earlier today to discuss the Mountaineers’ upcoming game against No. 4 Oklahoma.

 

Opening Statement

This weekend is probably one of the most exciting events, and one of the reasons why we're so excited about being in the Big 12. Going into the third year, being able to start with a team like Oklahoma, who's awesome, our guys are excited about it - couldn't quit talking about it on Sunday night. We're anxious for the opportunity, fired up about the opportunity. With the fan base and the atmosphere that is going to exist Saturday night, I think it's going to be great. We're expecting a sellout. It's a night game - second night game of the year. We're going to be pretty fired up about that. The student capacity is already exactly where it should be for games like this. It's going to be awesome. We're kind of in a good spot right now with our team. It was a big win last week. We got to 2-1. Being able to host the number four team in the country - I don't know if it gets any better than that. I'm looking for our guys to have an awesome week and for the preparation to be great. The effort - I know we're going to play hard. We've done that for three weeks in a row. Our kids’ energy has been great. We can't ask anything more out of them. Where we're at and what's ahead of us, I think everyone is excited about. Our coaching staff, and our players are. I know Oklahoma will be as well.

 

When I think of Oklahoma, Coach Stoops, I have a ton of respect for him. He has accomplished more in his early career than what is expected out of anybody. They're 3-0. They're good on all three sides of the ball. Their program is obviously in a healthy place - won national championships, Big 12 championships, bowl games. Their coaching staff has a ton of continuity. Their schemes have been the same for a bunch of years. Coach (Josh) Heupel on offense and Mike Stoops on defense. Those guys do a great job. They recruit well, so they've got great players as well. When you think of them, to me, it's always been not about their defense, but their offenses have been extremely potent. Just because coach Stoops is a defensive guy, you kind of always attribute his teams to a hard-nosed defensive mentality. They're every bit as good as they were on defense a year ago. They finished the year well on defense. They get to the quarterback. A much, much different team, different scheme than what we saw two years ago in 2012 here. They do a great job of getting to the quarterback. They're d-line is relentless. It seems like every dang d-line we play in the month of September has been relentless. They do a great job of getting to the quarterback, got great pass rushers. The (Eric) Stryker kid is an outside linebacker. They've got four guys who are bigger than him who do a great job rushing the quarterback and putting pressure on them. But he's as good as anyone in the country when it comes to being disruptive, not only in the pass rush but will give them some coverage stuff as well. They've got great corners. They've got experience at linebacker and in their secondary, so it will be a challenge for us offensively. We're clearly better than we were a year ago when we went to Norman on offense. But they're probably better on all three sides of the ball as well.

 

Offensively, it starts with their quarterback. Trevor Knight is playing great. He's a completely different guy than what he was game two a year ago. He's throwing the ball better. They've played him a lot in the first three games, even though they've had all three of these games in hand easily in the second half. They've played him a bunch, and you can tell that he's making a ton of strides to get better. He'll throw the ball, he'll run the ball. They do some run game with him. Regardless of who's at running back for them, it's always going to look the same. They've always had two, three, four guys who can go in there and play at a very high level. That's not going to affect anything that we do. Receiver wise, the (Sterling) Shepard kid is dynamite and as good of a slot guy that we'll face all year. They've always had big, athletic guys up front. They've got two NFL tackles. They've got one of the guards returning, and then the center - they had to replace their all-conference, All-American center, but they're doing it with a coach's kid who understands what's going on. Special teams - they're solid. They pay attention to it. They do a great job with it. They've got all seniors. Their place kicker is one of the best in the country. Their punter is a senior who's a quality guy. Their kickoff guy, which is a separate guy, is a senior who kicks everything into the end zone. Then, their return game - we're going to have to clean up some things on the punt team. We didn't cover very well last week. We had a challenge and didn't meet it. We did a great job with our kickoff team. Both of those units with the coverages are going to have to be on par. We know it's going to be a challenge with them. That's my take. We'll take some questions.

 

On how cornerback Daryl Worley's absence can affect things defensively

Because our depth is so good, that's no different than any kind of injury that happens or any of that. It's the next guy up. That's the mentality that we have right now. The next guy up needs to get in there and play at a high level. If we lose a guy because he's tired, if we lose a guys because he's injured, if we lose a guy because of graduation or whatever it is, there are guys who need to step up. We get Icky Banks back this week, so he's going to be able to provide us with depth. Jaylon Myers is a guy who continues to get better. Terrell Chestnut is playing well. He was injured in the game, didn't come back, but it's a bruise. He will be able to practice all week and be fine. I think our corners, a couple years ago we lined up with I think it was Icky Banks and Nana (Kyeremeh) were our two corners against Oklahoma two years ago, when they had some NFL receivers who were pretty good. Our corner play has been better. Our depth has been better, and it's no different than when we had four guys go down at running back in the game, because we played 108 snaps, and guys were tired, dinged up, or whatever it is. Dustin Garrison runs in there and is the player of the game. That mentality needs to exist at every level, at every position and on all three sides of the ball. I made a big deal about this with the depth. Why is it important to have 55 guys? We played 61 guys in this game last week against Maryland - that's a lot of numbers. Why is that important? Because you better have guys go in there in the fourth quarter and play at a high level if you want to win. If you don't have guys go in there in the fourth quarter and play at a high level, then you're not going to win. Maryland is that kind of team and certainly Oklahoma is, as well.

 

On if Ishmael Banks got many reps during his absence

His attitude has been great. He's been on our scout team for the last three weeks. He's done everything that he's supposed to have done. He's giving us great looks on our scout team defense. I'm going to certainly miss him, obviously I would rather have him over on the other side. He's helped our scout team defense, and he's helped our offense in preparation.

 

On if Worley has a chance to play Saturday

Right now, he's indefinitely suspended. And we're just going to leave it at that. I don't have any other comments other than that.

 

On the depth at cornerback

Brandon Napoleon just had surgery this morning. He has been rehabbing a knee. He's going to be out for the year. He's been rehabbing a knee and hasn't been getting any better, so we went ahead and cut on him. Keishawn Richardson had a knee issue as well, but it's not surgical. He's been back for a couple weeks. He just needs reps, and he needs to get better. Nana Kyeremeh was hurt. He's been back. He actually, probably, played two or three snaps on special teams in the game on Saturday. He's a developmental guy who needs to continue to get better. He was out for probably a week or two, and he's coming back. He's been on scout team for the last couple of weeks. Keishawn was on scout team a week ago. Why can we put those guys on scout team? Because we have good depth. We need to evaluate those guys every week, like we have, and we will put guys in position who we feel like can help us win the game.

 

On linebacker Wes Tonkery

Yes. It was a game-time decision on Saturday. I know you all saw him down there. We worked him out a little bit, and we just didn't feel good about it. Why didn't we panic? Because we put Isaiah Bruce in there, who's started a lot of games around here. Shaq Petteway was his backup, and we played well. That's the mentality that needs to exist. If it does, which right now it does, then guys need to go in there, and they need to play at a high level and make the most of their opportunities and help us put ourselves in position to win. But yes, to answer your question. He should be ready to go.

 

On the defensive performance against Maryland

They (Maryland) have good players. We had a busted coverage. If you do that, (Stefon) Diggs is going to take it 80 (yards). We didn't come out of the half as ready to play as we needed to, and we will address that. (CJ) Brown got loose on us. He's a good player. Other than those two plays, I think we played OK. The first half, I don't think we did great on third downs. I don't have the exact numbers. I thought we needed to do a better job of getting off the field on third downs in the first half. In the second half, it was excellent. It was fantastic. Their last seven possessions that they had, they didn't make a first down. That's winning defensive football. We better get used to it. We don't like big plays and all that, but there is a lot of good offense that is about to be played in the Big 12. The two other things defensively that I was thrilled with was that there was never any panic on the sideline, even when they scored on a turnover or a punt return, there was never any panic on our sideline. Our defense went out there, and they did their job. We know there were four turnovers in the game. They scored three points off four turnovers. That's a winning defensive performance. You give up some big plays. They score some points. It can't affect how you play, and it didn't affect how we played defensively.

 

On if the pressure from the defensive line against Maryland can carry over to the Oklahoma game

It better. They're going to throw it, so we better be able to get some pressure. Pressure seems better than it has been. Brandon Golson played like the guy I know. He can play like that. Coming off his shoulder, he didn't play like that the first two games. He got two sacks, so that was great to see. Noble (Nwachukwu) played the best game that he's played since he's been here. He got pressure on the quarterback a little bit. Shaq Riddick needs to continue to get better. We're getting better at it, and it's something that, regardless of who we play, there are going to be passing situation that we need to be able to lineup and get to the quarterback.

 

On the offensive line getting tired late in the game against Maryland

They were working on their 95th, 98th, 101st play. They played every snap, and they played hard. Their effort was great. It wasn't so much of a lull, I think they were just getting a little worn down. I give Maryland credit - their defensive line - those guys played hard. They played hard. It takes a lot out of you. I was thrilled with how our five guys went out there on that last drive, and they emptied their tank. They played great and got us in position to be able to win the game.

 

On if that speaks to the conditioning of the offensive line

I'd like to think that we can continue to snap the ball over 100 times, and those guys play at that kind of level all year. Mike (Joseph) and his staff have done a great job. They're where they need to be, and they did what they needed to do to help us win.

 

On if Oklahoma's defense is at the same level as Alabama's defense

I would agree with that. They're both good. They're both really good. Both were comparable last year. They were very similar last year. Oklahoma has got more people coming back. Whether they end up being better statically or whatever, it's the same unit. It's the same bodies. It's the same quality of coaching. It's the same expectations. They're very, very similar. The expectations are similar on both teams. Whether they're better or whether they're not, I don't know. It's not for me to judge. We'll prepare. There are some differences with them. Everybody has differences. We will prepare to try to attack this scheme, because this is who we play.

 

On if anything in the West Virginia passing game has been surprising

Nothing surprises me. I've seen it for a long, long time. We're in a position where the timing is better. I've made a lot of it - the rapport with Clint and these guys is a lot better. Our pass protection is night and day different than what it was a year ago. We're just in much, much better place. Which is what our expectations are. We should be able to pass protect like this. We should be able to be accurate with our eyes, Clint, and throwing the ball, and we should be able to get open and make plays down the field. I was excited to see Mario (Alford) Daikiel (Shorts), Kevin (White) make plays down the field. That's what our expectations are, and they’re getting to the point to where they're doing it.

 

On if there are more options when two outside receivers are playing at a high level

You stretch the field better. You can stretch the field better. That's extremely important, especially when you're running the ball like we are to keep those safeties back. There was a pretty good cat and mouse game going on with what they're safeties were doing and what my eyes were doing and what plays were being called. To have guys who can stretch the field definitely keeps safeties back, which allows you to be able to run the ball better.

 

On quarterback Clint Trickett's options when a play is given to him

Sometimes, he's got multiple options. Sometimes he has no options. Sometimes he calls a different play all together. That's where Clint has definitely matured and developed. I judge his mental performance every bit as much as we do with what the stats are or the overall performance. There are a lot of things that happen throughout the course of the game that nobody knows other than me and him, and probably Shannon (Dawson). Just as far as what actually was signaled to him. What was said in meetings as far as if we call this play and you see this, do that. He's to the point where he understands all of that. He can come to the sidelines, and I can say 'well why didn't make this adjustment' and he will go 'ah, yes.' He gets it. He understands it, where a year ago, I would have said that, and it would have just gone right over his head. There are multiple options. How many specifically - it's different from play to play.

 

On if Trickett's maturity and developing is from being a coach's son

He's much like my son. I don't know if you all have seen my son running around here, Logan. He runs through the building. He hangs out downstairs, plays pool with them, plays catch, and gets a workout with Mike (Joseph). That was Clint probably about five, six, seven, eight years ago. Or maybe nine, 10 years ago, whenever it was. But anyway, he has that kind of knowledge when it comes to how things work in a locker room. Which is probably different than what you think it is. He understands how important that locker room is, and how you relate to a lot of these guys from many different backgrounds and many different interests and all that. The knowledge of the game, just because he is a smart kid, he understands the game, he's been around it and now he understands what we're trying to do. You put all of that stuff together and right now we have a more winning offensive performance than what we saw at any point last year. Hopefully we can keep it up. OU has many challenges that we have to fight.

 

On the hit Clint Trickett took attempting to score a rushing touchdown against Maryland

He was fine. He was just faking. He got the wind knocked out of him a little bit. It (the play) was something that we do a good bit. I don't know what's so hard about that dang pass. It's the only pass that he hasn't completed. One to Cody Clay, one to Elijah Wellman and to this one, the guy was right behind him. He just didn’t' feel like triggering it. So he was like should I trigger it? Should I trigger it? Should I trigger it? Then he said 'no,' and he didn't. And he took a hit because of it. It's what we've been talking about - make good decisions and get the ball out of your hands. He didn't do that, so he took a hit and laid there for a second, then jumped up and played great after that.

 

On the mobility of Oklahoma quarterback Trevor Knight and if that compares to the mobility of quarterbacks WVU has faced this season

He's more dynamic. He's got more twitch. His ceiling is a lot higher. He's a sophomore. Those other guys are seniors - fifth-year seniors, sixth-year seniors, and seventh-year seniors, whatever it is. He's just getting started. He's got a lot football ahead of him. He's a big time talent who is young and will continue to get better, but he's a little bit more dynamic with twitch and athleticism.

 

On how many plays are expected in the Oklahoma game

A lot goes into it. It (200 total plays) could happen. It depends if offenses are efficient and can get first downs and convert third downs. Whether we can, whether they can - a lot goes into that. Field position has something to do with that. They and Baylor last year were both pretty fast, and their plays were in the seventies. One-hundred plays in a game is a lot. Having 108 is a lot. That's being said, be able to average 91 right now - that’s far cry from where it was a year ago at 71. Which is a whole, heck of a lot different than 108. A lot goes into it. I'm going to sit there and study it. I'm going to call plays, and hopefully we get first downs.