West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen met with members of the media Tuesday to discuss Saturday’s Big 12 Conference game against Oklahoma State.

 

Opening Statement

We're getting ready and preparing for the next Big 12 opponent in Oklahoma State. Sunday, coming back to work, we took it easy on them just a little bit - a little easier than we had. Not to say we're going to on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, but Sunday we did just a little bit. I think we're at that point in the season where we won't practice on Sunday night. We will remain doing that for the rest of the season. That's fairly common. We did get the Baylor game over with. (It was) physical. It was a very physical game - one of the more physical games that I've seen since I've been here. We had a lot of guys banged up and beat up. That's part of going into the eighth game, as well. I basically asked the guys if they were satisfied with the win, and if they weren’t' satisfied with where they are as a team right now. It was a unanimous 'not satisfied.' They want to continue to press forward and try to keep rolling on with where we're at in the Big 12 right now. Another Big 12 road game this weekend. Challenging opponent - those guys have won eight to 11 games a year for the last five years or so. They've been to eight straight bowl games. We understand who our opponent is. We know a lot about them, and we know that they're going to be ready to play. No game in the Big 12 is easy to play. It doesn't matter if you're playing at home, it doesn't matter if you're playing on the road, and to be quite frank, it really doesn't matter which of the nine other opponents it is. We have to be ready to go, and I think our guys will.

 

Offensively, coach (Mike) Gundy has been doing the same stuff offensively there for quite some time. He's going to put good running backs out there. He is going to be physical. They've got three guys at running back they can put out there and can get the job done. Desmond Roland is big, physical back. Tyreek Hill, they'll put him in the backfield. They'll put him at receiver. They'll move him everywhere. He's one of the more dynamic guys I've seen. He's one of the faster guys I've ever seen, and he's one of the more dynamic guys I've seen as well. Daxx Garman, their quarterback, is getting better. The thing with him, and I know quite a bit about it, he's an Oklahoma kid who moved to Texas and didn't play his senior year. He signed with Arizona, redshirted, didn't play and transferred to Oklahoma State and had to sit out a couple years. He hasn't played a lot of football and is continuously getting better. He does a great job of throwing the deep ball. Probably the thing that concerns you more than anything is how accurate he is throwing deep balls. They've got four or five receivers who are long and fast and can go get it. It's how they beat Texas Tech. That's one thing that we're going to have to be able to do a good job of is defending their deep ball.

 

Defensively, they've been doing the same stuff for quite some time - same stuff that they were doing when I was there. Glenn Spencer is their DC and is doing a really good job. I thought Oklahoma State had the best defense in the league a year ago. They've been hard to run the ball on. They're hard to run the ball on this year. They've got some new kids in the secondary. They've been giving up some plays in the passing game as you guys well know. They'll probably benefit from getting a cornerback. They lost (number) six, the (Ashton) Lampkin kid. He was a really good player. He played against us last year. They replaced him with a true freshman. They've got three or four guys in the secondary who are all true freshmen, and those guys will continue to get better. They're getting a kid back (this week) - the word is he'll be back. He will give them a boost as well. They're a good outfit. They do a great job of stopping the run. As you all well know, we do everything we can to get the run game going. It won't be any different this week. When they out-number us in the box, we've got to be able to throw the ball down field.

 

Special teams wise, their return guy, obviously (Tyreek) Hill, is as dynamic as anybody in the country. He ran right by Florida State. He won the game for them at Kansas. As we all know, we have to focus hard on our coverage units, which needs to continue to get better. I thought our kickoff team last week was great. I thought our punt team was better. That's going to be a big part of the game that we need to continue to get better at. It will be challenging. We know it. We get it. We're ready to get back to work here today and have a good week of practice to be able to travel to Stillwater. It's going to be hot. It's homecoming. It's going to be sold out. It's going to be loud. They're going to be ready to play. They didn't play very well a week ago at TCU. We got them last year, so they'll be ready to play. We understand that.

 

On if it makes Oklahoma State a tougher opponent coming off a loss at TCU

On one sense, yeah, probably. The other side of that is that every game is going to be hard. It doesn't matter what their record is. It doesn't matter who they played last week. We know who they are. We know they have good players. They've got great coaches. They've got great schemes. Last year, they were very senior oriented. They're replacing some guys because of graduation. That's just college football. They've been recruiting well for the last decade. Their facilities are awesome. Their location is awesome. They're going to get good, quality kids there. Regardless of what happened last week, regardless of what happened last year, if we don't have our guys ready to play, then we're not going to play well. We're capable of winning each and every game that we line up. We feel like we're capable of winning. If we don't play well, we're going to have our work cut out for us.

 

On what coach Holgorsen took out of his year working at Oklahoma State

That was about four years ago. The organizational things, I took a little bit from each stop. From each of the head coaches that I was under, and I was fortunate enough to be under some pretty good ones that have been pretty successful. He's (coach Gundy) always been an old school minded football coach. He was quarterback - tough kid. Pat Jones was his head coach, who was an old school, play hard, play tough, play physical, play nasty - that was what he was brought up in under coach Jones. When I went to Oklahoma State, our offense started becoming more physical. At Texas Tech, we were physical, but we were always physical going backward in pass protection and stuff like that. The way his (Gundy) offense was geared with Joe Wickline and myself, it became more dig your hand in the dirt and go forward, which is what you currently see.

 

If the dig your hand in the dirt and go forward approach was seen in WVU's game against Baylor

Did you? Heck yeah. That's the way they (Oklahoma State) play. They're physical, and they're a run-first team. They're going to punch you in the mouth. That's exactly what we did (against Baylor). We're equipped to do that because of recruiting, because of coaching, because of scheme and because of mentality. We've got some older kids up front. We were very physical. We were as physical on Saturday as we've been in the four years that I've been here. I'd like to think we started heading in the direction due to the fact that I was at Oklahoma State, and that was the mentality that existed there.

 

On if there are opportunities to throw the ball more against Oklahoma State's secondary

Yeah. If we need to, we better be able to do it. That's no different than any game. If we don't do a very good job of running the ball, because we're not playing as physical as we need to because of what their scheme is trying to accomplish, then we better be able to protect and throw the ball down the field. That's no different going into this game based on what their pass defense stats are, as opposed to the first game of the year and what Alabama's pass defense stats were. You have to be able to take what the defense is giving you and being able to execute it.

 

On if coach Holgorsen ran Mike Gundy's offense and plays when coach Holgorsen was the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State

No. He knows that. There was a zero percent chance I was leaving my post at Houston. I had a good job for a good coach and had a good quarterback coming back. I was interfered with none (at Oklahoma State), and he knows that. That was part of the deal. What I see on offense is what I did when I was there. I think he's had some guys come in and do what the base was. How much it’s changed with terminology? I don't know. But a lot of the plays they're running, a lot of the tempo they're using and a lot of the signals they're using are the same ones that I used when I was there.

 

On why teams have gotten pressure on the Oklahoma State quarterback this season

They're in some transition at that position (the offensive line) as well. Joe Wickline was around there for a long time. He's good friend of mine and is at Texas. He's a good football coach. There was transition with bodies, there was some transition with the coaching staff, as well, much like what we went through a year ago with some new. Bodies coming in and with coach (Ron) Crook coming in. It just takes time in order to be able to be functioning on all cylinders so to speak.

 

On what the win over Baylor did for West Virginia's confidence

We're pretty confident bunch defensively right now. Coach (Tony) Gibson, again, I can't express what he's been able to do with the guys. It's been fun to watch. It's been awesome. He'll be the first to admit that it's easier to call some of the schemes and some of the plays when the kids are coming to sidelines giving him a bunch of confidence. We had great week of practice last week. The guys on the sidelines were tuned in, we're engaged and we're encouraging coach Gibby to run specific things. Which as a coach that gives you confidence to be able to call specific things. Getting to the quarterback a week ago was the key to the game. We can talk about the man coverage, which was as good as I've seen since I’ve been here. We can talk about the next guy in with depth - KJ Dillon, Karl Joseph, Dravon Henry all played their best games of the year. They covered and tackled well. Ricky Rumph, Icky Banks, Terrell Chestnut, Daryl Worley when they were in there. It's all good stuff, but unless you get to the quarterback, that doesn't matter. We got to the quarterback. We sacked him four times. Shaq Riddick was awesome. (Brandon) Golson got there a couple of times. Some of the blitzes that Gibby called, guys got there and hit him early, which affected him throughout the course of the game.

 

On Clint Trickett this season

He's been great. He understands the game. We've watched that game from last year, and we weren't very good. It was painful to watch. We won the game. Defensively, we played well last year against them. We did enough on offense. Charles Sims made some plays, but we weren't very good. He's night and day better than what he was. He's consistent. He is running the offense. He's the steady guy. When he turned the ball over twice in the first quarter, it didn't affect him. He went out there and just kept playing. He did what he had to do to put our guys in position to be able to win. He continues to develop a good working relationship with not only Kevin (White) - that's easy to see, that's easy to write and talk about - but him and Mario (Alford) being on the same page. Him and Daikiel (Shorts) and Jordan (Thompson) being on the same page is pretty important. Him seeing run checks and getting us into run plays that are important. He's doing all of that stuff really well.

 

On if there is one thing about Clint Trickett that stands out right now

No. I don't think so. He's a steady guy. He's doing a lot of things right. Some of the things aren't flashy, but there are a lot of steady things out there that he's doing well.

 

On Clint Trickett Saturday

He was fine. He had a 24-hour bug. I told him Michael Jordan did it, so he could do it. If you're sick and go out there and play well, then what's the big deal - it's just a little stomach bug. We had a conversation after the game. He found it. His mom was here, and they talked about it after the game. At that point, Rick (Trickett) was in a good place. He was fine. They had to watch him, because he was yelling at the computer and all that. They were all disappointed he couldn't coach in his game that night. If that's all you're worried about, then everybody is in a good place.

 

On if the Big 12 race has been surprising and if the balance in the league will prevent a representative in the college football playoff

You can't worry about that. That's happening in some of these other leagues, too. We're pretty fortunate to be in a power five conference, where all of the teams are good. It makes it fun. It makes it challenging for coaches. It makes it challenging for players. It makes it fun and exciting for the fan base. It's good for college football. I think it's going to continue to head that way. Just because of the parity that exists out there. What it looks like now, I doubt it looks like that at the end of the year, as far as what the rankings are and the teams that are projected to be in any of that. You can't worry about any of that. We're not going to worry about we're at in the standings. We're not going to worry about where we're at in the rankings. All we're worried about is preparing for Oklahoma State and trying to be in good spot at the end of the week. The goal is Saturday after the game to be in a good place. That's all we can worry about right now. That's all we can control, and that's all we're going to worry about.

 

On getting the team to refocus after a win over Baylor

That's our job. We better. I think if we had a very young and immature team, then that would be a huge challenge. We have a very experienced, older team that likes each other, plays hard for each other and understands what we're trying to accomplish. Really, what we're trying to accomplish is to win the next game. I don't know any other way of approaching it with the team. I think we have a lot of guys that have a lot of experience that went through a lot last year and went through a lot two years ago and want to be in a good place at the end of the week.

 

On if that falls on the shoulders of the older guys

A lot. They understand what is ahead of us. What I thought was a key to winning the Texas Tech game was the fact a lot of our guys had been to Lubbock, and they understood what it was about. Those same guys have been to Stillwater. They understand what's there. They understand the facilities, the recruiting, the quality of play there and the atmosphere. They know it's going to be challenging. And again, the overall goal is to be in a good place at the end of the week. You better do what you're supposed to on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, in order to make that happen.

 

On injury updates

There are probably going to be a few that play. There are probably going to be a few that don't. We haven't had a practice with them since, so I haven't seen them outside. We'll probably have five or six guys in green jerseys today, which means non-contact. Hopefully that progresses to contact guys tomorrow. That's the best I've got for you at this point. Nobody has been ruled out. Nobody is long term. And that's good news for us, because it was such a physical game, because guys knocked out of the game. You know this based on previous experiences - if anybody was long term, I'd tell you. Nobody is long term.

 

On if injuries force coach Holgorsen to go deeper into the cornerbacks

Maybe. Nana (Kyeremeh) got some snaps a week ago and will continue to get some snaps. He was elevated a couple weeks ago from the scout team to the big leagues. We will probably do the same thing with Keishawn Richardson this week to give us some more depth there. You can only travel 70, though, so we've been in a good place right there. Expect us to be able to travel 70, as well.

 

On if Oklahoma State uses Tyreek Hill similar to how West Virginia used to use Tavon Austin

Yeah, very similar. You see him in the backfield a good bit. You see him in the slot, going downfield, he'll run some underneath option routes. Then, both kick and punt returning - very similar, yes.

 

On if West Virginia has put in the punt return play used by the St. Louis Rams this past weekend

If we had two of them, we would. If we had two of them, we probably would. We'll start searching for one.

 

On if being nationally ranked means anything

It's positive for the program. It's good for national recognition - all that is good. I'm not going to deny that. That's all good for the program. It probably gets us talked about more and gets us more national recognition like I said. But it doesn't adjust anything that we do. We're not satisfied with where we're at. We're not interested with people telling us that we're good or any of that. We've got to just keep doing our job.

 

On Cody Clay

I thought he had his best game two weeks ago against Kansas. I thought he had his best game to date on Saturday against Baylor. He's just consistent, hardworking, high effort, high motor, great leader. He does everything the right way. He's only a junior, but he's played a lot of ball for us. Looking back at what he did two years ago against Oklahoma State, I think he took about 60 snaps against Oklahoma State two years ago. He just keeps getting better. You can use him a lot of different ways. You can put him in the slot. You can put him at tight end. You can put him in the backfield. He's a sixth offensive lineman. He can be a receiving, I wouldn't say threat, but target. Then he can run the ball for the average of five yards per carry, which he did one time this year. He does a lot of good things. Elijah Wellman is doing some good stuff as well. He got in there probably 10, 12, 15 reps last week and will thump you. Two kids cut from the same cloth who are doing great things for us.

 

Editor's Note: Photo of Dana Holgorsen inside, on cover, by Ben Queen of www.benqueenphotography.com.