Dana Holgorsen Media Conference: Texas

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen met with members of the media earlier today to discuss Saturday’s Big 12 Conference game against Texas.

Opening Statement

The sun came up on Sunday, and we came to work. We got back to work and had some good meetings with our guys. Yeah, they were disappointed and all that, but their entire focus was about getting this game over with and moving on to Texas. What our focus was on Sunday night after we got done was all about Texas. The kids – yesterday was their day off. They were rolling through the halls, believe it or not, excited about the opportunity to be able to play another Big 12 football game. That’s why a lot of them came here to be in games like this. They know that we’re going to have many, many opportunities like we did last Saturday. Our job is to work, prepare hard and put ourselves in position to be able to try to win a few more of those Big 12 games like we didn't do on Saturday. Our focus is 100 percent on Texas. If you have any TCU questions, I would be happy to answer them. When our assistant coaches come in here, they’ll be happy to answer them. I would ask, and the players are going to abide by this, that they’re not interested in talking about TCU. They have completely moved on, and everything that they’ve been thinking about and everything that they’ve been focused on has been the University of Texas and moving on to game 10. All of those questions should be directed to me or a couple of the assistant coaches.

The last two games that we’ve been in with Texas have been pretty exciting. It was 48-45 in Austin that we won. Last year, we let one slip away from us, 47-40. So we have no reason to think that this game is going to be any different than those games. Just like TCU, the last three games have come down to the last play of the game. That's exciting, Big 12 football. We are really excited to be a part of the Big 12. We are incredibly excited to be relevant in college football and have opportunities to play against such great programs. We're no different than them. We feel like we're a great program. We feel like we're a great team. We look forward to the next opportunity to be able to go out there and play.

It's going to be a great road game. We've played well on the road this year. We anticipate playing on the road again this year and look forward to the opportunity against Texas. A few notes on the Longhorns, Charlie Strong - I'm very familiar with him obviously. When he was at Louisville, obviously (we) had several different competitive battles. We were competitively trying to get into the Big 12. Since then, obviously, he's moved on to the Big 12 at the University of Texas. We're pretty familiar with how he runs his program - very disciplined. He's a no nonsense guy. I've got a ton of respect for that. I've got a ton of respect for his past and what he's done defensively. He's one of the best defensive minds in college football. You can see the improvement that has existed from game one to game nine. You can see it on all three sides of the ball.

Defensively, they're good. They have good players. Their schemes are tricky. They do a lot of different things on the front - a lot of different things in coverage. Their d-line is big and physical. They do a great job stopping the run. They've got active linebackers who seem like they've been there for a decade. The (Steve) Edmond kid and the (Jordan) Hicks kids seem like they've been there forever. They've got good, quality corners. It will be challenging for us to get things going offensively. Their offense, again, has improved. The (Tyrone) Swoopes kid is a big, physical quarterback who is hard to get on the ground. They will use him in the run game some. The thing that he has really improved on is getting the ball downfield to a couple of their receivers. This (John) Harris kid has come out of nowhere and almost has 1,000 yards on the year. He's a big, physical guy who has started to emerge. Another Shipley - another senior Shipley - which I've known that family for a very long time. He's (Jaxon) is a good, quality receiver as well. Their backs are really what kind of makes them go. The same guys who were with them who played against us last year - (Malcom) Brown and (Johnathan) Gray. Number 28 and 32. They're big, physical guys who are hard to get on the ground. I would anticipate that they're going to try to control the ball - try to wear us down and run the ball a good bit. Then, when we have to commit to the run, they're going to try to long ball us, which is what they've done here, and they're getting better at it.

On special teams, they're very solid. Anytime you have a lot of good players and quality depth, you're going to be good on special teams. Their returners are guys who are interesting. They've got a lot of different kickoff return guys. The all seem to be about the same. Their punt returner Shipley is a good player like we said. Their kickoff guy boots everything into the end zone. They're very solid in special teams as well.

It's very good, quality team that's improving on a week-to-week basis. We're going to have our work cut out for us. I think our guys are going to be in the appropriate frame of mind to prepare hard for this game and to be able to go play a good Big 12 football team.

On getting Clint Trickett comfortable

I don't view him as being uncomfortable playing the game. I think he's very comfortable playing the game. I think he's very aware of his surroundings. In the run game, I think he's doing a fantastic job of getting us into the appropriate play. I give TCU a bunch of credit for what they did defensively. Gary (Patterson) is one of the best defensive coordinators in college football. They did a good job of taking away our run/pass stuff. We were forced to throw the ball with progressions that we haven't had to do as much of that this year. Unfortunately for us, TCU was probably as good as I've ever seen at covering progressions. Reading routes and jumping routes, they did a heck of a job at that, which forces Clint to stay in the pocket a little bit longer than we've had to. Then there is the problem of their pass rush being really, really good. I give TCU a lot of credit for that. I think Clint is incredibly comfortable with what we're asking him to do. I think he's doing fantastic job of doing the things that we're asking him to do. I have to coach our guys better to execute the things that we're asking them to execute.

On if Texas is the same as Louisville was under Charlie Strong schematically

We did glance at the tape from three years ago, four years ago, a decade ago - whatever it was out here. We were a little different offensively, so they were a little different defensively. It's kind of the same stuff. He's been doing the same stuff. How they're going to attack us is going to probably be a little more of a result of us being a little bit different. That was back when I didn't know how to run the ball as well as we do now. It's the same stuff. He's been a 3-3 guy for a long time. They're doing a lot of four down stuff now. That's the mixture in the fronts that they're doing, that they did do out here four years ago. But a little bit different variety.

On the Texas defensive line

The different fronts - they go three down, four down. With the same personnel, they have a four-down front. They'll kick one of those backers up and stand him as one of the linebackers to make it look like it's a 3-3 stack. That changes how we identify things and the blocking schemes and all that. We can go against them. We obviously go against our defense a lot. We go against four-down fronts, like we did last week. It's just a matter of ID'ing the front. Tyler Orlosky does a great job of that. He's a very, very smart kid who can ID the fronts and get us pointed in the right direction.

On if the TCU game was one the players just need to forget

Yeah. That's what we talked about after the game. I said it, and I don't regret saying, that the fourth quarter was unacceptable. I've got to do a better job of getting us in the right play. I have to do a better job of getting us to execute what we're asking them to execute.

On the pressure from the TCU defensive line

I think our guys up front did a good job. Our plan was to run the ball. TCU, again, is one of the pass defensive teams in college football. They're just really good at it. Their staff has been together for 15 years. They do a great job of reading routes. Their pass rush is good. We went into the game knowing that we needed to run the ball right at them as much as we possibly can. I think we did a very good job of that in the first half. I thought we did an acceptable job in the third quarter. I thought we did a very poor job in the fourth quarter when it counted. That was part of our game plan for a reason. The pass rush is something that we knew they were good at, and we have to work hard on that this week to get a little bit better at it.

On WVU wide receiver Kevin White in the last two games

Again, it goes back to who our opponent is. We're talking about a team that's a top-five team that's known as one of the best defensive football teams with the best defensive coaches in college football. I don't know what else you want me to say. They're good. Our opponent has something to do with that. With that said, we have to do a better job as coaches to identify what we've got to do to have the production acceptable to where we can win the game. That's my job, and we're working hard at that this week. We're going to do a good job as coaches this week of trying to identify ways to be able to be creative to get him involved in other ways. We attempted three or four passes to him downfield. They have a four-year starter at corner that was pretty good. Oklahoma State had a three-year starter at corner who was pretty good. Those two players are good players. I give them a bunch of credit. And, they put the safety over the top of him. That's a bad way to try to get him the ball downfield. We have to do a better job of doing other things to get him involved. I take full responsibility for that.

On if how Kevin White is being defended is how teams have defended wide receivers in the past

Justin Blackmon was a pretty good player. Michael Crabtree was a pretty good player. Stedman Bailey was a pretty good player. We'll figure out ways to be able to get him involved.

When people do that, we know what we're doing defensively. We're going to continue to come up with ways to be able to attack defenses, and we've got to do a better job of calling the appropriate plays in the appropriate situations. I take full responsibility for that. We have to execute the calls that are made. It would be a good idea to hang on to the football as well.

On the running backs against WVU

We have the luxury of having four backs that can play. We need those guys to hang on to the ball. Again, I thought our o-line did a great job of executing the game plan in the running game. We went right at them. TCU is really hard to go right at. We had a lot of success early as far as doing that. When we get these guys out in the open, we have to make things happen. We have to make things happen. Our success, because of what defenses are doing against us, because of the two guys on the outside, is put the backs in position to be able to make a difference. We need those guys to make a difference. I know they can. I've seen them do it. When I don't see them do it, then that's when we put other people in there to see if they can do it.

On the bad snap against TCU

We've had two snap issues this year. The first one was just a bad snap. It went up here (points over head). It was just a bad snap. I think Tyler (Orlosky) has done a great job with the snaps. If you watch every game and what we were dealing with last year, snaps were all over the place. That makes it hard to execute anything. Tyler has done a great job with the snaps. That was a communication error. It was bad. It didn't look good. It was a communication error. It's something that can obviously be fixed.

On if depth is an issue on the offensive line

I think our o-line is in good shape. I think they're in great shape. I think they’re doing a good job. I didn't view it as a problem at Oklahoma State in the second half when we took control of the game. I didn't view it as a problem against Texas Tech where we scored 17 points in the fourth quarter and took control of that game. I think the quality of the opponent was pretty good. I didn't do a very good job. I didn't motivate them enough. I didn't call the appropriate plays. We didn't get it done in the fourth quarter. I take responsibility for it.

There is an execution element to it, and I have to get them to execute in critical situations. Against a really good football team, against a really good defensive minded football team that is really good on defense, we did pretty well in certain areas of the game. We've got some work to do this week in order to be able to get some things corrected to be able to win this game this week.

On Edward Muldrow

First-year player, he's doing well. He's starting to make a difference. Shaq Riddick is a first-year player starting to make a difference. Dravon Henry is a first-year player starting to make a difference. I think one of the things we've done defensively is we've got a lot of guys that have experience that it means a lot to them. Then we're able to add some guys like that who are really athletic and are making our overall athleticism defensively different.

On the defense against TCU

I can't say enough about our defense. They played great. Tony Gibson is doing a wonderful job. Our guys are buying into it, playing fast, and playing physical. They call it a turnover. They strip, and you pick it up and return it for a touchdown. It was awesome. It was just a great play by (Terrell) Chestnut. He's covering the guy. The guy caught it. He stripped it. He picked it up, and he ran for a touchdown.

On how the offensive and defensive line always being a key determinant in the outcome of every game

It's the point of attack. Whether it is o-line or d-line, you've got to control the line of scrimmage.

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