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Coach Dana Holgorsen Media Conference
September 20, 2016 05:23 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Coach Dana Holgorsen addressed members of the media on Tuesday, September 20, 2016, at the Milan Puskar Center Team Room.
Opening Statement
We’re going to get started here with our opponent this week, Brigham Young. I think the main thing that everyone needs to understand is don’t look at their win-loss record, look at their history, their tradition, who they’ve played this year and how competitive their overall program has been for decades. They’re just unbelievable tradition in the history when it comes to playing really good football, and this team is no different. They could very easily be 3-0. They have tremendous football players. They’re big. They’re fast. They’re very passionate about playing the game of football. They’re well coached. We know exactly what we’re going to get on Saturday from this outfit. They have national appeal. No secret that they’re trying to get into the Big 12., which is probably going to give them a little extra motivation to be able to play this game. All of which says that we better get ourselves ready to play, and I know we will. We had one good week of work last week. We took a couple days off, hit the road recruiting and then we’re back at it here this afternoon. Already pretty prepared to play this game, but we’ll get back out there, work on some things Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, travel over to DC on Friday.
These neutral site games are always very important for us. They’re important for our fan base. We’ve played them before and we’re going to continue to play them again. You guys know what the schedule is. I’m a big fan of them and I know our fan base is as well and will show up and support us as much as they can.
Kalani Sitake is their head coach. He’s been around the BYU program for a long time. He has been up the road at Utah and Oregon State as the defensive coordinator for quite some time, but is back in probably, what I would say is his comfort zone. He’s a really good defensive football coach, and BYU is playing really good defense. They could very easily be 3-0 based on how their defense is playing. They’re only giving up I think 14 points a game over the first three games against three high powered quality opponents that are Pac-12 schools, that are used to scoring points. I can assure you we’re not underestimating these guys whatsoever. They’re going to be incredibly challenging to prepare for. Defensively, they’re always in the right spots. They play with great effort. They get to the ball. They’re violent when they get there with great effort and great physicality. It’s going to be a challenge.
Offensively, everyone wants to say what’s wrong with them? A lot of it has to do with how they came close to winning three games, and offensively, it usually takes a little bit longer to get together, especially with a new staff than it does defensively. Ty Detmer is there, he’s accustomed to what BYU’s done for years and years back in the days when I was watching BYU with Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Robby Boscoe and all those guys. Ty Detmer was the next in line and knows what he’s doing and knows what they need to do in order to score points, in order to get better.
Led by their quarterback. A lot has been said about him this week. (Senior quarterback) Taysom Hill seems like he’s been there for a decade. He has played a lot of snaps, he’s experienced, has had some unfortunate injuries come his way, but he’s battling through them; has battled through them to the point to where he’s their guy. Is there going to be a quarterback change? They say that because his backup won them a bunch of games last year. The guy is a really good football player. The (sophomore quarterback) Tanner Mangum guy is a little bit different. He’s a little bit more of a thrower, but I think they have their guys. We’ll be prepared for either one of them.
Do a good job at taking care of the ball. I think they want to grind out some clock and all of that stuff, maybe to help their defense. Not quite sure. They’re big upfront. They have two big backs who are capable of carrying the load. Their receivers are probably the biggest set of receivers that we’ll face all year. It’s going to be a challenge for us. We know that. It’s going to be a fun weekend. Excited about getting over to DC and playing a team that’s on the national stage, and rightfully so. They are a national program based on their tradition, based on their past and based on their accomplishments.
On sophomore wide receiver Gary Jennings
Gary’s doing a good job. He’s our main return guy. He’s our main special team’s guy when it comes to the receivers. He’s physical, he’s been battling a bunch of injuries, probably more than anything throughout camp. It’s tough to be one of those four guys when you’re only out there 25 percent of the time. He feels good. He looks good. He’s taking a bunch of reps. Some of that is going to fall on his shoulders. I played him at inside receiver, some of the spring. During the summer, we just made the decision because we knew what (senior wide receiver) Daikiel (Shorts Jr.) could do, so we decided to keep Gary on the outside just based on the fact that we need outside guys. We don’t have a ton of bodies on the outside. He’s behind (redshirt junior wide receiver) Shelton (Gibson) who’s playing well. That’s not Gary’s fault, but if he wants in that rotation and he wants more balls and more opportunity, then he needs to do that in practice.
On the BYU defense
Big. Physical. Play with great effort. Passionate. Gets there. Tries to hurt you. They do a lot of good stuff. Sound. Well coached. Always in position. Means a lot to them. You can tell.
On BYU’s defensive identity
I don’t really know what they are because they’ve been different every game. I think trying to find their identity in game one against Arizona, I’m talking about their defensive side because I’ve obviously studied their defense a lot more that I have their offense. Against Utah, they did some funky stuff. A lot of stand up guys moving around. A lot of different positions. They probably did that based on the relationship that they have with Utah. There aren’t two teams who know each other better than those two staffs and those two teams and those two players. They settled in more against UCLA and stopped a pretty good UCLA team. The (sophomore) quarterback (Josh) Rosen is obviously pretty good. UCLA is pretty good, and they stopped them. We watched all the stuff from Oregon State last year and there are some differences in what he’s doing this year from last year. All we have is what we can show our kids is the videos that we’ve seen. We’ll prepare for all of that and, we’ll see what their plan is going to be.
On the similarities between Pac-12 offenses and Big 12
Yeah there is. Three or four years ago there were a lot of differences in the Pac-12 and everyone else. The Pac-12, there are a lot of similarities and what we do and what the Pac-12 does now. Look at what Arizona is doing, at what (Arizona head coach) Rich (Rodriguez) is doing, there’s a lot of stuff that we do. What Utah does, there is a lot of stuff with what we do. So yes, a lot of carry over. UCLA has changed. Last year, UCLA with (Joel) Mazzone there was almost identical to what we do, and they’ve went 100 percent pro style, so a little bit different with that group.
On BYU’s No. 38 sophomore linebacker Butch Pau’u
It doesn’t look like the mission has slowed him down at all. If anything it sped him up. That guy is all over the place. Hard to block. When you get on him he gets off blocks. He gets there. He’s a sure tackler. He’s pretty good. They have a couple of seniors, older guys that you could have watched last year a little bit, but this guy has changed them a little bit. He’s a good player. There’s guessing games early in the year when you really don’t know what those teams are going to be whether there’s coaching changes, whether there’s not coaching changes, whether guys go on missions or whether they don’t. Obviously I think BYU has a pretty good feel for how and when those guys go on missions, and if they feel like they’re ready to go once they get back. They probably have that under control based on that’s just what they do.
On playing older guys
Challenging. It will be challenging. You can see, I don’t care what their age is or what their size is, you can see them on video what they are and who they are, and what they are is they’re big, and physical. They get there, and they’re passionate and they fight. They struggle, and they get the job done. It’s a different type of challenge based on the size but I think we have some advantages on our side as well.
On BYU playing two quarterbacks
Yeah. They have two guys who are proven, who are experienced and who are incredibly capable of being able to do what they’re asking them to do. Those guys have played a bunch, they’ve won a bunch, they’ve been around a bunch, and they’re being coached by a guy who’s been in their shoes before. We have a pretty good idea on what to expect. Again, what are they going to do different? We have a lot of videos based on what they’ve done the last three games and what these two kids have done over the last couple of years as well. We’re going to know who our opponent is, and what we feel like we need to do to be successful.
On how much input coaches have on Big 12 expansion
Coaches zero. They don’t listen to us. Are you kidding me? (Big 12) Commissioner (Bob) Bowlsby has told all of the coaches, if you want to voice your opinion, voice your opinion. It’s just your opinion. We’re not going to listen to you anyway. The AD’s (Athletic Directors) obviously influence the president’s. The president’s influence the commissioner. The TV people, probably have something to do with it as well. My job is to get us ready to play a good BYU team and worry about our team. What they’re doing I couldn’t tell you. What they’re thinking I for sure couldn’t tell you.
On recruiting protocol when playing at a neutral site
We can actually give them tickets, but we can’t talk to them. We’ve had requests for some people who wanted to come. They can come to the game, but we can’t talk to them. We can’t wave to them. We can’t give them lunch. There’s nothing we can do. If they want to come watch the game, then great come watch the game. We have a limited amount of tickets that we can give out. If they want to come out to watch a good college football game, then they can.
I think the recruiting aspect of that is way overrated. I think the excitement for the game is good. It’s a bowl game feel most of the time. It’s just something different. Playing in an NFL stadium is neat to our players. We’re going to be back there next year playing the (Virginia Tech) Hokies, so that’ll be good. Probably the biggest advantage is, is just from a fan base perspective. I’ve talked a lot about this with our non-conference games being geographically beneficial to our fan base, and I think this is one of those examples. We have a lot of WVU grads over in DC as you have a huge alumni chapter over there. I think it’s a great opportunity to thank those people and say thanks for everything you do and come watch a game in your backyard. I think we’ll have a great crowd. It’s obviously attainable to get there from pretty much anywhere in the east coast, including West Virginia. Hopefully we have a good crowd, and they’re there to cheer us on.
On the matchup between WVU’s offense and BYU’s defense
It’s a little before my time, Bob. I do understand your point. It is going to be interesting. I think it’s a very interesting matchup for a lot of reasons. There’s a definite schematical difference on both sides of the ball, for both teams. We sit there and talk but you look at the back wall right there, we talk about toughness all the time. I think we’re a fairly physical outfit. We do a good job of stopping the run. We’re averaging five yards a carry in the run game. We did that against Missouri, which that hasn’t happened to them in quite some time. BYU does a good job of stopping the run, but if you think for a minute we don’t think we can line up and run the ball against anyone in the country, then you’re mistaken. They’re probably saying, we have guys who can run too, as well. They have a corner who’s long, who looks like how (Daryl) Worley looked last year, 6-2 and can flip his hips and go, so they have guys as well. How much of it is physical strength versus speed, it would be fun to kind of sort that out, but I think we would be selling ourselves short, both teams, if we didn’t think we could counter with some of the same stuff.
On if BYU brings their safeties up to stop the run game
They’re like anyone else. They’ll do it if they have to. The difference in what we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks from what they do, is they’ll probably pressure more to stop the run. Where the other teams wouldn’t pressure in the run game, they’d screw safeties down. They’re a little different with that, but that’s the coaching aspect of it, the coaching angle of it. Identify their tendencies and then see what they’re doing in game and make adjustments.
On how coach Joe Wickline has changed the offense
Haven’t’ changed it a whole lot, he just has helped us. We’ve been going six years of pretty much the same offense. We have a lot of guys like (redshirt senior offensive lineman) Tyler (Orlosky), (redshirt senior offensive lineman) (Tony) Matteo, (redshirt senior offensive lineman) (Adam) Pankey, (redshirt junior wide receiver) Shelton (Gibson), (senior wide receiver) Daikiel (Shorts Jr.), (redshirt senior running back) (Rushel) Shell (III) and (redshirt junior tight end/full back) Eli (Wellman). A lot of guys that have been in this offense for quite some time. We have guys who understand what we’re trying to get done. It’s more about with coach Wickline, coach Carrier and the other coaches, just far as getting us better with the technique aspect of it. Now there’s some in-game stuff that I can see a difference with the suggestions that I’m getting. Coach Wickline, being upstairs and being an extra set of eyes, identifying what the defense is doing and knowing our offense well enough to make suggestions, this is what we need to do to counter it. That’s been good. Coach Carrier called that last week when we slipped that screen to (freshman running back) Kennedy (McKoy), he saw that was open and he said ‘coach you need to slip that guy after the screen,’ so having guys that have been in this offense and have a good feel for what we have and how we can counter some of the things we’re doing is good.
On how you can manage the minor details
It’s impossible to manage it. You put your guys in position and you expect them to, through coaching, through reps, through practice, to go out there and do the right thing form a turnover perspective or from a penalty perspective that sort of thing. Coaches coach and players play. It’s all stuff that you practice, and hopefully you do enough of it to where they’ll go out there and do the right thing. That kind of stuff doesn’t happen after you’ve practiced it.
On being careful to not get too minored in details
You have 20 hours a week, and only about six hours can be out there on the field. A lot of your technique stuff has to come in the offseason, has to come in the spring, and has to come in camp. When you’re preparing for a team its 98 percent scheme, staying in shape and scheming it. These 20 hours a week are meetings, weights, walkthrough’s, practice, and they’re games.
How much time can you afford to do all of that stuff? The technique has always been a high priority in the offseason and the scheme has always been more of a high priority in season.
On redshirt junior defensive lineman Xavier Pegues and other injuries
He’s still a ways a way. The long term guys are still long-term guys, and we’ll have everyone else available. Fresh, healthy, excited, and ready to go.
On senior quarterback Skyler Howard’s ribs
Yeah, he took last week off and continues to heal up and came back and was ripping it around pretty good on Sunday, so he’ll be full go here moving forward.
On if the media will overanalyze the Big 12 and the game this weekend
Don’t you do that every week? My experience is you guys do it every week. I think it’s a very interesting matchup. I’ve said this already two times this week, I think, but what’s wrong with the Big 12? I think that was part of your question, the Big 12 Is scheduling other Power Five schools. Looks to me like the schedules is what everyone wanted. Now we’d like to win a few more of these games. I think everyone would definitely say that. There’s all these high-profile games with Arizona State and Cal, and Houston and Ohio State, and who else has there been? Arkansas and Notre Dame. That’s a lot of good football right there, right? That’s what everyone wanted. Need to win a few more of them, but at least pretty much everyone is scheduling them, so Power Five schools play Power Five schools, there’s going to be a Power Five school lose every time they play. I think it’s probably a little too early. There are a lot of good players in the Big 12. There are a lot of good coaches in the Big 12. There are a lot of good teams in the Big 12. You can judge us in the end when you see where everyone ends up and who they play in bowl games. I think that’s the final measuring stick. I think you’d be a fool to try to justify it at this point. My opinion.
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