Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Monday Football Notebook
November 05, 2018 01:55 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – You can give Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin an assist on West Virginia's two-point conversion play to beat 15th-ranked Texas last Saturday in Austin.
No team has gone for two more than Tomlin's Steelers over the last couple of seasons, and West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said some offseason visits to watch the Steelers practice gave him some good ideas on how to incorporate what the Steelers do in his game planning.
Holgorsen admitted Monday on his weekly teleconference that coming up with successful two-point plays and deciding when to use them are some of the most difficult things coaches do.
"I went up and visited with the Steelers a lot and Coach Tomlin is an outstanding coach, obviously, and they go for two a lot," Holgorsen explained. "It's on the 2-yard-line in the NFL and they practice it a lot and go for it a lot. They've got a good quarterback, and we've taken some of that."
One thing Holgorsen has developed are two-point-play competitions during practice that help the offense and defense.
The coach said the actual plays they come up with are based on schemes and how his team is performing near the goal line during the course of the game.
"We've developed a couple of things that we're going to carry every week that is going to give our quarterback options to where he doesn't get caught with the ball, because when you get caught with the ball on a two-point conversion it could be the ballgame," he noted.
On Saturday, following quarterback Will Grier's 33-yard touchdown pass to Gary Jennings Jr., all of that two-point planning kicked in.
Holgorsen said he made up his mind to go for two once West Virginia got possession of the football with 2:34 remaining, trailing the Longhorns 41-34.
"Texas was doing a good job offensively. They had our defense on its heels a little bit, and I felt like it was the right call," he said. "I told the guys on the sideline before they got the ball, 'Guys, let's go down and score and we'll go for two and win this thing.' They went out there and believed it. They came to the sidelines after we scored and already knew what our two-point play was going to be."
As for getting smoked out when Texas coach Tom Herman called timeout right before Grier successfully hit David Sills V on a quick slant, Holgorsen admitted he thought about using a different play.
"I knew he was going to call timeout. I actually thought about running a dummy play but just didn't want to get caught if he didn't pull the trigger on the timeout," he explained. "That specific play has a lot of options, and our quarterback sees the field as good as anybody I've ever been around and as good as anybody in the country.
"He had a really good idea what they were doing defensively and if you give No. 7 options to win games, he's going to make the right decision the majority of the time. I'd take my chances with him any day."
Briefly:
Some more West Virginia-Texas leftovers …
* Holgorsen noted Monday that he's still trying to wrap his arms around the inordinate number of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties called on his team. There were two during one sequence in the first quarter that ended up forcing the Mountaineers to kick off from their own 10-yard line and ended up putting Texas in position to score a touchdown.
Then, following Grier's two-point conversion, another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called on WVU to give Texas decent field position to try a game-winning field goal.
"I'm at a point now where I really don't know what to tell them after they make a big play. That kind of emotion … to go for two and get it … I don't know what to tell them because emotion is going to kick in," Holgorsen noted. "We had one earlier in the game with a hand signal that I've seen happen over the course of two decades probably 20,000 times that hasn't gotten flagged so I really don't know what to tell them either.
"We're doing our best to coach these guys to behave the appropriate way, but there have been some things happen that I'm at a loss for words so I don't know what to tell them," he added. "We're in communication with the Big 12 office to give us some direction on what we need to tell our players, and we will do our best to relay that information to where we won't be kicking off on the 10 anymore.
"I'm tired of kicking off on the 10, especially in key situations," he concluded.
* I was asked by The Signalcaller, Jed Drenning, on the bus following Saturday's game to rank the Texas win with some of the other memorable road victories West Virginia has had.
Of course, it has to rank right up there with the best, but I'm not sure it tops the Mountaineers' 17-14, come-from-behind win at 11th-ranked Boston College in 1993.
WVU overcame an 11-point fourth quarter deficit to defeat the Eagles, who were coming off a win at No. 1-ranked Notre Dame the week prior.
If you recall, West Virginia had a number of players and coaches suffering from the flu that afternoon and veteran coach Don Nehlen was forced to switch press box responsibilities with some of his assistants in order to get through the game.
Quarterback Darren Studstill's 24-yard touchdown pass to Ed Hill with 1:08 left was also similar to Will Grier's heart-stopping, 33-yard touchdown hookup with Gary Jennings Jr. with 16 seconds remaining.
Both plays will forever be etched in the minds of Mountaineer faithful.
* West Virginia's 42-41 victory was the first time in six years the Mountaineers have defeated a top-15-ranked team on the road. The last time it happened was also in Austin when WVU downed the 11th-ranked Longhorns, 48-45.
* West Virginia's game at Texas last Saturday drew a 3.0 rating on FOX to beat the 2.8 rating the Kentucky-Georgia game on CBS earned during the same 3:30 p.m. time slot.
* For the second time this year West Virginia's defense has allowed dual 100-yard receivers in the same game. Back on Sept. 29 in Lubbock, Texas Tech's Antoine Wesley (8-110) and Ja'Deion High (6-105) did it and last Saturday Lil'Jordan Humphrey (9-143) and Devin Duvernay (6-100) eclipsed the century mark.
* With his victory Saturday at Texas, Dana Holgorsen has moved into a tie with Rich Rodriguez for second all-time in school history with 60 career wins. Don Nehlen tops the list with 149 wins at WVU from 1980 to 2000. Holgorsen's .612 winning percentage is also in line with WVU's two other top coaches. Rodriguez showed a .698 winning percentage during his seven seasons at WVU while Nehlen's 21-season winning mark was .614.
* Will Grier passed for at least three touchdowns in a game for the 14th time of his career last Saturday, the most of any FBS quarterback over the last two seasons.
By the way, Grier's performance last weekend at Texas might have earned him an invitation to the Heisman Trophy Award presentation at the Marriott Marquis in New York City's Times Square. The only Mountaineer player to ever be invited to the awards ceremony was Major Harris in 1989 when he finished third behind Houston's Andre Ware and Indiana's Anthony Thompson.
* The next college football playoff rankings will be revealed Tuesday night and West Virginia should crack the top 10 this week based on their position in the two major polls revealed on Sunday. WVU should jump UCF, Florida and Kentucky, and possibly even Washington State and LSU to get to as high as eighth behind Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Michigan, Georgia, Oklahoma and Ohio State.
If that happens, it will keep the Mountaineers within striking distance with three key regular season games remaining against TCU, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma – two of the final three at Milan Puskar Stadium.
By the way, I'm hearing ticket sales for TCU and Oklahoma have picked up considerably over the weekend following the Mountaineers' big win over Texas.
You can purchase your tickets by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
* Former Mountaineer quarterback Geno Smith's Big 12 record of 273 consecutive pass attempts without throwing an interception is in jeopardy. Texas' Sam Ehlinger is 28 pass attempts away from eclipsing Smith's mark, and if he gets it, he can thank West Virginia's Josh Norwood, who dropped an easy interception on the next-to-last play of last Saturday's game.
* Four Big 12 quarterbacks continue to rank among college football's top 11 in total offense: Oklahoma's Kyler Murray (362.6), Texas Tech's Alan Bowman (326.5), West Virginia's Will Grier (319.1) and Oklahoma State's Taylor Cornelius (317.1).
Monday Sound
No team has gone for two more than Tomlin's Steelers over the last couple of seasons, and West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said some offseason visits to watch the Steelers practice gave him some good ideas on how to incorporate what the Steelers do in his game planning.
Holgorsen admitted Monday on his weekly teleconference that coming up with successful two-point plays and deciding when to use them are some of the most difficult things coaches do.
"I went up and visited with the Steelers a lot and Coach Tomlin is an outstanding coach, obviously, and they go for two a lot," Holgorsen explained. "It's on the 2-yard-line in the NFL and they practice it a lot and go for it a lot. They've got a good quarterback, and we've taken some of that."
One thing Holgorsen has developed are two-point-play competitions during practice that help the offense and defense.
The coach said the actual plays they come up with are based on schemes and how his team is performing near the goal line during the course of the game.
"We've developed a couple of things that we're going to carry every week that is going to give our quarterback options to where he doesn't get caught with the ball, because when you get caught with the ball on a two-point conversion it could be the ballgame," he noted.
On Saturday, following quarterback Will Grier's 33-yard touchdown pass to Gary Jennings Jr., all of that two-point planning kicked in.
Holgorsen said he made up his mind to go for two once West Virginia got possession of the football with 2:34 remaining, trailing the Longhorns 41-34.
"Texas was doing a good job offensively. They had our defense on its heels a little bit, and I felt like it was the right call," he said. "I told the guys on the sideline before they got the ball, 'Guys, let's go down and score and we'll go for two and win this thing.' They went out there and believed it. They came to the sidelines after we scored and already knew what our two-point play was going to be."
As for getting smoked out when Texas coach Tom Herman called timeout right before Grier successfully hit David Sills V on a quick slant, Holgorsen admitted he thought about using a different play.
"I knew he was going to call timeout. I actually thought about running a dummy play but just didn't want to get caught if he didn't pull the trigger on the timeout," he explained. "That specific play has a lot of options, and our quarterback sees the field as good as anybody I've ever been around and as good as anybody in the country.
"He had a really good idea what they were doing defensively and if you give No. 7 options to win games, he's going to make the right decision the majority of the time. I'd take my chances with him any day."
Briefly:
Some more West Virginia-Texas leftovers …
* Holgorsen noted Monday that he's still trying to wrap his arms around the inordinate number of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties called on his team. There were two during one sequence in the first quarter that ended up forcing the Mountaineers to kick off from their own 10-yard line and ended up putting Texas in position to score a touchdown.
Then, following Grier's two-point conversion, another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called on WVU to give Texas decent field position to try a game-winning field goal.
"I'm at a point now where I really don't know what to tell them after they make a big play. That kind of emotion … to go for two and get it … I don't know what to tell them because emotion is going to kick in," Holgorsen noted. "We had one earlier in the game with a hand signal that I've seen happen over the course of two decades probably 20,000 times that hasn't gotten flagged so I really don't know what to tell them either.
"We're doing our best to coach these guys to behave the appropriate way, but there have been some things happen that I'm at a loss for words so I don't know what to tell them," he added. "We're in communication with the Big 12 office to give us some direction on what we need to tell our players, and we will do our best to relay that information to where we won't be kicking off on the 10 anymore.
"I'm tired of kicking off on the 10, especially in key situations," he concluded.
* I was asked by The Signalcaller, Jed Drenning, on the bus following Saturday's game to rank the Texas win with some of the other memorable road victories West Virginia has had.
Of course, it has to rank right up there with the best, but I'm not sure it tops the Mountaineers' 17-14, come-from-behind win at 11th-ranked Boston College in 1993.
WVU overcame an 11-point fourth quarter deficit to defeat the Eagles, who were coming off a win at No. 1-ranked Notre Dame the week prior.
If you recall, West Virginia had a number of players and coaches suffering from the flu that afternoon and veteran coach Don Nehlen was forced to switch press box responsibilities with some of his assistants in order to get through the game.
Quarterback Darren Studstill's 24-yard touchdown pass to Ed Hill with 1:08 left was also similar to Will Grier's heart-stopping, 33-yard touchdown hookup with Gary Jennings Jr. with 16 seconds remaining.
Both plays will forever be etched in the minds of Mountaineer faithful.
* West Virginia's 42-41 victory was the first time in six years the Mountaineers have defeated a top-15-ranked team on the road. The last time it happened was also in Austin when WVU downed the 11th-ranked Longhorns, 48-45.
* West Virginia's game at Texas last Saturday drew a 3.0 rating on FOX to beat the 2.8 rating the Kentucky-Georgia game on CBS earned during the same 3:30 p.m. time slot.
* For the second time this year West Virginia's defense has allowed dual 100-yard receivers in the same game. Back on Sept. 29 in Lubbock, Texas Tech's Antoine Wesley (8-110) and Ja'Deion High (6-105) did it and last Saturday Lil'Jordan Humphrey (9-143) and Devin Duvernay (6-100) eclipsed the century mark.
* With his victory Saturday at Texas, Dana Holgorsen has moved into a tie with Rich Rodriguez for second all-time in school history with 60 career wins. Don Nehlen tops the list with 149 wins at WVU from 1980 to 2000. Holgorsen's .612 winning percentage is also in line with WVU's two other top coaches. Rodriguez showed a .698 winning percentage during his seven seasons at WVU while Nehlen's 21-season winning mark was .614.
* Will Grier passed for at least three touchdowns in a game for the 14th time of his career last Saturday, the most of any FBS quarterback over the last two seasons.
By the way, Grier's performance last weekend at Texas might have earned him an invitation to the Heisman Trophy Award presentation at the Marriott Marquis in New York City's Times Square. The only Mountaineer player to ever be invited to the awards ceremony was Major Harris in 1989 when he finished third behind Houston's Andre Ware and Indiana's Anthony Thompson.
* The next college football playoff rankings will be revealed Tuesday night and West Virginia should crack the top 10 this week based on their position in the two major polls revealed on Sunday. WVU should jump UCF, Florida and Kentucky, and possibly even Washington State and LSU to get to as high as eighth behind Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, Michigan, Georgia, Oklahoma and Ohio State.
If that happens, it will keep the Mountaineers within striking distance with three key regular season games remaining against TCU, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma – two of the final three at Milan Puskar Stadium.
By the way, I'm hearing ticket sales for TCU and Oklahoma have picked up considerably over the weekend following the Mountaineers' big win over Texas.
You can purchase your tickets by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
* Former Mountaineer quarterback Geno Smith's Big 12 record of 273 consecutive pass attempts without throwing an interception is in jeopardy. Texas' Sam Ehlinger is 28 pass attempts away from eclipsing Smith's mark, and if he gets it, he can thank West Virginia's Josh Norwood, who dropped an easy interception on the next-to-last play of last Saturday's game.
* Four Big 12 quarterbacks continue to rank among college football's top 11 in total offense: Oklahoma's Kyler Murray (362.6), Texas Tech's Alan Bowman (326.5), West Virginia's Will Grier (319.1) and Oklahoma State's Taylor Cornelius (317.1).
Monday Sound
Players Mentioned
QB
/ Football
WR
/ Football
CB
/ Football
WR
/ FootballRich Rodriguez | Dec. 3
Wednesday, December 03
Reid Carrico | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
Jeff Weimer | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
Rich Rodriguez | Nov. 29
Saturday, November 29
