Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Football Notebook
September 24, 2018 04:36 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Considering Texas Tech and West Virginia field two of the most prolific offenses in college football, it's somewhat surprising that most of the questions Dana Holgorsen and Kliff Kingsbury answered on Monday morning during the Big 12's weekly teleconference involved the teams' defenses.
Texas Tech's defense has gotten infinitely better under David Gibbs since he took over four years ago, and last Saturday Gibbs' unit earned a big red star for shutting out 15th-ranked Oklahoma State in the second half to help Tech earn a rare blowout victory over the Cowboys in Stillwater.
After giving up 47 points to Ole Miss in the season opener and 49 points two weeks ago in a shootout victory against Houston, the Red Raiders performed much better on Saturday by limiting Oklahoma State to just 3 of 13 on third down and forcing a couple of turnovers.
What Texas Tech is putting on the field these days is not close to resembling the Red Raider defenses we have been accustomed to seeing since Kingsbury first took over in Lubbock.
"They're doing a heck of a job, and I've known David Gibbs and (co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach) Zac Spavital for a long time," Holgorsen said. "They're going into their fourth year at Texas Tech. I know from first-hand experience you don't fix a defense overnight."
Holgorsen says what Texas Tech has done defensively is a product of good, old-fashioned hard work.
"Those guys have worked their tails off, recruited better and have a philosophy and a scheme that they believe in and their players have bought into it and their players are playing hard," Holgorsen mentioned. "Their talent appears to be better. Their schemes are really good, and their guys are in positions to be able to make plays."
"(Gibbs) kind of blew it up and started over and kind of recruited towards his scheme and what he wanted it to be and what he envisioned it to look like and he's stuck by his guns," Kingsbury admitted. "It's a process where we hoped we could get better and better and keep competitive in the Big 12."
As he mentioned, Holgorsen went through something similar five years ago when he hired Tony Gibson to run his West Virginia defense.
Gibson, too, has stuck to his guns in recruiting players that best fit his defensive system.
Gibson's group did one of the best jobs anyone has done defending Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes back in 2016, a 48-17 Mountaineer victory. The Mountaineers sacked Mahomes four times and picked him off once that afternoon.
Considering what Mahomes has done so far with the Kansas City Chiefs, AFC West defensive coordinators might want to ahold of Gibson's cell phone number for some pointers.
Gibson was also successful in slowing down the Red Raiders three years ago in Morgantown, and last year, his guys made just enough plays to help the Mountaineers pull out a 46-35 shootout victory.
The Mountaineers currently rank second in the country by allowing up just 12.3 points per game, and they kept Kansas State on its side of the 50 in the first half and out of the end zone entirely during last Saturday's 35-6 victory.
It was the first time a West Virginia defense has done that since 2015.
"Coach Gibson has done a tremendous job of developing a culture there," Kingsbury said. "They are an aggressive defense. They play physical. They give you multiple looks, and they're playing at a high level.
"They've really gotten after people this year and nobody is scoring on them," Kingsbury added.
Briefly:
* West Virginia quarterback Will Grier was named the Big 12's offensive player of the week following his 356-yard, five-touchdown performance against Kansas State.
It's the second time Grier has won the weekly conference award during his two-year Mountaineer career.
* Saturday's game is going to showcase two quarterbacks at different ends of the spectrum – Heisman Trophy contender Grier, who is looking to finish out his senior season at WVU in spectacular fashion, and Texas Tech true freshman Alan Bowman, who is looking to establish himself as one of the top, young quarterbacks in the country.
So far, Bowman is performing far better than anyone expected.
He completed 35-of-46 passes for 397 yards and two touchdowns last Saturday against Oklahoma State and comes into Saturday's game ranked second in the country with 1,557 passing yards.
Bowman is completing 72 percent of his pass attempts and has an impressive 10-to-2 touchdown to interception ratio.
True freshman quarterbacks simply don't play like that.
"He's being coached by one of the best that's ever done it," Holgorsen explained. "The kid was a good player in high school, and if you get coached up by Kliff, you're going to be ready to go."
"He was a four-year starter at Grapevine High School, which is a big high school in our state," Kingsbury added. "I saw that he had some moxie. He's accustomed to playing in a similar-type spread offense. He's a quick learner and a hard worker so he had a lot of intangibles that you look for to play early."
However, it was McClane Carter who won the starting job coming out of fall camp before suffering a high ankle sprain in Texas Tech's season-opening loss to Ole Miss.
Bowman stepped in and passed for 273 yards against the Rebels and hasn't been on the sidelines since.
"I thought he played exceptionally well against Ole Miss even though I didn't have a great game plan for him because it was kind of built around McClane, Kingsbury said. "So we were kind of making it up as we went there, and he handled it well."
* Kingsbury on Monday admitted the return of senior safety Jah'Shawn Johnson last Saturday against Oklahoma State made a big difference in the Red Raider defense.
Johnson has been slowed by a nagging shoulder injury since preseason camp.
"He's a four-year starter, and he's one of the best players on our team," Kingsbury said. "Having him in the backend kind of calms that group and gets them lined up. We've given up a lot of big runs and big plays in the first three games, and he's a guy that can keep a 7-yard run from turning into a 40-yard run."
* Holgorsen was asked once again on Monday to talk about his longstanding friendship with Kingsbury, dating back to their days together at Texas Tech more than a decade ago.
"Maybe we'll like each other again and go on vacations together again someday," Holgorsen joked. "It's the hard thing about our profession. You develop so many good friendships when you are in the same conference and competing against each other makes it kind of tough.
"And it's not just him," Holgorsen added. "I pretty much know everybody on his staff, and I wish them well in every game they play but one, and this happens to be the one."
* The Mountaineers held steady in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll at No. 12, but they did advance in the coaches' poll from 13 to 12. Meanwhile, Texas Tech got into the AP poll at No. 25 this week, making this the first time both teams will be playing each other while nationally ranked.
Last year, the Red Raiders got into the rankings at No. 24 while West Virginia was unranked. Two years ago, WVU was ranked No. 20 and in 2013 16th-ranked Texas Tech defeated unranked West Virginia, 37-27, in Morgantown.
The first meeting between these two teams as Big 12 members, unranked Texas Tech stunned fifth-ranked West Virginia, 49-14, in Lubbock.
That defeat ignited a five-game tailspin for the Mountaineers that season.
* A noon kick time for West Virginia's Saturday, Oct. 6, game against Kansas at Milan Puskar Stadium was announced earlier today. The game will be televised nationally on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.
Texas Tech's defense has gotten infinitely better under David Gibbs since he took over four years ago, and last Saturday Gibbs' unit earned a big red star for shutting out 15th-ranked Oklahoma State in the second half to help Tech earn a rare blowout victory over the Cowboys in Stillwater.
After giving up 47 points to Ole Miss in the season opener and 49 points two weeks ago in a shootout victory against Houston, the Red Raiders performed much better on Saturday by limiting Oklahoma State to just 3 of 13 on third down and forcing a couple of turnovers.
What Texas Tech is putting on the field these days is not close to resembling the Red Raider defenses we have been accustomed to seeing since Kingsbury first took over in Lubbock.
"They're doing a heck of a job, and I've known David Gibbs and (co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach) Zac Spavital for a long time," Holgorsen said. "They're going into their fourth year at Texas Tech. I know from first-hand experience you don't fix a defense overnight."
Holgorsen says what Texas Tech has done defensively is a product of good, old-fashioned hard work.
"Those guys have worked their tails off, recruited better and have a philosophy and a scheme that they believe in and their players have bought into it and their players are playing hard," Holgorsen mentioned. "Their talent appears to be better. Their schemes are really good, and their guys are in positions to be able to make plays."
"(Gibbs) kind of blew it up and started over and kind of recruited towards his scheme and what he wanted it to be and what he envisioned it to look like and he's stuck by his guns," Kingsbury admitted. "It's a process where we hoped we could get better and better and keep competitive in the Big 12."
As he mentioned, Holgorsen went through something similar five years ago when he hired Tony Gibson to run his West Virginia defense.
Gibson, too, has stuck to his guns in recruiting players that best fit his defensive system.
Gibson's group did one of the best jobs anyone has done defending Texas Tech quarterback Patrick Mahomes back in 2016, a 48-17 Mountaineer victory. The Mountaineers sacked Mahomes four times and picked him off once that afternoon.
Considering what Mahomes has done so far with the Kansas City Chiefs, AFC West defensive coordinators might want to ahold of Gibson's cell phone number for some pointers.
Gibson was also successful in slowing down the Red Raiders three years ago in Morgantown, and last year, his guys made just enough plays to help the Mountaineers pull out a 46-35 shootout victory.
The Mountaineers currently rank second in the country by allowing up just 12.3 points per game, and they kept Kansas State on its side of the 50 in the first half and out of the end zone entirely during last Saturday's 35-6 victory.
It was the first time a West Virginia defense has done that since 2015.
"Coach Gibson has done a tremendous job of developing a culture there," Kingsbury said. "They are an aggressive defense. They play physical. They give you multiple looks, and they're playing at a high level.
"They've really gotten after people this year and nobody is scoring on them," Kingsbury added.
Briefly:
* West Virginia quarterback Will Grier was named the Big 12's offensive player of the week following his 356-yard, five-touchdown performance against Kansas State.
It's the second time Grier has won the weekly conference award during his two-year Mountaineer career.
* Saturday's game is going to showcase two quarterbacks at different ends of the spectrum – Heisman Trophy contender Grier, who is looking to finish out his senior season at WVU in spectacular fashion, and Texas Tech true freshman Alan Bowman, who is looking to establish himself as one of the top, young quarterbacks in the country.
So far, Bowman is performing far better than anyone expected.
He completed 35-of-46 passes for 397 yards and two touchdowns last Saturday against Oklahoma State and comes into Saturday's game ranked second in the country with 1,557 passing yards.
Bowman is completing 72 percent of his pass attempts and has an impressive 10-to-2 touchdown to interception ratio.
True freshman quarterbacks simply don't play like that.
"He's being coached by one of the best that's ever done it," Holgorsen explained. "The kid was a good player in high school, and if you get coached up by Kliff, you're going to be ready to go."
"He was a four-year starter at Grapevine High School, which is a big high school in our state," Kingsbury added. "I saw that he had some moxie. He's accustomed to playing in a similar-type spread offense. He's a quick learner and a hard worker so he had a lot of intangibles that you look for to play early."
However, it was McClane Carter who won the starting job coming out of fall camp before suffering a high ankle sprain in Texas Tech's season-opening loss to Ole Miss.
Bowman stepped in and passed for 273 yards against the Rebels and hasn't been on the sidelines since.
"I thought he played exceptionally well against Ole Miss even though I didn't have a great game plan for him because it was kind of built around McClane, Kingsbury said. "So we were kind of making it up as we went there, and he handled it well."
* Kingsbury on Monday admitted the return of senior safety Jah'Shawn Johnson last Saturday against Oklahoma State made a big difference in the Red Raider defense.
Johnson has been slowed by a nagging shoulder injury since preseason camp.
"He's a four-year starter, and he's one of the best players on our team," Kingsbury said. "Having him in the backend kind of calms that group and gets them lined up. We've given up a lot of big runs and big plays in the first three games, and he's a guy that can keep a 7-yard run from turning into a 40-yard run."
* Holgorsen was asked once again on Monday to talk about his longstanding friendship with Kingsbury, dating back to their days together at Texas Tech more than a decade ago.
"Maybe we'll like each other again and go on vacations together again someday," Holgorsen joked. "It's the hard thing about our profession. You develop so many good friendships when you are in the same conference and competing against each other makes it kind of tough.
"And it's not just him," Holgorsen added. "I pretty much know everybody on his staff, and I wish them well in every game they play but one, and this happens to be the one."
* The Mountaineers held steady in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll at No. 12, but they did advance in the coaches' poll from 13 to 12. Meanwhile, Texas Tech got into the AP poll at No. 25 this week, making this the first time both teams will be playing each other while nationally ranked.
Last year, the Red Raiders got into the rankings at No. 24 while West Virginia was unranked. Two years ago, WVU was ranked No. 20 and in 2013 16th-ranked Texas Tech defeated unranked West Virginia, 37-27, in Morgantown.
The first meeting between these two teams as Big 12 members, unranked Texas Tech stunned fifth-ranked West Virginia, 49-14, in Lubbock.
That defeat ignited a five-game tailspin for the Mountaineers that season.
* A noon kick time for West Virginia's Saturday, Oct. 6, game against Kansas at Milan Puskar Stadium was announced earlier today. The game will be televised nationally on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.
Players Mentioned
QB
/ 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
