Post by elp525 on Oct 26, 2011 8:13:36 GMT -5
Wednesday October 26, 2011
by Mike Casazza
Charleston Daily Mail
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia has faced hardships in all seven of its football games this season, which Coach Dana Holgorsen said is impossible to avoid.
Holgorsen is most concerned with how the Mountaineers have handled the obstacles.
"I don't care who you are. Take the No. 1 team in the country. You're going to face
adversity," Holgorsen said. "Take LSU. We come back on them and cut it to one touchdown. What do they do? The very next play they return a kick for a touchdown. We got ourselves back in the game, but they were able to go forward. That's what good teams do."
No. 25 WVU looks for a better reaction Saturday.
The Mountaineers (5-2, 1-1 Big East) are coming off one of their worst performances in recent memory to visit Rutgers (5-2, 2-1), which does a lot of the things on defense that Syracuse did well in Friday's 49-26 win over WVU. The 3:30 p.m. game at High Point Solutions Stadium will be televised regionally on ABC.
"You're going to face adversity, but it's how you handle it on the sideline that matters," Holgorsen said.
"Take it a step further. Lose a game like we did last week and it's going to be about what happens over the course of this week to overcome it that fixes it."
The Mountaineers, who have won 17 straight against Rutgers, have been in tough spots every game. The reactions have varied.
WVU gave up a punt return touchdown to Marshall and trailed 7-3 after the first quarter of the season-opener. The Mountaineers weathered weather delays and won 34-13. WVU couldn't shake the Football Championship Subdivision's Norfolk State for the entire first half, but turned a 12-10 halftime deficit into a 55-12 win.
WVU jumped on Maryland on the road a week later and led 34-10 early in the second half. The lead was down to 34-31 when the Mountaineers had a long drive end with a field goal for a 37-31 lead. The Terrapins drove into WVU territory when since-benched quarterback Danny O'Brien threw an interception at the 13-yard line with 1:13 to play.
LSU took a 27-7 halftime lead, but WVU rallied to make it 27-21. The Tigers scored on a 100-yard kickoff return late in the third quarter and won 47-21. A week later, WVU trailed Bowling Green 10-3 in the first quarter in miserable weather and before a crowd of just 46,603. The final score was 55-10.
The Mountaineers then had their hands full with Connecticut. Down 10-9, the Huskies were in WVU territory in the third quarter, but a fumble return set up a WVU touchdown and the beginning of a runaway 43-16 win.
Syracuse led 14-3 in the first half last Friday night when Stedman Bailey scored on a 64-yard touchdown pass. WVU missed the extra point and then allowed a 98-yard kickoff return touchdown, but was at the Syracuse 10 late in the first half, down 21-9. Quarterback Geno Smith was intercepted at the goal line.
"The ball isn't always going to bounce your way," Holgorsen said. "You've got to be able to overcome that on the sidelines, which I think we've done a pretty good job of throughout the course of the season with the exception of last week.
"We had a turnover right before the half, which was extremely unfortunate, but we'll learn from it. We could have gotten points and gone in a touchdown down. Offensively we marched it right down the field and we were in position right there only down four. We're in the game. At that point right there, we gave up, which is discouraging."
WVU has allowed two game-changing kickoff return touchdowns in one-touchdown games this season. LSU outscored WVU 13-0 and Syracuse outscored WVU 28-14 after the scores.
"When itreally gets toug is when you line up and you get hit in the mouth," Holgorsen said. "What are you going to do? Last week we didn't do anything. This week, we need to step up and be the ones to hit people in the mouth."
Holgorsen hasn't seen enough of that. He reviewed the Syracuse game on film with his players and pointed out what went wrong on the field, as well as on the sideline. Holgorsen said the Orange players had more energy and effort once the game started to get away from the Mountaineers.
"Their body language was a lot better than ours," he said. "You can see it during the play. You can see it after the play. So, yeah, that was pointed out."
The Scarlet Knights seek a response, too.
They had a chance to be in sole possession of first place in the Big East with a win Friday at Louisville. The Cardinals won 16-14 when Rutgers quarterback Gary Nova threw his third interception with 1:41 remaining. Rutgers had 298 yards total offense, missed two field goals and came away with no scores on two of four red-zone possessions.
"Very disappointing result," RU Coach Greg Schiano said. "We didn't play very well and we came up on the short end. We had an opportunity - we had a lot of opportunities, actually - but we had an opportunity at the end of the game and we weren't able to move the ball down the field and kick a field goal.
"Now we have to bounce back. There's no time to lick our wounds here because we have a very, very good West Virginia team coming to town - I imagine a very angry West Virginia team."
by Mike Casazza
Charleston Daily Mail
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia has faced hardships in all seven of its football games this season, which Coach Dana Holgorsen said is impossible to avoid.
Holgorsen is most concerned with how the Mountaineers have handled the obstacles.
"I don't care who you are. Take the No. 1 team in the country. You're going to face
adversity," Holgorsen said. "Take LSU. We come back on them and cut it to one touchdown. What do they do? The very next play they return a kick for a touchdown. We got ourselves back in the game, but they were able to go forward. That's what good teams do."
No. 25 WVU looks for a better reaction Saturday.
The Mountaineers (5-2, 1-1 Big East) are coming off one of their worst performances in recent memory to visit Rutgers (5-2, 2-1), which does a lot of the things on defense that Syracuse did well in Friday's 49-26 win over WVU. The 3:30 p.m. game at High Point Solutions Stadium will be televised regionally on ABC.
"You're going to face adversity, but it's how you handle it on the sideline that matters," Holgorsen said.
"Take it a step further. Lose a game like we did last week and it's going to be about what happens over the course of this week to overcome it that fixes it."
The Mountaineers, who have won 17 straight against Rutgers, have been in tough spots every game. The reactions have varied.
WVU gave up a punt return touchdown to Marshall and trailed 7-3 after the first quarter of the season-opener. The Mountaineers weathered weather delays and won 34-13. WVU couldn't shake the Football Championship Subdivision's Norfolk State for the entire first half, but turned a 12-10 halftime deficit into a 55-12 win.
WVU jumped on Maryland on the road a week later and led 34-10 early in the second half. The lead was down to 34-31 when the Mountaineers had a long drive end with a field goal for a 37-31 lead. The Terrapins drove into WVU territory when since-benched quarterback Danny O'Brien threw an interception at the 13-yard line with 1:13 to play.
LSU took a 27-7 halftime lead, but WVU rallied to make it 27-21. The Tigers scored on a 100-yard kickoff return late in the third quarter and won 47-21. A week later, WVU trailed Bowling Green 10-3 in the first quarter in miserable weather and before a crowd of just 46,603. The final score was 55-10.
The Mountaineers then had their hands full with Connecticut. Down 10-9, the Huskies were in WVU territory in the third quarter, but a fumble return set up a WVU touchdown and the beginning of a runaway 43-16 win.
Syracuse led 14-3 in the first half last Friday night when Stedman Bailey scored on a 64-yard touchdown pass. WVU missed the extra point and then allowed a 98-yard kickoff return touchdown, but was at the Syracuse 10 late in the first half, down 21-9. Quarterback Geno Smith was intercepted at the goal line.
"The ball isn't always going to bounce your way," Holgorsen said. "You've got to be able to overcome that on the sidelines, which I think we've done a pretty good job of throughout the course of the season with the exception of last week.
"We had a turnover right before the half, which was extremely unfortunate, but we'll learn from it. We could have gotten points and gone in a touchdown down. Offensively we marched it right down the field and we were in position right there only down four. We're in the game. At that point right there, we gave up, which is discouraging."
WVU has allowed two game-changing kickoff return touchdowns in one-touchdown games this season. LSU outscored WVU 13-0 and Syracuse outscored WVU 28-14 after the scores.
"When itreally gets toug is when you line up and you get hit in the mouth," Holgorsen said. "What are you going to do? Last week we didn't do anything. This week, we need to step up and be the ones to hit people in the mouth."
Holgorsen hasn't seen enough of that. He reviewed the Syracuse game on film with his players and pointed out what went wrong on the field, as well as on the sideline. Holgorsen said the Orange players had more energy and effort once the game started to get away from the Mountaineers.
"Their body language was a lot better than ours," he said. "You can see it during the play. You can see it after the play. So, yeah, that was pointed out."
The Scarlet Knights seek a response, too.
They had a chance to be in sole possession of first place in the Big East with a win Friday at Louisville. The Cardinals won 16-14 when Rutgers quarterback Gary Nova threw his third interception with 1:41 remaining. Rutgers had 298 yards total offense, missed two field goals and came away with no scores on two of four red-zone possessions.
"Very disappointing result," RU Coach Greg Schiano said. "We didn't play very well and we came up on the short end. We had an opportunity - we had a lot of opportunities, actually - but we had an opportunity at the end of the game and we weren't able to move the ball down the field and kick a field goal.
"Now we have to bounce back. There's no time to lick our wounds here because we have a very, very good West Virginia team coming to town - I imagine a very angry West Virginia team."
