Post by elp525 on Sept 30, 2011 4:20:00 GMT -5
September 29, 2011
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN -- So far during West Virginia's football season that's one-third complete, the Mountaineers have had little problem in the area of motivation.
OK, yes, so there was that whole Norfolk State thing. Then again, the Spartans were -- despite that ugly first half -- never a threat to West Virginia, so motivation was never really an issue. It was merely a matter of time.
Think about the rest, though. The opener brought Marshall, a team with an entire offseason to prepare, its own incentive and bolstered by a near upset a year earlier in Huntington. If for no reasons other than those -- and the fact that it was the first game of the season -- West Virginia had to be ready.
There was Maryland. It was the first road game and the first against a BCS automatic qualifier school.
And, of course, there was LSU. The SEC. A No. 2 national ranking. ESPN's College GameDay. Sellout crowd and a night game on ABC.
Now there's some motivation to play well.
And now comes Bowling Green -- a week after a crushing disappointment against LSU and a week before Big East play begins against Connecticut.
Can you say Trap Game?
Dana Holgorsen can't. He refuses to do so. And it all goes back to his season-long mantra -- no game is bigger than the next game.
"We've said it from Week 1 to Week 2 and from Week 3 to Week 4,'' the West Virginia coach said. "You have to get over the game you just played, regardless if you win or lose or if you played good or played bad. It doesn't matter. You get to work on Sunday and get over it."
That's often times easier said than done, of course.
The practice part is controllable. Holgorsen and his staff make sure of that. Tuesdays and Wednesdays -- the hardest practice days of the week -- are just as intense if the opponent is the best team in the country or the worst. Thursdays are all the same and so are Fridays.
And the atmosphere, both during the week and on game day? Well, that can't matter.
"You have to get through the regular week of practice and make sure we're ready to play on Saturday,'' Holgorsen said. "It doesn't matter if it's an atmosphere like last week or an atmosphere like we had earlier in the season.
"Our job as coaches is to make sure that they're ready to play. We'll make sure that they know who they're facing, what their schemes are and what to do to attack them.''
It helps, of course, that Bowling Green has not rolled over and died like the Falcons essentially did during their 2010 season.
How bad was Bowling Green's offense a year ago? The Falcons finished dead last in the country in rushing, No. 115 (out of 120 teams) in total offense and No. 100 in scoring.
So the Falcons made up for that lack of offense with a decent defense, right? Wrong. They were No. 112 in rushing defense, No. 102 in total defense and No. 100 in scoring defense.
In fact, of the 17 major statistics the NCAA lists on its team pages, Bowling Green ranked No. 100 or worse in 10 of them and was among the Top 50 in just one -- punt returns. Of course, given that few teams were ever forced to punt, how much does that really matter?
This is not 2010's Bowling Green, though. The Falcons are 3-1 and are among the top 25 in the country in total offense and total defense. They might be unbeaten were it not for a blocked extra point at the end of a 28-27 loss to Wyoming.
"You look back at their past 10 years and they've got some impressive wins over BCS schools,'' Holgorsen said. "Looking back at the bowl games they've been to, you see they're a good, quality program. We've got to be ready to go.''
Even if it is a game between bigger games and the one after West Virginia's first loss.
None of that can matter.
"The one thing I've said to them going into this game is that we have to overcome adversity together, and I feel like we're doing that,'' Holgorsen said. "There was adversity in all of our first three games, which we overcame together ... I anticipate that they'll be back.''
By Dave Hickman
The Charleston Gazette
MORGANTOWN -- So far during West Virginia's football season that's one-third complete, the Mountaineers have had little problem in the area of motivation.
OK, yes, so there was that whole Norfolk State thing. Then again, the Spartans were -- despite that ugly first half -- never a threat to West Virginia, so motivation was never really an issue. It was merely a matter of time.
Think about the rest, though. The opener brought Marshall, a team with an entire offseason to prepare, its own incentive and bolstered by a near upset a year earlier in Huntington. If for no reasons other than those -- and the fact that it was the first game of the season -- West Virginia had to be ready.
There was Maryland. It was the first road game and the first against a BCS automatic qualifier school.
And, of course, there was LSU. The SEC. A No. 2 national ranking. ESPN's College GameDay. Sellout crowd and a night game on ABC.
Now there's some motivation to play well.
And now comes Bowling Green -- a week after a crushing disappointment against LSU and a week before Big East play begins against Connecticut.
Can you say Trap Game?
Dana Holgorsen can't. He refuses to do so. And it all goes back to his season-long mantra -- no game is bigger than the next game.
"We've said it from Week 1 to Week 2 and from Week 3 to Week 4,'' the West Virginia coach said. "You have to get over the game you just played, regardless if you win or lose or if you played good or played bad. It doesn't matter. You get to work on Sunday and get over it."
That's often times easier said than done, of course.
The practice part is controllable. Holgorsen and his staff make sure of that. Tuesdays and Wednesdays -- the hardest practice days of the week -- are just as intense if the opponent is the best team in the country or the worst. Thursdays are all the same and so are Fridays.
And the atmosphere, both during the week and on game day? Well, that can't matter.
"You have to get through the regular week of practice and make sure we're ready to play on Saturday,'' Holgorsen said. "It doesn't matter if it's an atmosphere like last week or an atmosphere like we had earlier in the season.
"Our job as coaches is to make sure that they're ready to play. We'll make sure that they know who they're facing, what their schemes are and what to do to attack them.''
It helps, of course, that Bowling Green has not rolled over and died like the Falcons essentially did during their 2010 season.
How bad was Bowling Green's offense a year ago? The Falcons finished dead last in the country in rushing, No. 115 (out of 120 teams) in total offense and No. 100 in scoring.
So the Falcons made up for that lack of offense with a decent defense, right? Wrong. They were No. 112 in rushing defense, No. 102 in total defense and No. 100 in scoring defense.
In fact, of the 17 major statistics the NCAA lists on its team pages, Bowling Green ranked No. 100 or worse in 10 of them and was among the Top 50 in just one -- punt returns. Of course, given that few teams were ever forced to punt, how much does that really matter?
This is not 2010's Bowling Green, though. The Falcons are 3-1 and are among the top 25 in the country in total offense and total defense. They might be unbeaten were it not for a blocked extra point at the end of a 28-27 loss to Wyoming.
"You look back at their past 10 years and they've got some impressive wins over BCS schools,'' Holgorsen said. "Looking back at the bowl games they've been to, you see they're a good, quality program. We've got to be ready to go.''
Even if it is a game between bigger games and the one after West Virginia's first loss.
None of that can matter.
"The one thing I've said to them going into this game is that we have to overcome adversity together, and I feel like we're doing that,'' Holgorsen said. "There was adversity in all of our first three games, which we overcame together ... I anticipate that they'll be back.''
