Post by elp525 on Oct 8, 2011 8:51:11 GMT -5
10/07/2011
Garrett Cullen
Morgantown
No. 16 West Virginia (4-1) opens up Big East play on Saturday from Milan Puskar Stadium against visiting Connecticut (2-3).
“We’re excited to start Big East football,” said Mountaineer head coach Dana Holgorsen. “This is season No. 2. The first season is over, which was nonconference. We move on to Big East football and a good UConn team comes in here.”
It’s a Connecticut team that’s lost three games, but by a total of 14 points. The Huskies turned the ball over a combined seven times in close losses to both Vanderbilt and Iowa State. They then couldn’t defend the pass last week in a 38-31 loss to Western Michigan.
“You look at UConn and take their record out of it,” Holgorsen said. “They’ve lost to three pretty good opponents. Vanderbilt is 3-1, Iowa State is 3-1 and Western Michigan is (3-2).They were close to winning all three of those games, so they could very easily be 5-0.”
Connecticut enters Saturday ranked eighth in the country in rush defense, giving up just over 75 yards per game on the ground. Against Western Michigan, the Huskies surrendered only 11 yards on the ground on 22 attempts. And most of that comes from the big guys up front.
“They’re physical. They’re big. Their defensive front is big, and they try
to outnumber and suffocate you,” Holgorsen said. “They’re good against the run because they’re physical and they try to outnumber you.
“Schematically, they do things to try to create problems, and they do a good job of it,” he continued. “They get eight negative plays a game and about three sacks a game. It will be another challenge for our offensive line.”
Pass defense, however, has been another story for Connecticut – the Huskies rank 83rd in the nation defending the pass. Against Western Michigan, UConn was simply bad, giving up 479 yards through the air. The Broncos had three different players with over 100 yards receiving in the contest – Western Michigan runs an up-tempo offense at a pace similar to what West Virginia tries to do as well.
“We need to have our receivers make plays,” Holgorsen said. “Western Michigan had guys make plays in space and recover, so I give them credit.”
Meanwhile, last year on the road, West Virginia gift-wrapped and hand-delivered four turnovers against the Huskies as Connecticut picked up its first ever win over the Mountaineers 16-13 in overtime. That game was ultimately the difference in UConn becoming the league’s BCS representative.
“They’ve got a whole bunch of people coming back that were in that game and were able to go on to a BCS game,” Holgorsen said. “Our guys wanted that to happen to them last year and it didn’t, so I think that’s going to provide a little motivation for us to get in a good week of work.”
Offensively, the Huskies are led by quarterback Johnny McEntee who won out the starting job in what was a three-quarterback race early in the year. The junior has completed 65 passes for 913 yards and six touchdowns – he also has four picks on the year as well.
“Guys that are inexperienced get out there and play, and nine times out of 10, they tend to get better,” Holgorsen said. “It’s a new system for him, which probably held him back a little bit. The fact that he’s getting to play a lot of football is why he’s showing improvement.”
On the ground, freshman Lyle McCombs has received the bulk of the carries – he has 502 yards and four touchdowns on 123 attempts this year.
The Huskies are in their first year under head coach Paul Pasqualoni who’s rather familiar with playing in Morgantown himself from his days at Syracuse. Overall, he owns an 8-6 record against West Virginia.
That win a year ago for Connecticut, meanwhile, is their lone win in the brief series that goes back only to 2004. Overall, West Virginia leads 6-1. The two teams last met in Morgantown back in 2009, a 28-24 Mountaineer victory. Overall though, West Virginia’s six wins in the series are by an average of 23.5 points per game.
Kickoff on Saturday is set for noon.
Garrett Cullen
Morgantown
No. 16 West Virginia (4-1) opens up Big East play on Saturday from Milan Puskar Stadium against visiting Connecticut (2-3).
“We’re excited to start Big East football,” said Mountaineer head coach Dana Holgorsen. “This is season No. 2. The first season is over, which was nonconference. We move on to Big East football and a good UConn team comes in here.”
It’s a Connecticut team that’s lost three games, but by a total of 14 points. The Huskies turned the ball over a combined seven times in close losses to both Vanderbilt and Iowa State. They then couldn’t defend the pass last week in a 38-31 loss to Western Michigan.
“You look at UConn and take their record out of it,” Holgorsen said. “They’ve lost to three pretty good opponents. Vanderbilt is 3-1, Iowa State is 3-1 and Western Michigan is (3-2).They were close to winning all three of those games, so they could very easily be 5-0.”
Connecticut enters Saturday ranked eighth in the country in rush defense, giving up just over 75 yards per game on the ground. Against Western Michigan, the Huskies surrendered only 11 yards on the ground on 22 attempts. And most of that comes from the big guys up front.
“They’re physical. They’re big. Their defensive front is big, and they try
to outnumber and suffocate you,” Holgorsen said. “They’re good against the run because they’re physical and they try to outnumber you.
“Schematically, they do things to try to create problems, and they do a good job of it,” he continued. “They get eight negative plays a game and about three sacks a game. It will be another challenge for our offensive line.”
Pass defense, however, has been another story for Connecticut – the Huskies rank 83rd in the nation defending the pass. Against Western Michigan, UConn was simply bad, giving up 479 yards through the air. The Broncos had three different players with over 100 yards receiving in the contest – Western Michigan runs an up-tempo offense at a pace similar to what West Virginia tries to do as well.
“We need to have our receivers make plays,” Holgorsen said. “Western Michigan had guys make plays in space and recover, so I give them credit.”
Meanwhile, last year on the road, West Virginia gift-wrapped and hand-delivered four turnovers against the Huskies as Connecticut picked up its first ever win over the Mountaineers 16-13 in overtime. That game was ultimately the difference in UConn becoming the league’s BCS representative.
“They’ve got a whole bunch of people coming back that were in that game and were able to go on to a BCS game,” Holgorsen said. “Our guys wanted that to happen to them last year and it didn’t, so I think that’s going to provide a little motivation for us to get in a good week of work.”
Offensively, the Huskies are led by quarterback Johnny McEntee who won out the starting job in what was a three-quarterback race early in the year. The junior has completed 65 passes for 913 yards and six touchdowns – he also has four picks on the year as well.
“Guys that are inexperienced get out there and play, and nine times out of 10, they tend to get better,” Holgorsen said. “It’s a new system for him, which probably held him back a little bit. The fact that he’s getting to play a lot of football is why he’s showing improvement.”
On the ground, freshman Lyle McCombs has received the bulk of the carries – he has 502 yards and four touchdowns on 123 attempts this year.
The Huskies are in their first year under head coach Paul Pasqualoni who’s rather familiar with playing in Morgantown himself from his days at Syracuse. Overall, he owns an 8-6 record against West Virginia.
That win a year ago for Connecticut, meanwhile, is their lone win in the brief series that goes back only to 2004. Overall, West Virginia leads 6-1. The two teams last met in Morgantown back in 2009, a 28-24 Mountaineer victory. Overall though, West Virginia’s six wins in the series are by an average of 23.5 points per game.
Kickoff on Saturday is set for noon.
