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Holgorsen Calls OSU the Mountaineers’ ‘Biggest Test Defensively Yet This Year’

Dana talks OSU’s inconsistency, Corn Dog and not taking the Pokes lightly.

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[USATSI]

The country roads might take Dana Holgorsen home, but they don’t take him to the answer as to why Oklahoma State’s season has been so inconsistent.

The Cowboys have beaten a Top 10 team this season and lost by only an extra point to another, but have also fallen to Baylor and Kansas State. Holgorsen, West Virginia’s coach, has some ideas as to why OSU’s year has been so up and down, but he said he isn’t so sure.

“I can’t figure it out,” Holgorsen said. “They beat Texas. Boise is a good football team, and they beat them by over three touchdowns. They were a completion away from beating Oklahoma. Those are all really good teams. Then, they struggle against some other teams.

“The only thing I can pinpoint is its continuity; they’ve had a couple of staff changes or lost some key seniors. I don’t know, I’m not in the walls. It’s college football. There’s parity in college football. All of these teams are good.”

Holgorsen, who was OSU’s offensive coordinator in 2010, went on to say “parity,” a word OSU coach Mike Gundy says a few times a week, a few more times. The Mountaineers have fallen victim the the Big 12’s parity when they fell to Iowa State, 30-14 on Oct. 13. Apart from that, though, West Virginia has won its other six Big 12 games a combined 262-127.

Holgorsen is 2-4 against OSU since going to West Virginia. The Mountaineers haven’t beaten OSU since 2014.

Holgorsen spoke highly of Oklahoma State quarterback Taylor Cornelius at his news conference Tuesday. With at least two games left, Cornelius is 1,154 passing yards behind what Brandon Weeden threw under Holgorsen in 2010.

“Their quarterback, Cornelius, is getting better every week,” Holgorsen said. “He’s been there forever, so he’s been in that quarterback room for the last five years and knows what they want, knows what Coach Gundy wants, knows what Coach (Mike) Yurich wants. He just needed playing experience, which now going into the 11th game of the year, he has plenty of playing experience. His production is extremely good, and their offense is extremely good.”

Holgorsen called Saturday’s game against OSU his defense’s biggest test yet this season with how many weapons the Cowboys have.

When the Mountaineers are on offense, Holgorsen talked a lot about the Cowboys’ Big 12-leading 36 sacks (tied for third in the country) and OSU’s 77 tackles for loss, which is second in the Big 12 behind West Virginia and tied 13th in the country.

“I don’t know how else to explain it — they create chaos with how they line up, and then they have the athletic, freakish bodies that can come off the ball and defeat blocks and get to the quarterback,” Holgorsen said. “(Calvin) Bundage and (Jordan Brailford), they’re long, and they’re athletic, and they’re explosive, and they’re fast, and they do a good job of coming off the ball and coming up field. They mix fronts and you just don’t know what they’re going to be in, which has caused people a lot of problems.”

West Virginia has a lot to play for. If the Mountaineers win out, they get in the Big 12 championship game with a shot at the College Football Playoff. After already being tripped up once this season and seeing what OSU is capable of, Holgorsen said his team can’t afford to take the Cowboys lightly.

“It’s college football, you better be ready to go,” Holgorsen said. “We won’t look past this group, I can assure you that. I don’t care what their record is.”

 

 

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