Cougars an intriguing match up for several reasons

West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen understands that with Big 12 Conference expansion looming the matchup with BYU this weekend has some extra intrigue than it did when it was scheduled.

“I certainly think it does for BYU,” he said.

Although the matchup was scheduled years before West Virginia and the Big 12 Conference was even a thought, the battle between the Mountaineers and Cougars is one that is a high-profile matchup. The Cougars are currently 1-2 but have played three Pac 12 teams defeating Arizona and losing close contests with Utah and UCLA.

For West Virginia the key will be to adjust to playing away from home at Fed-Ex Field, while being able to handle the physicality that the Cougars bring to the table.

“They are a physical outfit so we need to be physical as well,” he said.

When it comes to the topic of Big 12 expansion as a whole, Holgorsen reiterated that he is in support of the league moving to 12 teams and implementing a championship game but deferred any specific schools he would like to see added to the conference to the presidents and commissioner.

Holgorsen has been a well-documented fan of neutral site games during his tenure and expects that West Virginia will bring a strong crowd to Washington, D.C. this weekend.

West Virginia is one of two undefeated teams in the Big 12 along with Baylor and Holgorsen believes that is a product of the conference upgrading its non-conference slate, still it’s too early to make any snap judgements. But the head coach did say he considers the league “wide open.”

“A lot of Big 12 teams have been doing a great job of scheduling high-profile non-conference games,” Holgorsen said.

NOTES:

--It will be key for West Virginia to not only make plays down the field in the passing game but take advantage of plays at the intermediate level as well. Holgorsen said that sophomore Jovon Durante is the fourth wide receiver on the team but has to stop trying too hard. However, he brings an element at the inside wide receiver position that the Mountaineers haven’t had.

-Holgorsen has been impressed with the overall success of the run game crediting redshirt senior Rushel Shell for his performance in the last game against Youngstown State as well as his offensive linen and senior quarterback Skyler Howard for putting the offense in the right play. Holgorsen said junior Justin Crawford will have opportunities to make a difference in what the offense will do and in the last game he was pressing at times, something that didn’t occur against Missouri.

--Holgorsen said that he spent time in practice Sunday night going over running through the end zone with both hands on the ball and then handing it to an official. That drill was specifically designed to help avoid some of the issues teams have had with players dropping the ball before crossing the goal line.