He said, We say: Iowa State

Dana Holgorsen spoke with the media as part of West Virginia's Football weekly press conference. In our 'He said, we say," piece we break down what Holgorsen said - quote by quote - to look for meaning.

WVSports.com takes a look at what was said and provides our input.

On Iowa State’s issues and improvement at offense last week

He said: They lost their coordinator, they’ve had some coaching stuff, they had the injury to their main player, their quarterback. Like I said, their running back is so good, and they rely on him so much. They give it to him a lot. You don’t have him, then you surge. We’ve been in that situation before. These guys have been good on offense. They know how to coach it up. I think it’s just a matter of continuity more than anything. I know Matt (Campbell) has kind of taken over the play calling, and he’s obviously as good of a coach as there is out there, so they’ll keep getting better with it. I think they’ve found a good, young quarterback that can make plays (Brock Purdy). He ran around, he can make guys miss. He was accurate when he was throwing the ball. It was a good offensive performance. Whether that’s going to be the same thing against us, or whether they go in a different direction with Kempt, I don’t know. We’ll be ready for whatever they throw at us.

We say: West Virginia had had the fortunate, or perhaps better said unfortunate task of being forced to prepare for multiple quarterbacks in almost every game this season. Brock Purdy is coming off a highly impressive performance where he accounted for over 400 yards and five touchdowns giving the Iowa State offense a shot in the arm with its most productive performance to date. Still, senior Kyle Kempt has been targeted for this game as his potential return for quite some time. It would be somewhat surprising if Campbell elected to mess with the positive momentum established last week with Purdy but you won't know for sure until the two teams take the field Saturday night at 7 p.m.

On Iowa State’s defense and tackles for losses

He said: They’re disruptive up front. The biggest difference in what they’re doing this year and what they did last year is their front is a lot better. It’s similar to our stuff, it really is. They’re playing good up front, and we’re playing good up front with those three. And they’re creating some stuff with that three, but then they bring second-level bodies from everywhere – corners, safeties, linebackers. And you don’t know where it’s coming from. So, you’ve got to do a good job of identifying it. We’ve got to do better up front. We’ve got to do better up front as far as identifying it. We’ve had too many sacks, tackles for loss, and disruptions in the backfield last week that we didn’t have in the previous four games. So, we’ve got our work cut out for us. Offensively, up front, to figure out where that stuff’s coming from, because they do a very nice job with it, as we do here on defense, as well.

We say: West Virginia struggled with identification up front as well as some of the things that Kansas did and that's going to be even more difficult against an Iowa State team that has been highly disruptive and has even been able to get pressure with three at times. If West Virginia wants to win moving forward it has to sure up not only issues in pass protection but with the interior offensive line when they elect to run the ball. This game will be a big test in both areas as Iowa State has thrived in those instances.

On redshirt sophomore linebacker Brendan Ferns and senior linebacker Quondarius Qualls returning

He said: We’re going to get them. I don’t make any of those decisions. If they’re practicing, I can assure you, they’d be playing. They’re not cleared, they’re not practicing. The closer we get to that six-month mark, the better we’ll all feel about it. It’s getting close. I think we’re about a month away.

We say: This gels with what I have been saying for quite some time now that if West Virginia gets those two linebackers back it isn't going to be until the stretch run at the earliest. Both sustained ACL injuries during the spring and those are typically six-eight month recovery times so that would put them back in November possibly during the four-game stretch to end the 2018 season prior to the championship and potential playoff games. Based on what I've heard, I don't expect to see Qualls until later than Ferns but when both does make it back it's some much needed depth that the linebacker group simply doesn't have right now.

On redshirt sophomore tight end/fullback Jovani Haskins getting more playing time

He said: He’s (in between) right now. He’s still young and still maturing, still growing, still filling out. (Redshirt senior tight end Trevon) Wesco is a dominating blocker. Jovani is far from that. He’s 40 pounds less. Wesco is turning into a guy who we want to throw the ball to a good bit, so you have to account for him as well. He hasn’t scored a touchdown yet, has he? We’ll get him on the touchdown train at some point. Jovani is more of a natural receiver, which has something to do with him being lighter, so he can run better. He has great ball skills. I like the one-two punch with those guys right now. I think probably in two years, the maturity of Jovani should get him to where he can block as good as Wesco, then we’ll use younger guys who can come in. It’s the natural progression of a tight end. You want them 270 so that they can block people, but when you’re 270 as a freshman, you probably can’t run and catch very well. I think it’s just the natural progression of that position, which makes that position hard to recruit. You can’t go recruit a guy and just plug them in year one, which has always been the problem. We can find running backs and receivers and plug them in there year one. (We) can’t do that at tight end. Having two young guys right now that we’re currently redshirting will help us mature those guys into what they need to be down the road.

We say: Haskins is a different type of tight end than Wesco at this stage of his career as the latter is a bigger bodied dominant blocker, while the former is more of a pass-catching threat. It's an interesting combination and one that already has accounted for 10 catches for 125 yards and a touchdown through five games, a pace that smashes last season's total of one catch for the position. West Virginia has proven that the tight end is going to become a real factor in this offense for both presentation and catching the football and has some exciting options already in the program as well that could become factors down the line.

On how critical it is to get running game on track against Iowa State

He said: Critical, without a doubt. We ran the ball against them last year. I don’t remember the number exactly, but I was happy with how we ran the ball against them last year. They give us favorable boxes, but they do a really nice job of filling gaps from second- and third-level defenders, which usually means that you can get five, but getting eight to 10 is hard. You have to be patient with that, and I thought that we did an outstanding job last year being patient with running the ball. Last week, we did the same thing. I thought we did a good job of running the ball until we got into the red zone and then we didn’t do a good job at that.

We say: This one goes without saying as running the football is especially key when you are given favorable boxes to do it into. The Mountaineers were able to move the ball on the ground against Iowa State last season with 207 yards and that will be the task again. The Mountaineers are going to have to do better in the red zone however, after rushing 12 times for 22 yards with six carries for negative yardage a week ago. With the disruption that Iowa State can cause that makes moving the chains essential and avoid losing yardage.

On different offensive schemes depending on who the running back is

He said: Not really. Those guys all practice the same. We don’t call plays differently based on who is in the game, we really don’t. Some guys get hot hands and you go with them. Some guys probably do a little better in maybe one specific area than the others, but not to where it’s so drastic to where we really change what we do based on who that guy is. A lot of times, (assistant coach – offensive coordinator/quarterbacks) Jake (Spavital) doesn’t know which one is in there because it can’t matter. We train all of them to do the same stuff.

We say: Outside of obvious short-yardage situations, this is exactly what you want to see from the running back position and what the Mountaineers have been recruiting toward for quite some time. These are versatile running backs that can be used everywhere.

On employing sophomore cornerback Derrek Pitts Jr. if redshirt senior safety Toyous Avery Jr. comes back this week

He said: He’s versatile, so we can do different things with him. We should get Toyous back, and he should practice today. He’s a good player for us. It gives us the ability to be able to play more than one person per spot. We need to get Derrek out there playing more, whether it’s a corner/safety rotation or just moving guys around, that’s a heck of a problem to have.

We say: Pitts has simply been too good when on the field to not keep him there. He's going to now split time with Avery, but it wouldn't surprise to see him fill in at cornerback as well. This goes back to what Tony Gibson has said all year the best 11 will see the field.

On junior wide receiver Marcus Simms’ next step in his progression

He said: Obviously, consistency and better production. He dropped a couple of balls and didn’t play very good last week – that’s nothing to panic about. He practiced really well last week. I would anticipate him practicing good this week, going out there and being ready to make a bunch of plays.

We say: Simms has been a true breakout star to date this season and had a stretch where he increased his career high in yardage three consecutive weeks. He had a let down against Kansas but his role isn't in question and he should continue to thrive moving forward.

On how he watches film now as a head coach and how he uses analysts

He said: Having the analysts helps the specific sides because they can give you the report before you have to sit there and watch 12 hours of video. That gets each side of the ball ahead to where they know what they have to look at, and they can just start getting into the weeds on the specifics of game planning. For one, I thought that was an odd question that guy asked. Odd and random. But I’ve changed a little bit. In the past, when I was a play caller, there was only so much time in the day as to when you have to sit there and you have to get into the weeds as fast as you can. Mondays were an absolute nightmare for me because you would have to watch a lot of the video to figure out what you’re going to focus on, then you have to get into the weeds with it. Now, you get into the weeds quicker as a coordinator, so that’s awesome. I don’t have to do a lot of that stuff. The assistants do a lot of that. I focus more on how the opponents’ specific games play out from an offense, special teams, defense. That sort of thing has allowed me to get a better feel for our opponent as far as the overall aspect of their team and how their games have unfolded. In the past, I did that when I could because I had to really focus on being in the weeds on offense.

We say: Coaching has changed a lot with the rise of the analysts and it has helped game planning and putting together packages to attack opposing teams. The days of reviewing hours of film in order to put together game plans are now done for you with the analysts but it allows you to focus on the specific items of game planning as opposed to broad looks.