Advertisement
football Edit

Musings from the Mountains: WVU Football Notebook

Holgorsen hopes the finish against Texas Tech will provide confidence moving ahead.
Holgorsen hopes the finish against Texas Tech will provide confidence moving ahead.

DISCUSS: Visit the Blue Lot to discuss West Virginia all year long

Momentum is a fickle mistress in college football, but you love her when she’s with you.

Often swinging from sideline to sideline, sometimes after a series or even a play, momentum is a massive part of the game and the team with it at the end often wins the game. The Mountaineers danced with lady momentum in the fourth quarter against Texas Tech as the game snow-balled in a perfect storm for the home-standing club.

Down 18-points in the third quarter, West Virginia overcame that deficit to pile up 29 unanswered and ended up winning the game by double-digits in a dominant fourth quarter effort. The Mountaineers scored a trio of touchdowns in that frame, while holding the Red Raiders to only 16 yards on defense.

“We caught breaks, expected good things to happen, executed very well, played with great effort and had a lot of confidence,” head coach Dana Holgorsen said.

But can that type of finish carry over? Does momentum extend into multiple weeks?

While the energy of the previous game obviously won’t, the confidence that a team can draw from that type of experience will surely resonate with them moving forward.

That is important if the Mountaineers find themselves in a similar situation.

“I would hope that would carry over. I think that’s going to give us confidence moving forward,” he said.

-------------------------------

Junior wide receiver David Sills was named a mid-season all-American by the Associated Press.

Catching a national leading 12 touchdowns will do that for you.

Also on the list was Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield as the first team quarterback selection, with Oklahoma State signal caller Mason Rudolph heading the second team. One name that wasn’t listed?

West Virginia quarterback Will Grier who is tied for the nation’s lead in touchdown passes with 21.

What does that say about the caliber of talent within the league? Quite a bit considering that the league boasts four ranked teams and several on the fringe. Also some of the nation’s best offenses to boot.

“I’d say there is pretty good quarterback play if the one that we have is not being mentioned,” Holgorsen said.

------------------------------

Redshirt freshman Dylan Tonkery started the first four games of the season for West Virginia while redshirt sophomore David Long was on the mend from a knee injury.

However, after the return of Long, Tonkery has not seen a single defensive snap in two games.

Part of that is because Long is too valuable to take off the field but because coordinator Tony Gibson didn’t know what he would get from him upon his return he was hesitant to move Tonkery elsewhere.

Now that Long has proven that he is back and healthy, the plan is to move Tonkery to SAM where he will be able to provide some snaps behind senior starter Xavier Preston.

“Get him in the mix a little more at SAM,” he said.

So that answers that.

Advertisement

SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest in Mountaineer sports and recruiting.

Advertisement