MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia had not endured a scoreless first half since 2013, had not won a game involving a scoreless first half since 2005, had not beaten meddlesome Kansas State in four years of Big 12 membership.
Those streaks intersected and ended Saturday.
“It’s a heck of a feeling. Proud of the guys,” coach Dana Holgorsen said after a 17-16 victory pushed the Mountaineers to 4-0 and into the thick of the conference race.
On the heels of edging BYU 35-32, West Virginia remained in survival mode against the Wildcats, needing two fourth-quarter touchdowns and a missed field goal by the visitors.
“Probably the thing that I’ve figured out more than anything the last two weeks is it’s a group that likes each other, plays hard for each other and knows how to play together,” Holgorsen said. “That’ll win you a lot of games.”
Even though the drought versus K-State has been a pain in his backside, not to mention a threat to his future employment, Holgorsen denied taking special satisfaction.
“I haven’t obsessed over that,” he said. “I know you guys (media members) probably have, Shane probably has.”
Just then the coach glanced across at athletics director Shane Lyons, the boss who’s using 2016 to determine who heads the program through 2017 and beyond. The current evaluation shows WVU at 9-1 since last November, matching the best 10-game span of Holgorsen’s tenure.
“We’re in a good place right now. Recruiting’s going good,” he said. “We’ve had some guys here who are pretty fired up about being here.”
Watch Holgorsen’s complete postgame news conference above.