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Holgorsen praises ‘most complete game’ so far

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s second consecutive Big 12 laugher brought more validation for this surprising season and a huge helping of revenge for what TCU inflicted during previous ones.

It just wasn’t the free-flowing offensive performance some might derive from the 34-10 final score.

Skyler Howard endured five sacks and the No. 12 Mountaineers (6-0, 3-0) overcame 10 negative-yardage plays overall while beating TCU.

“Just not a lot of open people to throw to,” coach Dana Holgorsen said of the Frogs’ pass rush. “These guys match routes as good as anybody in college football. They’re coached well and they know what’s happening.

“If we would’ve had to sit back there and throw the ball a whole bunch, I don’t know how good we would’ve been.”

Instead West Virginia ran the ball 48 times out of 71 snaps, becoming particularly ball-control oriented during the second half and going so far as to line up Rushel Shell in the I-formation. The senior produced 117 yards, his second consecutive Saturday in triple digits, a relief with Justin Crawford’s ankle injury holding him to just one carry.

“We were able to do it because we got a little bit of a lead,” Holgorsen said. “Our guys felt good about getting in a huddle and being in traditional sets and just running the ball. It was good enough to win.”

It paired nicely with two special-teams takeaways and another astonishing defensive effort by Tony Gibson’s unit.

“I thought it was our most complete game,” Holgorsen said. “Feels good to be 6-0.”

Battle targeting

Holgorsen instantly protested the second-quarter personal foul on cornerback Elijah Battle. After the replay booth upheld the targeting call, leading to WVU’s second ejection in as many weeks, the coach still didn’t sound convinced.

“You can probably slow-mo every single tackle and there’s probably some sort of contact with the head,” he said. “I get the rule and I support it … but there are things that happen so quick, it’s unavoidable.”

Battle’s fellow cornerback Rasul Douglas said the targeting foul was more unfortunate than malicious.

“I’m not a referee so their call is better than mine,” he said. “But I don’t think it was targeting. His helmet didn’t touch the guy.”

Patterson peeved by mistakes

After a 24-point margin became TCU’s worst loss in five years of Big 12 competition, coach Gary Patterson thought his team lacked a road presence.

Two weeks ago in a narrow escape at Kansas, the Frogs committed four turnovers and showed lethargic moments Patterson partially attributed to an empty stadium.

The atmosphere wasn’t the problem this time, nor when West Virginia packed some 61,780 fans into Milan Puskar Stadium,

“We’ve got to bring our own energy,” Patterson said. “As a program we’ve done it before and we’ve got to do it again.”

Unusual feeling for TCU

While close losses to Arkansas and Oklahoma left the Frogs feeling they were one play away, Saturday’s game in Morgantown turned noncompetitive in the second half.

“I’ve been here a long time,” defensive end Josh Carraway said. “There aren’t a lot of teams that have been able to whup up on TCU like that.”

 





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