MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen doesn’t want players stewing over a loss to Oklahoma that eliminated the Mountaineers from Big 12 championship contention.
“Anybody got their dang dauber down, you need to regroup quickly,” he said. “We lost to a top-10 team, you know. That’s just what happened.”
After that high-stakes stumble against the Sooners comes an off-Broadway game at Iowa State (3-8, 2-6) on Saturday afternoon. West Virginia (8-2, 5-2) has won three of four against the Cyclones, whose rebuilding phase gained some buzz with last week’s 66-10 romp over Texas Tech.
“We’ve had a great year, and nobody can take that away from us,” Holgorsen said. “We’re 8-2. Need to move forward, need to continue to press forward, there’s a lot to play for.
Players dispute Sooners are ‘better team’
Quarterback Skyler Howard and linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton both wear No. 3 and they share the curious opinion that West Virginia is a better team than Oklahoma despite Saturday night’s 56-28 loss.
“Absolutely. (The Sooners) are a good team and when you make mistakes it’s hard to come back and win versus a good team,” Benton said. “But in my opinion, the better team did not come out with the victory.”
West Virginia committed four turnovers to Oklahoma’s one and trailed 41-7 before briefly making it a competitive game early in the fourth quarter.
“We made some horrible mistakes, but I think we were the better team Saturday,” Howard said. “I think we beat ourselves more than anything, and if you ask anybody in the locker room that, I think they’d probably agree.”
Crawford’s big night
Justin Crawford exploited huge creases during his 331-yard rushing performance against the Sooners, an astounding output after injuries to Kennedy McKoy and Rushel Shell.
“We were down to our last back and that was him,” said West Virginia offensive lineman Adam Pankey. “He fought through everything and we fought for him. He ended up with a great game and showed a lot of heart. That’s the kind of guys you want to block for.”
Along with earning Big 12 offensive player of the week honors, Crawford’s huge game eliminated the need to deploy true freshman Martell Pettaway.
“I came real close to pulling Martell Pettaway’s redshirt in the fourth quarter,” Holgorsen said. “Glad I didn’t do it.”
Football-only week
With no classes during the Thanksgiving week break, the Mountaineers are taking a football-first approach.
“None of that headache part about school, just football and enjoying your teammates,” said receivers coach Tyron Carrier.
Cornerbacks coach Blue Adams, who previously served on the Miami Dolphins’ staff, compared this week to the schedule of an NFL player: “All you’ve got to focus on is just ball and getting something to eat at Thanksgiving.”