MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — With one-third of the season elapsed, West Virginia sits at No. 23 in the AP poll, which is one spot removed from where the Mountaineers began the season.
Their resume features a white-knuckle loss to Virginia Tech followed by three comfortable wins against the puniest stretch of the schedule. So coach Dana Holgorsen isn’t certain what to make of West Virginia (3-1, 1-0) readies for Saturday’s clash at No. 8 TCU (4-0).
“People ask ‘What kind of team do you have?’ and I don’t know,” Holgorsen said Tuesday. “It seems like a year-and-a-half ago that we played Virginia Tech at this point. I’m anxious to get out there at TCU and find out. We’ll probably have a little better of an idea this weekend.”
The Mountaineers are 12.5-point underdogs at TCU, which has gone 78-19 at home under Gary Patterson.
Defense on the mend?
Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson is eager to see what outside linebacker David Long can give West Virginia in practice after missing two months with a knee injury. Bandit safety Toyous Avery (hand) is expected back after sitting out two games, while cornerback Mike Daniels and Spur safety Kyzir White are probable after leaving the Kansas win with injuries.
“People want to know who’s starting, but well, hell, whoever can dress and come out of the locker room Saturday is who we’re going to play with,” Gibson said. “We need to find 11 healthy ones to send out there.”
Crawford cheers on colleagues
Despite a relatively light workload, Justin Crawford leads the Big 12 in rushing at 112 yards per game. Instead of lobbying for more carries, Crawford has been enthused by the progress of backups Kennedy McKoy, Martell Petteway and Tevin Bush.
“You see them pulling for each other,” said running backs coach Tony Dews. “There was a game where Martell caught a ball and you look on the sideline and Justin’s the first one out — probably going to get us a penalty for being in the white. He had his helmet in the air running down the sideline cheering on Martell.”
Bye weekend approach
Given two days off for the bye weekend, some West Virginia players made quick trips home. Others, like linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton, became college football spectators and watched a slate of games.
“I was rooting for Virginia Tech,” Benton said. “I wanted them to knock Clemson off and make us look better.”
Senior guard Kyle Bosch said the high point of his weekend was having “a nice cigar and nice steak at this place in the Strip District in Pittsburgh.” He was more interested in recharging than fretting over the upcoming top-25 game at TCU.
“I’m sure (Matt) Jones and some of those younger kids were probably sitting in bed at night, staring at the ceiling and sweating, but I’ve been there, I’ve done that,” Bosch said.
The break precedes a stretch of eight consecutive conference games.
“Recovery isn’t just physical,” said defensive end Reese Donahue. “Sometimes you have to a mental refresher — call a family member or watch a movie.”
Receiver David Sills — among those jonesing to play TCU early — burned off some energy instead by playing golf with quarterback Will Grier. Don’t ask about the scorecards, however.
“We stopped keeping score,” he said. “It wasn’t our best round.”
Depth chart mishap
Monday’s unveiling of a fresh WVU depth chart included a curiosity at cornerback, with Elijah Battle listed as the starter over freshman Kenny Robinson. What one outlet prematurely labeled a “major change” amounted to a major misprint.
Robinson remains the starter. A sports information staffer owned up to the error.
“That must’ve been a mistake somewhere,” Gibson said. “It’s still Kenny and Mike Daniels starting at the corners.”
Cornerbacks coach Doug Belk grinned over the confusion, saying he wasn’t aware of any depth chart changes.
“I hadn’t heard anything about it until someone asked me today,” he said.