MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — For West Virginia senior Xavier Preston, the hype surrounding Saturday’s top-25 showdown against Oklahoma State didn’t wait for the weekend.
The linebacker got his first taste of the buzz Tuesday on his way to the stadium for media interviews.
“I just Ubered here and the guy was asking how much we are going to beat them by,” Preston said. “So people are excited. We were talking about it on the way here.”
Preston’s sack of Baylor’s Charlie Brewer on a two-point play salvaged a 38-36 victory for the No. 22 Mountaineers (5-2, 2-1 Big 12). They are six-point underdogs this week’s sold-out game against No. 11 Oklahoma State (6-1 3-1).
Saturday’s matchup kicks off at noon on ABC, with the winner retaining leverage to reach the Big 12 championship game. The loser, while not mathematically eliminated, will need help over the regular season’s final month.
Cowboys cooking in offensive rankings
Despite a sluggish 13-10 overtime win at Texas last week, Oklahoma State retained the top spot in the NCAA total offense rankings at 584 yards per game. Thanks to Mason Rudolph, the Pokes also are tops in passing (382 per game), third in scoring (43.7) and No. 9 in third-down conversion success (49 percent).
“I’m not going to give them too much credit, but those guys, they have put on a good season,” Preston said. “They will give us a challenge.”
For West Virginia’s 111th-ranked defense, the matchup looks perilous.
“It’s motivation honestly,” Preston said. “Going against the best, why not get up for it and go play your best game? Anything like that excites us as a defense and as a team. We are excited to play those guys.”
Holgorsen: Best Cowboys attack yet
Dana Holgorsen essentially earned the head coaching job at West Virginia thanks to his outstanding season as Oklahoma State’s offensive coordinator in 2010. That year the Cowboys finished No. 2 nationally in passing offense and No. 3 in total offense and scoring.
He said the 2017 version — headlined by Rudolph, receiver James Washington and running back Justice Hill — looks like OSU’s best offense yet.
“They’re as good as you’re going to see,” Holgorsen said. “I’ve been a part of some good offenses and this one is as good as what I’ve seen.
“They’ve had some pretty good ones. They’ve had some good quarterbacks, they’ve had awesome running backs. Statistically, it’s probably as good as it has been. They’re 50-50 run-pass and they can throw it to any of these six receivers that they trot out there.”
More carries for backup RBs?
Hindered by an undisclosed injury, West Virginia’s Justin Crawford gained only 30 yards on 10 carries at Baylor. Holgorsen and offensive coordinator Jake Spavital regretted not giving more carries to backup Kennedy McKoy, who gained 55 yards on seven attempts.
“It looked a lot different handing the ball to him than it did to (Crawford),” Holgorsen said. “Going back studying the video, I wish we would have handed it to (McKoy) more.”
After opening the season with five 100-yard games and averaging 7 yards per carry, Crawford has netted only 3.2 the past two weeks. Amid game-planning for Oklahoma State, Crawford’s workload will consist of “whatever he can handle,” said Holgorsen, pointing out the preseason All-Big 12 running back needs to get healthy.
“It’s called a training room,” the coach said. “Get a lot of treatment, get healthy and practice hard and get back out there and play. That’s what I expect him to do.”
Belk plays only two corners
The Baylor game marked the first time this season that West Virginia never subbed out its starting cornerbacks.
Seniors Mike Daniels and Elijah Battle played all 82 defensive snaps, while freshman Kenny Robinson — a three-time starter against Delaware State, Kansas and TCU — was held out with an injured ankle.
Baylor threw for 370 yards and the Daniels-Battles combo was flagged for three pass interference flags. Daniels also registered two breakups.
“A lot of good, bad and ugly last week, but we have to learn to finish the games,” said cornerbacks coach Doug Belk. “Start fast, finish fast. Don’t get complacent, don’t get comfortable.”
McDougle breaks a sweat
When a reporter’s equated freshman Lamonte McDougle’s improvement to the monstrous production of linebacker Al-Rasheed Benton this season, it didn’t fly with Holgorsen.
“I’m not willing to say that about Lamonte at this point, not nearly anywhere close in the same sentence as Al Benton, but he’s improving,” he said.
“It’s funny, though, you can use this in the same sentence: Benton and Lamonte McDougle sweat more than anybody on our team. They sweat. It’s because they play hard. Guys tend to sweat when they play hard.”