Dana Holgorsen gave Steelers coach Mike Tomlin a tip of the visor when discussing West Virginia’s game-winning 2-point conversion attempt at Texas.
Over the course of the past four seasons, the Steelers have been more aggressive in attempting 2-point conversions than any other football team – particularly in the 2015 and ’16 seasons. Holgorsen mentioned that he has visited Tomlin to pick his brain about a variety of 2-point plays.
“The Steelers go for 2 a lot. We’ve taken some of that,” Holgorsen said during Monday’s Big 12 coaches teleconference. “We have 2-point play competitions a lot. That’s helped us. It’s a combination of scheming things and a gut feeling for how you’re doing at the goal line and what they’re doing at the goal line.”
Holgorsen’s decision to go for 2 and the win rather than play for overtime has been the talk of the college football world since it happened.
Even though Texas coach Tom Herman called two timeouts, including after a completion to David Sills that appeared to be the clincher, Holgorsen never changed his play, which provided quarterback Will Grier with four different options.
“I knew he was gonna call timeout. I thought about running a dummy play, but didn’t want to get caught if he didn’t pull the trigger,” Holgorsen said. “That specific play has a lot of options and our quarterback sees the field as good as anyone in the country. If you give No. 7 options, he’s going to make the right one the majority of the time.”
After fielding several questions about the conversion, Holgorsen made it clear he’s ready to move on.
“We got rid of this yesterday and have moved on to TCU,” he said. “That’s what the offseason is for — to take everything that happened and reflect on it.”
‘Horns down’ still a source of irritation
Holgorsen’s irritation for how Saturday’s game was officiated was still quite clear on Monday. He was particularly miffed with the two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties called against Sills and Grier – his two primary senior leaders on offense – for inverting the “Hook ‘Em Horns” hand sign.
“They’re incredibly tight on some of these things. It happened to us twice,” Holgorsen said. “I’m at a point where I don’t know what to tell them after a score. When you have that kind of emotion, to go for 2 and get it, I don’t know what to tell them.
“We got one earlier with a hand signal I’ve seen over two decades probably 20,000 times without a penalty. There’s some things that happened where I’m at a loss for words. I don’t know what to tell them. We’re in communication with the Big 12 office so I know what to tell them.”
Sills’ penalty was compounded by another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Yodny Cajuste on the extra point that pushed the Mountaineers back to their own 10-yard line for the kickoff.
“We’re not going to be kicking off at the 10 anymore,” Holgorsen said. “Because I’m tired off kicking off at the 10.”
Bye-bye Beaty
Kansas coach David Beaty, who was fired on Sunday, was surprisingly level-headed on Monday. Athletic director Jeff Long is allowing Beaty to coach out the rest of the season.
Motivation seems like it would be hard to come by for a lame duck, but Beaty’s such an optimist that he’s focused on the fact the 3-6 Jayhawks are still bowl eligible.
“It won’t be difficult at all, because we have such a wonderful group of men,” Beaty said. “I’m going to enjoy every minute of the next three weeks.”
Beaty is 6-39 in his four years at Kansas.
Snyder or Seinfeld?
If this does end up being the final year for Kansas State coach Bill Snyder, at least he’s got some promise on the comedy circuit.
When a reporter on the conference call noted that he hadn’t seen every play from K-State’s 14-13 loss at TCU, Snyder interjected before the sentence finished.
“Good,” cracked the 79-year-old coach.