Posts Tagged ‘dana holgorsen’

After yet another wild Saturday of college football, which coaches stood above the rest and gave their teams the biggest advantage? Find out in our Week 12 FootballScoop Coaches of the Week.

Head Coach of the Week - Art Bries, Baylor: In his fifth season in Waco, Art Briles continues to transform the DNA of Baylor football. Briles' team earned its first victory over a No. 1-ranked team, and first sub-.500 team to beat a BCS No. 1, and did so by 28 points. Baylor controlled the game for all 60 minutes, scoring first, constructing a 28-7 lead and, when Kansas State pulled within 35-24, ripping off 21 straight points to put the game out of reach. Kansas State, which had imposed its will physically on 10 straight opponents, was dominated at the line of scrimmage as Baylor out-rushed the Wildcats 342-76. Phil Bennett's defense also forced Heisman Trophy front-runner Collin Klein off his game as he threw for 286 yards and two touchdowns, but needed 50 passes (and 23 incompletions) to get there, with a season-high three interceptions. 

Offensive Staff of the Week - Michigan: The Wolverines didn't do anything spectacular in their 42-17 win over Iowa, but this award honors their methodical demolition of the Hawkeyes defense. The Wolverines' first six drives of the game went as follows: 12 plays, 70 yards, touchdown; seven plays, 79 yards, touchdown; eight plays, 85 yards, touchdown; seven plays, 87 yards, touchdown; 11 plays, 81 yards, touchdown; and six plays, 60 yards, touchdown. That's 452 yards on 51 plays (8.86 yards per play) of unrelenting execution from Al Borges' offense. Junior quarterback Devin Gardner got the start and completed 18-of-23 passes for 314 yards with three touchdowns and an interception while rushing nine times for 37 yards and three more scores. With regular starting quarterback Denard Robinson nursing a wrist injury, Michigan utilized him at running back (13 carries for a team-leading 98 yards) and wide receiver (two catches for 24 yards). 

Defensive Staff of the Week - Stanford: Not since Chip Kelly's first game had Oregon been held to 14 points or less, a span of 50 games. In fact, the Ducks came in to Saturday night riding an NCAA-record streaks of 13 straight games of 40 points or more and 23 straight games of 30 points or more, but none of that mattered in Stanford 17-14 overtime win in Eugene. Over four quarters plus overtime, Stanford held Oregon under its 2012 first quarter scoring average. Derek Mason's defense forced Oregon to punt eight times, matching a season high and held the Ducks to a season-low 405 yards of total offense. Stanford committed three turnovers, but the Cardinal's defense limited Oregon to no points off those takeaways. 

Special Teams Unit of the Week - LSU: Trailing 35-28 in the fourth quarter, a sputtering LSU offense faced a long field ahead of it until Odell Beckham returned an Ole Miss punt 89 yards for a game-tying touchdown. "Everyone had their block, everyone had their man and everyone covered their assignments," Beckham said following the return. Beckham's score completely swung momentum of the game as LSU would eventually win the game, 41-35. Drew Alleman nailed two-of-three field goal attempts and, despite another Les Miles coming up empty on another gamble, made all three of the extra points he actually attempted. Brad Wing boomed five punts for a 44.8-yard average with three pinned inside the 20, and the special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey's coverage units did not allow Ole Miss any significant returns. 

Call of the Week - Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia: It may not have resulted in a win, but Oklahoma had no answer for Holgorsen's decision to play wide receiver Tavon Austin at running back. Austin, who had carried the ball 14 times for 103 yards thus far this season, rushed 21 times for a school-record 344 yards and two touchdowns. Coupled with his four receptions for 82 yards and his eight kickoff returns for 146 yards, Austin's 572 all-purpose yards were school and Big 12 records and came just six yards shy of tying the NCAA record. 

After dropping their last four straight games after a 5-0 start, Dana Holgorsen talked to the media yesterday about their struggles on the defensive side of the ball.

The Mountaineer defense ranks 110th or worse in pass efficiency defense (119th), total defense (110th), scoring defense (117th), and pass defense (120th). The Mountaineers have allowed at least 34 points in seven of their nine games this season.

"You gotta be there 100% of the time if you want to play good defense, it's got to be all the time. You can't say we played good defense with the exception of seven or eight snaps...which they scored on."

"We're having a hard time getting through to our guys, which is coaching, that we have to play like that all the time. That's the challenge." Holgorsen explained.

This weekend they'll have their work cut out for them as they take on an Oklahoma offense that ranks in the top 16 nationally in passing offense (15th ), total offense (16th), and scoring offense (13th).

Oliver Luck hired Dana Holgorsen to be coach in waiting at West Virignia on December 22, 2010...and we all know the rest. By all accounts this has been a home run hire for Oliver Luck...but was if it wasn't...

Did you know that a week before hiring Holgorsen, Oliver Luck offered the same "coach in waiting" position to Mike Haywood? Haywood was just completing a highly successful second season as head coach at Miami (Ohio) when Luck called and offered him the future reigns of the West Virginia football team. 

As luck would have it (yeah, I did that), Pitt called Haywood within minutes of Luck's call and Haywood chose the Pitt job. 

So (work with me on this one), if Haywood had accepted Luck's offer and hence Dana not left Oklahoma State after the 2010 season and remained offensive coordinator for the 2011 season with Weeden and Blackmon (and others) we have to assume several programs would have rolled out the red carpet for him after the 2011 season. Perhaps he would have gotten the nod at Southern Miss to replace Larry Fedora (another highly successful offensive coordinator coming from Oklahoma State). Anyone think the Southern Miss fan base wishes they had Holgo on the sidelines in Hattiesburg right now?

"Sometimes it's better to be Lucky than to be good."

Tip of the cap to Mark Inabinett of AL.com for reporting the story as relayed by Haywood.

If you follow D-II football closely, the name Bob Stitt likely sounds familiar. If it doesn't, it soon will.

Dan Wolken of USA Today wrote up a really good article on coach Stitt and his unique offensive approach, and how it has impacted college football and other great offensive minds in our profession.

The Colorado School of Mines (D-II) head coach is known in coaching circles as one of the most innovative offensive minds at any level of college football. His offensive strategies are highly regarded by guys like Mike Leach, Dana Holgorsen, Hal Mumme, Sonny Dykes, and Kliff Kingsbury. That's some pretty good company.

After West Virginia's Orange Bowl win, Mountaineer head coach Dana Holgorsen credited Stitt with one of their many touchdown play calls on the afternoon. And Holgo is just one of many coaches that Stitt's philosophies have influenced.

"When he turns the film on he thinks everything's open. As an offensive coordinator, that's the mindset you have to have. To him, there's never a play covered, and that's good. You've got to think you're unstoppable." Kliff Kingsbury explains in the article.

Stitt has taken the Colorado School of Mines from a program that many thought couldn't win, to a national title contender that is consistently one of the most explosive offenses in the country. The Orediggers are currently sitting at 6-3 and are poised for their 11th winning season in Stitt's 13 years.

Again, take a look at the original article for some more quality content and offensive philosophy from coach Stitt.

Take your time, there's some really good stuff in there, and it's great to see coach Stitt getting some much deserved recognition.

Coming off their first loss of the season last weekend to Texas Tech, West Virginia (5-1, 2-1) has no time to "pout" as they take on a top five Kansas State squad this weekend.

“It doesn’t matter who you’ve got the next week, you don’t have time to pout. Nobody’s going to feel sorry for you, so basically what you’ve got to do is you can’t let it beat you twice." Dana Holgorsen explained to 790 The Zone in Atlanta.

Holgorsen says that they addressed what they need to fix from a schematic and mental standpoint last weekend and are ready to take on the Wildcats tomorrow.

"That’s what this profession and this game is all about.” he said.

Holgorsen also referenced how disciplined he remembers Bill Snyder's teams being from his days as a  position coach and offensive coordinator at other Big 12 schools.

"They’re just so disciplined. I’ve got such an appreciation for it. When I was an offensive coordinator and a position coach going against Coach Snyder, it happened four or five times...you just know that they play so hard. They’re disciplined in everything that they do. They don’t beat themselves. But, as a head coach, you gain even more of an appreciation for what he does with his program."

This year is no different for Snyder, who's team discipline has shown not only in their record (6-0, 3-0) but also in their statistics. Kansas State is the least penalized team in the country (just over 22 ypg), and rank among the top teams in the country in turnover margin (+10). Also, Kansas State has been able to put together long, sustained drives to eat up the clock. Dating back to last season, the Wildcats are 12-3 when they've controlled the clock and had the ball longer than their opponent.

We also noticed that when the Wildcats score on defense and special teams they are 15-0 under Snyder, and the Wildcats lead the nation in non-offensive touchdowns scored dating back to 1999 with 84.

The two Big 12 teams will face off at 7pm ET and the game can be seen on FOX.