Holgorsen: Bears can't be dismissed
West Virginia coach warns players to look beyond 0-6 record.
— Dana Holgorsen concedes he’s not sure what type of team West Virginia will face when the Mountaineers meet Baylor on Saturday night.
The Bears are a confusing bunch. Their 0-6 record (0-3 in the Big 12) isn’t baffling, and that doesn’t even tell the entire story. Baylor, rocked by a sexual assault scandal, has lost a dozen straight regular-season games dating back to last October.
The perplexing part — the problem for Holgorsen — is that Baylor is an atypical sort of bad team. Matt Rhule, the Bears’ new coach, who developed Temple into a winning program, is well-respected, especially in Holgorsen’s part of the country.
The last time the Bears were in their own stadium, they scored 21
straight points against Okla- homa to erase an 18-point Sooners lead.
It’s that version of Baylor that Holgorsen is trying to sell his team. The Mountain- eers (4-2, 2-1), who overcame a 17-point deficit last Satur- day against Texas Tech, are in a five-way tie for second place behind TCU in the Big 12 standings. The feeling is that Baylor will win at some point. If West Virginia falls victim to an upset, it can basically forget making the conference title game.
“I don’t care what their record is, any time you have everything that is just so new, there’s going to be an awful lot of improvement,” Holgorsen said. “We have to be prepared for a wild home- coming atmosphere, a night game. The last time they played there at night, they should have beaten Oklahoma — that’ll grab your attention.
“What they’ve done to us the last two times there will grab your attention . ... We have to understand that they’re going to continue to get better and better and better. They compete hard. They play hard and they com- pete hard.”
Baylor might not have the bodies to compete with the league’s top teams. Every week, Rhule updates the injury list. Unlike other coaches, he’s forthcoming about whether one of his players is too hurt to play.
This week’s list includes receiver Pooh Stricklin and tailback John Lovett. Injuries this season have decimated the offensive line and sec- ondary, and claimed two of Baylor’s top three receivers and the starting quarterback. Even the kicker suffered a noncontact, season-ending knee injury.
Rhule said he knows it’s difficult for his team to keep trying without positive results. The Bears, after playing close contests the first five games, were miserable last Saturday in Stillwater, falling to Oklahoma State 59-16.
West Virginia brings a similar offense. The Mountaineers are fifth nationally in total offense, averaging 547 yards per game.
Receiver David Sills V leads the country in scoring, averaging 12.3 points per game. Quarterback Will Grier, with his 347.7 passing yards a game, is sixth nationally. And tailback Justin Crawford is gaining 101 yards a contest.
Defending West Virginia might be a task too tough for a reeling team.
“I know they’re hurting and beat up and mentally struggling in terms of wondering why this is happening and why we’re going through this,” Rhule said. “I said to our players this is probably one of the toughest times of their lives . ... They’re doing all these things that are so hard to do, and they’re not getting the results that they want, so it’s natural to ask why. Why are we doing this? Why isn’t it working?
“And my message to our kids is simple . ... There’s improvement all around, and we’re not going to lose forever, so there’s going to be a day when we win.”