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MOTEL 6 CACTUS BOWL: WEST VIRGINIA VS ARIZONA STATE

December 31, 2015

Dana Holgorsen

Phoenix, Arizona

THE MODERATOR: We'll start with opening comments from coach.

COACH HOLGORSEN: Like the last few times I visited with y'all, I'm excited to be here. On behalf of our entire team, we have I think six of our student-athletes here with us today that I think would back me up on this, we've had a great time since we've been here.

This is a fantastic place. Number one bowl destination, in my opinion, to be able to come spend this time of the year here. We're excited about being here.

Got a couple more days of work that we need to put in, then looking forward to Saturday night at Chase Field.

I went to the field last night, it looks spectacular. They did a great job getting that field ready. It's going to be a good venue.

I know it's going to be a very competitive game, as well. Arizona State is a quality football team. They have really good football team, well-coached. Should be a fun Saturday night here in Phoenix.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. With the extra prep time, these last couple days now, is it a temptation to tweak and look at your game plan, or do you just have to put it to bed?
COACH HOLGORSEN: I think Coach Gibby came up with a whole bunch of blitzes that we're going to do. I don't know how much offensively I can continue to tweak what our offense currently is.

But, yeah, we put in the triple option. Gibby is going to blitz every single down. That's what we've done (smiling).

Q. With the layoff, how crisp have the practices been?
COACH HOLGORSEN: We focused on getting on getting ready for this game when we were in Morgantown. We went through a game up there. If we had to play the game before we left, we would have been prepared to do that.

When we got down here, I was really proud of the guys a couple days ago. Long travel day, as most of y'all know, going from the East Coast to the West Coast, it was a four-and-a-half-hour flight. We had to drive to Pittsburgh, which is an hour. We got situated in the hotel, then start our meetings and go practice.

I thought our first practice was incredibly enthusiastic, very crisp. Had a good day. Again, it's all review at that point.

Yesterday we were a little groggy, a little tired. But we got our work in. In the next couple of days here, we'll be just a bunch of reminders to be able to get ready for the game.

Q. When you watch Arizona State on film, do you see similarities from what Todd Graham did during his coaching days at Tulsa?
COACH HOLGORSEN: No, it's changed quite a bit, honestly. There's a lot of history. Even Coach Gibson, probably a better question for him. When Coach Graham was at West Virginia, they were running what we're currently running, the stack defense. Since he's left, he was running the stack at Tulsa. When they went to Pitt, they tweaked it more into a four-down look, which is what you currently see.

I was kidding him and Coach Patterson last night, Why have you changed what you did last year or at Pitt compared to what you see currently on film?

They just evolved into a more blitzing, pressure defense. They put pressure on you every single day. Every single play, every game you watch, it's the same thing. Just a bunch of pressure. We got no problem doing that defensively as well. So take some chances, put their guys in some man coverage situations.

They've gave up big plays in the secondary because of guys getting close to the quarterback. It's changed not only at Pitt, but since he got here a couple years ago, as well.

Q. (Question regarding the weather.)
COACH HOLGORSEN: You can't get no complaints from us. It's a different cold. We've been practicing in 40-degree weather for a couple months. But 40 degrees here and 40 degrees there is two totally different things.

I was sweating yesterday. Probably be out there sweating today, too. Pretty nice.

Q. How has your defense changed since your Conference USA days? Maybe more power concepts now.
COACH HOLGORSEN: A whole bunch. My first two years at West Virginia, we were very similar to what I was at Oklahoma State, which was different than what I was at Houston.

Houston, we didn't have tight ends, fullbacks, power-run game, counter schemes, any of that. Started doing some of that stuff at Oklahoma State, using a fullback a little bit.

The last couple years, the biggest difference is the tight end stuff that we're doing. We've been changing and evolving into an offense that we can do that stuff. A lot of it has to do with our personnel. We have a tight end and fullback that are pretty good players. Want to get them on the field.

Then having Ron to be able to come in and implement some of these schemes it's turned us into a run-first offense, which makes this game challenging because Arizona State is so good at defending the run and putting people in the box.

But we got some receivers that are young, that are maturing. They're going to have to make some plays.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH HOLGORSEN: Nobody does it anymore. In the PAC-12, you got Stanford. Petersen does some of it at Washington. Arizona State will do some of the stuff as well.

Big 12, you got Kansas State and Baylor. I wanted to be able to change some things. It took a strong commitment in order to do that. You can't change that mentality overnight. It's taken a couple years to be able to change that mentality.

We have to throw the ball better if we want to win a championship. I got to find that balance at some point.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH HOLGORSEN: Fantastic football game. I was only a part of that one year. I was part of bedlam for a year. It had that feel. One of the better rival games out there.

Ever since the conference switched, that actually happened like a month or two prior to that game, we've been trying hard to get the game back. We finally got it. '21 to '24 is when that thing gets started back up. Fan bases love it. The players know it means something. It was a great experience.

Q. What about Wendell makes him so productive as a runningback?
COACH HOLGORSEN: The number one quality is how smart he is. He's one of the few guys that I've had that, plays over, his eyes are on me to see what's next. Usually that's the quarterback's job. His eyes are on me to figure out what's next to get his mind in a situation where he knows what's ahead of him.

He's a very versatile kid. He's a return guy. He's a receiving threat. He's turned into our number one guy between the tackles, which has reduced some of the stuff that he's capable of doing. We need Shell to become a little bit more, his production needs to become higher so we can do other things with Wendell.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH HOLGORSEN: I don't think. We'll be lucky to score with the amount of pressure they put on us. I think our defense is pretty good, as well. I think everything points towards two coaching staffs that are pretty familiar with each other, although the kids don't have any familiarity whatsoever with each other.

I'd be surprised if it's a high-scoring game. But you never know how these things work out. You never know how these things are going to play out.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH HOLGORSEN: The most similar I've seen is what our guys do defensively. We probably blitz more than anybody in the Big 12. They probably blitz more than anybody in the country. So it's pretty unique. They take chances.

It takes a defensive mind at head coach that is okay with putting their secondary in that position. If it doesn't work out, then the blame falls on the head coach's shoulders. Defensive coordinators don't want that on their shoulders.

It's a ton of pressure.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH HOLGORSEN: It is, everybody needs to have that mindset. It would be challenging to get ready for it in six days. It would be tough. Having the extra prep work has been good for us offensively, for our coaches, for our quarterback, for out center, Tyler Kwiatkoski's over there. He's really good and smart at figuring out where they're coming from. Having the extra time to be able to watch the video, practice the looks, I'm hopeful that will pay off.

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