Holgorsen Still Sees Room for Improvement

West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen wasn’t too impressed with the way his team played against East Carolina despite the 56-20 final score.  There were some positives to take away from Saturday’s contest but for the most part, he was very critical.

And despite the Mountaineers tallying over 600 yards, Holgorsen was quick to point fingers at his offense.

“We have a lot of improvements to do,” said Holgorsen. “We had O-lineman on the ground left and right. Guys out of control, guys cutting when they are not supposed to be cut, guys falling down. It’s impossible to block or tackle when you’re on the ground.”

Depth has been an issue coming into the season and Dana is still looking for players to step up. “Our back ups were sloppy. I don’t know if it was because of the score at halftime or whatever it was, but I felt like our second team guys went out there and missed out on opportunities to improve.”

The defense has had some struggles to start the season and Dana listed just about every mistake known.

“Defensively, guys leaving their feet, launching as opposed to tackling the way we want them to tackle, not playing the ball in the air.  Safeties missed way too many tackles.  Our D-line was on the ground too much.  You can’t fill gaps or make tackles if you are on the ground”

Finally, Holgorsen wasted little time sounding off about the most suspect group for West Virginia.

“A lot of inconsistencies when it comes to our specialists as where they’re putting the ball.”

Of course, its cliché to say a coach is never happy with any performance and they will always find a negative, but these have been major concerns to start the year and Dana is not shy in letting everyone know.

The defense was being criticized a lot after the Youngstown State game last year and they ended the season as arguably the best defense in the Big XII Conference.  I do have faith in Defensive Coordinator Tony Gibson to improve this defense and get them to the top of the conference again.

Now for the special teams, there may have been some improvement, but they have a long way to go.