Dana Holgorsen says Oklahoma's defense is comparable to Alabama's
Racking up almost 700 yards of offense two weeks in a row is going to be an incredibly tall task for West Virginia.
The Mountaineers host Oklahoma on Saturday and when asked if he thought the Sooner defense was on the same level as Alabama's defense, West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said they were, though he quickly declined to say if felt one was better than the other.
"I would agree with that," Holgorsen said during his weekly media session. "They're both good. They're both really good. Both were comparable last year. They were very similar last year. Oklahoma has got more people coming back. Whether they end up being better statically or whatever, it's the same unit. It's the same bodies. It's the same quality of coaching. It's the same expectations. They're very, very similar. The expectations are similar on both teams. Whether they're better or whether they're not, I don't know. It's not for me to judge."
The Mountaineers lost 30-23 to Alabama in week one. Last year, West Virginia lost 16-7 at Oklahoma, and while Holgorsen said his team was clearly better than it was last year, Oklahoma was too.
West Virginia had 694 yards of offense last week against Maryland and ran the ball 59 times while throwing 49 passes. But it needed a last-second field goal to win 40-37 because Maryland had 447 yards of offense, including some explosive plays.
"It was three plays I counted up for 188 yards," defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said. "If you take that out then, they have less than 250 yards of offense.
Unfortunately, there are no mulligans in football. Maryland WR Stefon Diggs had a 77-yard touchdown catch and QB C.J. Brown had a 75-yard run for a TD. After Brown's run, Maryland didn't get another offensive touchdown and its longest drive was four plays.
That's the glimmer of hope for the Mountaineer defense. If it can sustain how it finished the game against Maryland, West Virginia can hang with Oklahoma.
"Other than those two plays, I think we played OK," Holgorsen said. "The first half, I don't think we did great on third downs. I don't have the exact numbers. I thought we needed to do a better job of getting off the field on third downs in the first half. In the second half, it was excellent. It was fantastic."
For more West Virginia news, visit WVSports.com.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
