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KSU, Snyder impressed with WVU’s play

MORGANTOWN — While the national polls still have their doubts about West Virginia University’s chances of capturing its first Big 12 football title, veteran Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder has apparently jumped on the Mountaineers’ bandwagon.

“I think all of that is correct,” replied Snyder when asked about WVU’s ability to win a Big 12 championship and earn a berth in the national championship playoffs. “I’ve always seen them as a good program. I know we’ve had good success against them, but that’s not because they are not a good team with very talented players.”

To accomplish that feat, however, the Old Gold and Blue (3-0, 0-0 Big 12) must overcome one of the two programs it has yet to taste the thrill of victory against since head coach Dana Holgorsen arrived in Morgantown six years ago.

“I really haven’t thought about it,” said Holgorsen during Monday’s Big 12 Teleconference. “We worry about what we can control and that is going out on Saturdays and winning games.”

KSU (2-1, 0-0 Big 12) enter conference play coming off of a 35-0 win over Missouri State while the Mountaineers had to have a last minute interception by Maurice Fleming at the WVU 2 in order to stay unbeaten on the season.

“They (WVU) have a lot of talented, talented young guys running around up there,” continued Snyder. “When you look at what they do and how frequently they do it. They have guys who have a lot of range and they like to throw the ball downfield.”

And, that begins with senior quarterback Skyler Howard.

“(Skyler) Howard does a good job of keeping the play alive,” added the Wildcats’ boss. “If you don’t keep him contained, he will run around until he finds one of his speedy receivers then he will heave it down the field and turn a possible loss into another big play. So, we have definitely got to keep him in check.”

Howard, who has completed 74-of-108 attempts for 974 yards and six touchdowns, completed his first eight attempts and was 31-of-40 passing for 332 yards in WVU’s 35-32 win over BYU last Saturday at FedEx Field.

“He (Howard) is getting the ball out of his hands quickly and we have receivers getting open,” said Holgorsen. “He looks a lot better. He understands what we want him to do and he is getting it done.”

Making Howard more dangerous is a solid running attack which features three quality running backs and an offensive front that has allowed its start signal caller to be sacked only once this season. And, that one time is disputed by the Mountaineers’ head coach. Junior college transfer Justin Crawford leads the trio with 227 yards on 42 carries while senior Rushel Shell is close behind with 209 yards on 43 totes of the pigskin.

“I question whether that one was a sack,” explained Holgorsen. “He got back to the line of scrimmage, so I don’t know how you count that as a sack.”

Howard and Company will receive yet another stern test against a Wildcats’ prevent unit that leads the Big 12 in Scoring Defense (11.0 ppg), Total Defense (179 ypg), Rushing Defense (72.3 ypg), Pass Defense (106.7 ypg), Opponents First Downs (10.0 pg) and Opponents Third Down Conversions (29.4%).

“We’ve been going against them for the last four years so we’ve seen that out of them a lot,” continued WVU’s head coach. “That’s what they do at KSU.”

And, that means finding a way to stop the Wildcats’ leading tackler junior Elijah Lee.

“He (Lee) is all over the field,” said Holgorsen. “That’s nothing new for them, however. These guys have been there for four years and they just plug them in each year. That’s why the defense looks the same all of the time.”

And, if Kansas State is going to improve to 5-0 against Holgorsen and the Mountaineers, that defense, as well as the play of the Wildcats’ special teams, will have to continue the stellar display they’ve shown during their winning streak against the Mountaineers.

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