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West Virginia special teams must play special against Kansas State

MORGANTOWN –Ask West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen about his Mountaineers’ failures when it comes to Big 12 Conference foe Kansas State and you will get the normal coach speak. But, ask the players and they will tell you just how badly this group of seniors want to beat the Wildcats when they clash on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at Milan Puskar Stadium on Homecoming Day.

“Oh yeah, being my fifth year here, I’ve seen all four of them,” senior linebacker Justen Arndt explained during Tuesday’s media conference. “So, it’s definitely noticeable, everyone knows it. It’s not something that goes under the radar. They’ve beat us for the past four years, they had a better team than us.

“It would be exciting (to finally beat KSU). It won’t be any bigger, per say, than the past three. Every game you want to become 1-0 at the end of the day, and that’s how we’re looking at this game.”

The fifth meeting between Holgorsen and KSU’s veteran head coach Bill Snyder will be the conference opener for both squads with the Old Gold and Blue slated to take to the road following an open week to Texas Tech on Oct. 15.

“I’m just excited to start conference play, I don’t care who it is,” said senior quarterback Skyler Howard. “I am excited to get out there and play some more ball. I’m taking it one week at a time.”

Howard and Company will have their hands full with a Wildcats’ defense that tops the league in just about every category. Through its first three games the KSU prevent unit is giving up only 11 points and 179 total yards of offense per game.

“No, just flip on the film, and see how we match up,” continued Howard, who has completed 74-of-108 attempts for 974 yards and six touchdowns in WVU’s first three games — all wins. “Get our game plan going, and that’s it. I don’t look at stats, I don’t look at anything like that. I look at coverages, what they have done, but as far as numbers it doesn’t really affect me at all.”

The game plan, at least in victories over Missouri (26-11), Youngstown State (38-21) and BYU (35-32), has been a simple one offensively — establish the running game behind senior Rushel Shell and junior college transfer Justin Crawford and utilize the pass catching talents of senior Daikiel Shorts, juniors Shelton Gibson and Ka’Ruan White and sophomores Jovon Durante and Gary Jennings.

Crawford leads the ground attack with 227 yards and one touchdown on 42 carries while Shell has reached the end zone three times on 43 totes of the pigskin and 209 yards. In the air Gibson has 16 catches for 354 yards and two scores while Shorts leads the team with 19 receptions for 246 yards and a pair of touchdowns. White, the brother of Chicago Bears wideout Kevin White, has 11 catches for 159 yards and one touchdown.

For KSU the main cog in its attack again appears to be its quarterback, Jesse Ertz. After missing last year the junior has returned to lead the team in rushing with 145 yards and one score on 25 carries while completing 31-of-55 attempts for 418 yards and four six-pointers. Senior Charles Jones has 106 yards and one touchdown on 21 rushes while sophomore Dalvin Warmack rounds out the balanced ground attack with 96 yards on 11 carries.

When Ertz goes to the air look for sophomore Dominique Heath to be his favorite target as the 5-foot-9 speedster leads the team with eight catches for 114 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Deante Burton, Jones and freshman Isaiah Harris all have six receptions in the Wildcats’ balanced attack.

“They’re a good football team, that’s about it,” redshirt senior cornerback Maurice Fleming, who had the game-saving interception in the win over BYU. “They come in, they are physical and they are very disciplined, so just knowing that, that’s it.”

The Wildcats are also good on special teams. In last year’s 24-23 come-from-behind victory over the Mountaineers in Manhattan, it was a 97-yard kickoff return by then-senior Morgan Burns which proved to be the difference.

“I think it’s just the little things,” added Arndt. “Last year you saw their special teams beat us. I was on the kickoff unit, they basically returned two on us. The year before they returned a punt on us, little things like that.

“They play four quarters. As a team we have to come in and realize we have to play a total game and we’re not going to have any mess-ups basically.”

The game will be televised on ESPNU.

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