On the Colorado game
Heading out to Colorado, it’s a heck of a challenge for a football team. The Buffalos are 2-0. They played a very emotional season-opener against in-state rival Colorado State and beat them, 38-17, and then beat Eastern Washington 31-24. They’re a good football team.
The defense is who carries you in the beginning of the season. They have three senior starters on their defensive front and a junior so that will be a lot of work for our guys. Their linebackers consist of a senior and two juniors; secondary is three seniors and a junior, so it’s clearly a veteran defense and that’s not good because it means they are playing pretty well.
Offensively, they are a bit younger, but they are exciting. Without a doubt, Josh Smith can go and go and he is a jet. He is probably the best return man that I’ve seen up to this point. He’s tremendous and runs to the ball hard. I think Cody Hawkins, Coach Hawkins’ son has great awareness. He’s a sophomore who is a tremendous talent and knows where to go with the ball, what to do, where it should be and why it should be there. He has a firm grasp on his offensive system that his dad put in. It’s very nice to see that and their father-son relationship.
We’re going to have to tackle and we cannot tackle like we did last week. We have to run the ball, go get them, chase them down and get after it and hopefully that is what we’ll do.
I think their specialist is pretty good and they have a tremendous kicker. He’s a decent place kicker and a nice punter. Their snapper is a returning junior and he does a good job. They are a very well-rounded football team.
When you put that uniform on, it’s time to send a message and make your mark and we haven’t made our mark yet. Now, we’ve played and we’ve played well, but we’ve also played not-so-well. I won’t say we played bad because I think the opponent has something to do with that. We haven’t played up to the level I want them to play, the Mountaineer way, the full 60 minutes.
On Colorado’s higher elevation
A football play lasts an average of four seconds, with the longest one being six seconds. All I’m going to do is ask our guys to strain for six seconds. With the clock and the human element, you are going to have a close-35 to 40 seconds to rest. I don’t think it’s (the elevation) a big problem and, in fact, find it almost comical. I lived out there for four years at the Air Force Academy and we were at 6,800 feet. When we went up and did our retreat, we went up to close to 10,000 feet and now that’s a problem. All you have to do is bust it for six seconds and then you’ll have 35 seconds to rest.
On Colorado’s veteran defensive line and WVU’s offensive line
It should be one heck of a battle. They are a tough group, but we’re pretty tough and big also, and when we play well, we aren’t too bad either so it will be one heck of a battle. Last week, I didn’t think some of our linemen played up to their ability and there will be a couple more guys playing this week. This game will be a good battle for our offensive linemen and it will be a big challenge.