West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen doesn't know what a "trap game" is.
Or at least that's what he said when asked about a potential trap game at his weekly press conference on Tuesday.
"I don’t understand what a trap game means," Holgorsen said. "You play the same every week. If you don’t have the ability to understand that every week is the same, you get beat. Whether it’s a trap game or ‘big’ game, it’s a game."
In reality, this game is almost a perfect storm to be a trap game.
The road trip to Texas Tech will occur smack in the middle of arguably the two biggest games of the season for WVU.
Last week, the Mountaineers went to Austin, Texas and knocked off the No. 11 Texas Longhorns in front of more than 100,000 fans—a record crowd at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium—who were so loud the building was literally shaking (Via Cody Schuler, The Daily Athenaeum).
Texas head coach Mack Brown dubbed it the loudest crowd he has seen in Austin in his 15 years with the program.
Next week, West Virginia will take on the only other team that is currently undefeated in Big 12 Conference play, No. 6 Kansas State. The game could ultimately end up deciding the conference champion.
Sandwiched in between those two colossal matchups is a game with lowly, unranked Texas Tech. Ok, maybe the Red Raiders aren't so lowly, as they were ranked in the USA Today coaches poll just last week.
However, TTU was smashed last week at home against Oklahoma—a result it will be looking to make up for this weekend.
In the big picture, the Red Raiders will also be looking to prove just about every pundit out there wrong, as very few people gave them a chance to compete in this conference going into the season.
This game would not only give them a huge boost in the conference standings, but it could also serve as a season-defining win, considering WVU is ranked No. 5 in the country.
Additionally, the hype surrounding this West Virginia seems to swell by the minute, making each game increasingly more important.
Before its win at Texas, WVU wasn't considered a legitimate national title threat. Now, though, the Mountaineers are garnering more and more believers.
Of course, the national title is the ultimate goal, so the job of the WVU coaching staff is to keep its team focused on each individual game and not on the hype surrounding the program—a job that becomes more and more difficult as the season progresses.
However, Holgorsen and his staff have done a good job of managing expectations so far, thanks to a workman-like mindset, which he displayed during Tuesday's press conference.
"When we meet in here at 2:30, it’s 100 percent Texas Tech," he said. "I’m not going to talk much about Texas, and I don’t want any of the players talking about Texas. It’s all about staying on the grind, and if these guys want to win a national championship then they need to learn how to do that. The next game has to be every bit important as the previous one. We’ve had three pretty emotional games in a row, with Maryland, Baylor and Texas, and these guys have to understand that it is college football. I think we have a group that understands that."
If you ask quarterback Geno Smith, managing those expectations comes down to leadership—something WVU has no shortage of.
"I believe we have a great group of leaders on this team," Smith told the media on Tuesday. "We have great leadership from the coaching staff down to the players. We have good senior leadership. We all understand our responsibilities, which is to getting better from week to week. We are not going to look past anyone. It’s a marathon, not a sprint."
Speaking of running, sophomore running back Andrew Buie will now be coming off the best game of his career against Texas, in which he notched 207 yards and two touchdowns off of 31 carries. Even in his youth, Buie has managed to put that game behind him to focus on moving forward against Texas Tech.
"We were glad that we were able to go out there and put that win together. Now it’s about moving forward and getting ready for Texas Tech," Buie said. "I just want to go out and play my game. If the opportunities are there, I just want to make the most of my opportunities and play ball."
A major concern about WVU heading into the season was about whether or not they would be able to handle the weekly grind of the Big 12. After two impressive conference wins, it appears as though the Mountaineers are in fact equipped to handle the rigors of this conference. Much of this can be attributed to their coaching staff comprised of Big 12 veterans.
Holgorsen and his staff know that no Big 12 team will be a pushover—Texas Tech included.
"There will be 60,000 that care about their football; I would assume that will be pretty rowdy as well. That’s the beauty with being in the Big 12—every game is like that," he said. "That’s why we wanted to be in the Big 12. If they thought that was fun, we have another one this week. I can’t wait; I’m looking forward to it. I had fun, our players had fun and our 10,000 fans had fun. If they all thought that was fun and Baylor was fun, then they will probably have a good time this weekend."
They'll have an even better time if they come back to Morgantown at 6-0.
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