Holgorsen's New Philosophy Faces Potential Challenges Against Texas

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Football:

Holgorsen’s new philosophy faces potential challenges against Texas this week | The Daily Athenaeum
When West Virginia hired Dana Holgorsen as its head coach in 2011, he was a Mike Leach disciple who was known for airing the ball out constantly. So who would have expected that five years later, Holgorsen’s Mountaineers would be a run-first outfit Holgorsen is calling "the ultimate ground-and-pound team?"

WVU’s home success meets the Longhorns’ road woes | Charleston Gazette-Mail
If October was about road games and ranked opponents, November for West Virginia ought to be about a friendlier schedule. The Mountaineers play a second consecutive home game Saturday when they host Texas.

Game plan for beating Texas easy for WVU | Charleston Gazette-Mail
If you follow this column regularly, you know I like to cut to the chase, so here we go. If WVU’s defenders can chase down Texas’ runners Saturday, the Mountaineers should win.

Is there anything to Strong’s 2-0 upset mark vs. Holgorsen? | WV MetroNews
While two games don’t make a series, Dana Holgorsen’s 0-2 record against Charlie Strong at least gets us wondering.

Texas to test West Virginia's sack-prevention schemes | Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Look for finger-pointing to become contagious among West Virginia's offensive linemen and quarterback Skyler Howard this Saturday when the Mountaineers host Texas at noon at Milan Puskar Stadium.

WVU trying to find an edge by being different | Beckley Register-Herald
West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen admitted during Tuesday’s meeting with the media that his offensive style has made a major transformation from a throw-first and run just to add a little flavor attack to a run-first offense that looks more and more like the one Rich Rodriguez was running at WVU before leaving for Michigan after the 2007 season.

Contributions came from all over against Red Raiders | The Exponent Telegram
Those who crossed into Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday and witnessed West Virginia beat Texas Tech for its first victory in a month had to be wondering what in the world was going on. Nothing was as it should have been.

Two thumbs up for Lazard's showing | The Exponent Telegram
This was the stuff of which movies are made.

Basketball:

Persistence Pays Off | WVU Athletics
Persistence can sometimes pay off. It certainly did for West Virginia University when talented Cleveland forward Esa Ahmad committed to play for the Mountaineers last fall.

Lanay Montgomery will have to shoulder the load inside | The Daily Athenaeum
After a standout season for the West Virginia women’s basketball team, junior center Lanay Montgomery has been given a larger and more meaningful role with the team.

West Virginia Athletics:

Thrasher has immediately excelled in freshman season | The Daily Athenaeum
The West Virginia University rifle team dropped two spots in this week’s latest poll, falling to No. 3 in the country. The Mountaineers (5-0, 3-0) lost the top spot in the country to Kentucky following a win over No. 4 Murray State at the Akron Invitational this weekend. Kentucky placed highest of the 12 teams at the invitational, while West Virginia placed second overall.

Around The Big 12:

2015-16 College Basketball Non-Conference Schedules: The Big 12 | Blogging the Bracket
With anywhere from 10 to 14 quality games on a Big 12 team’s schedule during any given season, non-conference scheduling varies widely in the loop. Here's a look at the 10 slates for the 2015-16 campaign.

Time for the Big 12 to panic about its playoff standing | ESPN
The latest rankings revealed another November problem for the Big 12 in reaching the playoff. The main impediment appears to be Notre Dame.

Big 12 bowl projections, Week 10: Baylor, Oklahoma State on outside | ESPN
Baylor and Oklahoma State are outside of the College Football Playoff but are projected to go to New Year's Six bowls in the latest Big 12 projections.

Oklahoma out to reclaim dominion of Big 12 from rising Bears | ESPN
The Sooners were once the Big 12's dominant program, but since getting blown out by Baylor two years ago, they have lost their stranglehold.

Around The NCAA:

College Football Playoff rankings: Notre Dame, Iowa move up in top 5 | SBNation
Two teams with losses are now in the Playoff committee's new field of four.

Navy's so good, it could force the College Football Playoff to delay its bowl lineup | SBNation
The rest of the week's best numbers include a friendly wager on Clemson, Oklahoma State's annual surge being a bigger deal than ever and the suddenly clutch Razorbacks and Volunteers.

If the season ended today, these should be the College Football Playoff teams | SBNation
The College Football Playoff committee's new rankings arrive Tuesday night. If the SB Nation Selection Committee were in charge, this would be your top four.

Mizzou's players are this powerful because you care so much about football | SBNation
If you think these athletes have nothing more important to do than play football, then you're the one who enabled them to do something bigger than football.

The Houston Cougars are the country's last undefeated non-power | SBNation
Houston rises to No. 1 in the Underdogs Poll for the first time this season.

The Solid Verbal: How Week 10 blew up the College Football Playoff rankings | SBNation
Ty and Dan review a wild Week 10.

Today's Miss Throwdown also comes to us from The Walking Dead. CLICK HERE for Alexandra Breckenridge's Instagram.