Mountaineers look to get back to basics vs. TCU

There was certainly no shortage of confidence in Morgantown after the first four weeks of the football season. However, the West Virginia football team has lost some of that mojo after back-to-back losses to Big 12 Conference foes.

Redshirt senior wide receiver J.D. Woods said while that confidence did leave, it was only on a temporary hiatus.

"Confidence is what helped us out early on in the season and that’s something we need to get back to and just reassure ourselves of that confidence level and that confidence aspect on the field," he said.

Woods said the team has seen its fair share of adversity for the past couple of weeks, but that’s not a new theme for West Virginia – or any team in college football.

"In college football you’re going to experience a lot of adversity. We’ve experienced a lot of adversity the last couple of weeks, and something that we’re overcoming is adversity and bringing ourselves together as a team," he said.

"Mentally we got back together as a team – as one team, one movement – and that’s the main thing we’re trying to teach right now is just one movement. We’re all one family and one movement," he said.

Woods said the Mountaineers’ receivers spent the bye week getting back to basics, which is what they do best.

"Getting back to our roots and getting back to day one – that’s the thing that (head) coach (Dana) Holgorsen and (offensive coordinator Shannon) Dawson taught us is just get back to our natural roots – get back to day one and square on," Woods said.

Freshman inside receiver Jordan Thompson said that as the season winds down, a new sense of urgency has developed as the Mountaineers’ team goals are still in reach but will require hard work to achieve.

"There’s definitely a sense of urgency. Our tempo has picked up, our practice has picked up. The speed of the game has picked up for us during our practice, so there’s definitely a sense of urgency," he said.

"Knowing for the older guys it’s (their) last five games and for the young guys, too, as well as getting better and playing for these older guys."

Thompson said the bye week was something the team desperately needed and was definitely not wasted.

"We needed (the bye week) a lot to clear our minds after the two losses that we had," he said. "It was definitely good. We worked hard throughout the week and definitely found out that our season isn’t over, and we’re still going to compete."

Thompson said he thought the offense lost a little bit of its rhythm over the past several weeks, but as the matchup with TCU draws near, the offense has rediscovered the rhythm that helped it score 69 points against Marshall and 70 points against Baylor.

"In my opinion, I do feel like we’re definitely on track. We’re definitely in sync now," he said. "We kind of got a little shaky, but throughout the bye week and also this practice that we just had, I
feel like our rhythm is back to where it was in week 1-3."

The Horned Frogs are not an easy foe, but Thompson said that this week is just like any other week of the season in that it is another challenge.

"TCU, it’s going to be a challenge – every week is a challenge," he said. "TCU is a great football program, they have been for (several) years, so they’re definitely going to give us a challenge – but that’s why you play football.

We’ll definitely be ready to play them Saturday."