MORGANTOWN — Dana Holgorsen has coached at a few pretty good football schools as an assistant in Texas Tech, Houston and Oklahoma State, and has seen some pretty good football teams on the other sideline, the likes of Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas.

Now he’s seen LSU, which beat his West Virginia University Mountaineers, 47-21, Saturday night, a win so impressive that it allowed them to jump past Oklahoma, which also had won, and into the No. 1 spot in the nation.

It also impressed Holgorsen.

“They’re as good as any team I’ve seen,” he admitted. “Whether the ball bounces their way over the next nine games to where they get to play for the national championship, I don’t know. They play good, quality people. They play other good teams.”

That will make it challenging, but Holgorsen really believes they have what it takes to meet the challenge.

“The talent, the coaching, the schemes — they’re as good as any other school,” Holgorsen said.



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Holgorsen spent some time on Saturday night complaining vehemently to officials about what he thought might be — and emphasize the might be — fake injuries to slow his tempo, something he has seen before.

“I don’t know if they happened on Saturday night or not. They do exist in college football. That’s not any of my business — there’s nothing I can do about it. It depends on the referees and how they manage the game and what they think is going on. I can’t do anything about it,” he said.

“I’m not going to worry about it, and we’re not going to let it destroy our momentum if it is happening. We just have to keep playing the next play.”

His sideline demeanor, however, caused a couple of emails to be written from LSU fans who were generally pleased with the experience of playing in Morgantown but who felt that Holgorsen’s complaining on this matter was uncalled for and “classless.”



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Former West Virginia All-American running back Steve Slaton was released by the Houston Texans on Tuesday.

Slaton was originally the Texans’ third-round pick in the 2008 draft, won the starting job and gained 1,282 yards rushing and 377 yards receiving while scoring 10 times.

He lost the job in 2009 and did not start in 2010 as Arian Foster took over. When Foster was injured this year, the Texans played Ben Tate over Slaton.

To take Slaton’s roster spot they promoted Chris Ogbonnaya from the practice squad.



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It will be quarterback heaven for WVU football fans from 2 to 2:45 p.m. Saturday at the Caperton Indoor Practice Facility alongside Milan Puskar Stadium.

This has been designed Don Nehlen Quarterback Scholarship weekend, presented by MedExpress, and the Mountaineer Athletic Club is bringing in a collection of former QBs to be available to sign autographed pictures following their participation in the WVU Mantrip prior to the WVU-Bowling Green game.

Former quarterbacks expected to participate in this weekend’s festivities are: Richard Loring, Fred Wyant, Dale Evans, Ed Pastilong, Pete Secret, Garland Hudson, Mike Sherwood, Bernie Galiffa, Dan Kendra, Dan Williams, Mike Williams, Oliver Luck, Kevin White, Jeff Hostetler, Tony Reda, Ben Reed, Major Harris, Greg Jones, Darren Studstill, Jake Kelchner, Chad Johnston, Eric Boykin, Marc Bulger, Rasheed Marshall and Pat White.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to meet and get autographs from a number of great Mountaineer quarterbacks,” says Matt Borman, MAC director of Major Gifts. “This weekend is truly a special time for the WVU football program with so many of the quarterbacks returning to campus in support of the Don Nehlen Scholarship Weekend.”

Before you get too fired up, however, there is a charge and some rules to follow.

A special commemorative photo will be available for purchase Saturday for $5. In an effort to accommodate as many autograph requests as possible, each fan will be limited to one autographed photo; no outside items are permitted to be signed.

Setting up posed pictures with the former players will not be allowed in order to keep lines moving and to give as many fans as possible the chance to get an autograph.

Email Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.