Dana Holgorsen on upcoming opponent Texas: "They're good everywhere. I mean everywhere."
The University of Houston has only played one game since September 30th but it was a doozy last Thursday night as the Cougars defeated West Virginia at home on a last-second Hail Mary.
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Houston had its bye week before playing the Mountaineers and given the Thursday night scheduling had an extended break ahead of the Longhorns coming to town this Saturday. Given the exhausting nature of his team’s most recent game, on Monday Houston head coach Dana Holgorsen said he was thankful that game was played on a Thursday as it allows his program time to regroup.
Like every opposing coach this season, Holgorsen was quite complementary of Texas. Holgo started his press conference by stating, “There’s not enough time in this press conference to explain all the challenges that Texas brings. They’re a complete team. They’ve had two weeks coming off a loss to Oklahoma — I could only imagine what their mindset is. They’ve been dominant all season but to have two weeks coming off that game I’m sure they’re going to be about as motivated as anyone in college football coming into Houston on Saturday afternoon.”
Longhorns fans would certainly quibble with the use of the word ‘dominant’, especially following the loss to Oklahoma, but the embattled Houston coach knows what he sees on tape. “They’re good everywhere. They’re big everywhere. They’re talented everywhere. They’re very deep…so we’ll be excited about playing this game. We haven’t played them in 20 years and our fanbase is obviously gonna be excited. It’s going to be sold-out. We haven’t had a sellout here in a long time. Just a quality opponent coming in. They’re good everywhere. I mean everywhere. They’re good on all three sides. It’s far and away our biggest challenge yet this year.”
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While Texas and Houston are playing for the first time in a long time, Holgorsen was asked about the last time he faced Texas as West Virginia’s head coach. It offered him another chance to discuss this 2023 team. “They’re in a different place now than when we went there in 2018; was the last time I competed against these guys. We came out of there with a win that day but where they’re at now is different. Where they’re going to be a year from now, two years from now, is different.”
Someone else familiar with Texas is new quarterback Donovan Smith. Due to injuries, Smith got the start for Texas Tech in the Red Raiders’ upset win over UT last season. Holgo believes that familiarity has some relevance, “Yeah, that gives you confidence as a coach. You watch him play that game against Texas last year, he played well. He played extremely well in that game. Donovan’s a confident kid.”
In Quinn Ewers, Texas has its own confident quarterback, though Holgorsen was quick to sing the praises of the whole offense, including running back Jonathon Brooks. “Not only him (Ewers) but the back is good, the three receivers are good, the tight end is good, they’re big up front. You gotta prepare for all of it. The quarterback is playing well. Ewers is playing well. I didn’t really watch much of what he did last year. We’ve just really focused what it is this year and he’s playing at a high level. He’s a pocket guy, he can make every throw, his arm talent is there. They don’t run him a whole lot but he can scramble around and get some first downs. His receivers are extremely hard to cover. And then the running back, you’re like ‘who’s this dude?’ He played behind two NFL guys last year and so that dude’s exceptional, as good as anybody in the country.”
