While TCU has naturally gobbled up most of the publicity in the DFW area surrounding the new additions to the Big 12, West Virginia is coming off one of their biggest wins in school history, a 70-33 curb-stomping of Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl.
↵Big 12 fans are already familiar with the work of Mountaineers coach Dana Holgorsen, who helped push Oklahoma State to the next level as a program in his one year as an offensive coordinator in Stillwater.
↵And in his most recent SI.com mailbag, college football columnist Stewart Mandel pegged Holgorsen as the coach most poised for a breakout year on the national scene:
↵↵↵But after reaching a BCS bowl in his first season and then truly opening eyes with that 70-point Orange Bowl outburst, Holgorsen has been the Xs and Os darling of this offseason. Coaches and closer followers of the sport have spent the past few months poring over tape of that game, marveling at his use of the new-fangled diamond formation and all those Tavon Austin jet sweep tosses that Clemson couldn't stop. The intrigue will only grow with the Mountaineers' move to the Big 12.
↵
While the Big 12 doesn't get nearly the love the SEC does, it's round-robin format is going to be brutal next season now that Holgorsen and Gary Patterson are both roaming the sidelines in the conference.