Dana Holgorsen values yardage above all else in football. Nothing is more important than positive plays. He obsesses over yardage lost and yardage not gained.

He tracks negative plays. He hates penalties. He abhors sacks. Every one of them interrupts the schedule he likes to keep on offense.

In a way, special teams is just as important and this explains why Holgorsen has made such a point out of Tavon Austin’s inability to field a lot of punts this season.

Austin, for some reason, is either waving his hand for a fair catch and then not using his considerable gifts to return the ball and gain yards and shorten the field, or simply not catching punts and thus letting the ball roll to cost WVU yardage and create a longer field.

The latter is extra dicey when you consider that ball can bounce a hundred different ways and hit any of Austin’s teammates and then lead to something else Holgorsen hates.

That would be a turnover and it led to a fairly catchy explanation.

“Sometimes the return guy has to wiggle through some people just to find it,” Holgorsen said. “You get to a point where you make the decision to say ‘Peter, Peter’ and get it or just get out of the way.”

“Peter” would be the verbal cue Austin is supposed to yell to let teammates know the ball is near them and they need to make sure not to touch it and create a turnover. Austin let it happen three times and paid each time against LSU. He’s only returned eight of the opposition’s 28 punts this season, but one was for 64 yards.

The soft-spoken Austin says he yells “Peter,” but it doesn’t really make a difference.

“You don’t hear anything on the field,” he said. “That’s why you have to wave it off. You definitely can’t hear a guy yelling on the field, so I try to wave my arms so everyone can see me.”