And there you have it. Dana Holgorsen hints on Monday that WVU knows Marshall is up to something and Joe DeForest takes the cover off it before Saturday’s lid lifter. Marshall went to Oregon and studied the offense and obviously with intent. The Mountaineers were then seemingly intent on defusing the element of surprise — and, boy, does it look like the Thundering Herd will have different designs Saturday.

“Last year we had a set offense, a huddle offense, and I got the play from (offensive coordinator Bill) Legg before every play,” Cato said. “Whatever they called I had to go with.”

This year?

“We’re fast-paced and we just go, go, go, go,” Cato said. “It feels like a new offense. We have new players, a new mindset and new goals. (The coaches) are throwing a lot at me and I’m catching on quick. I can check out of plays, I can recognize the blitz and I know what to check into and what not to check into.

“Now I’ve got the green light.”

Again, this is why the start of the season is so amusing for people like me. Having covered Doc Holiday on separate stints at WVU, I know he’s just an old school guy who values secrecy and competitive advantages over the role of the media and informing the masses. He seems like a guy who looks into the stands at practice every so often and maybe questions the presence of a plane flying over his stadium.

What I mean is he doesn’t really buy into the fact everyone has to know everything and that teams deserve to keep some things to themselves. So maybe he’d do something like prohibit media that covers the opponent from attending, observing and reporting on Marshall’s practices during a game week.

Dana Holgorsen isn’t completely different, and if you need an explanation, you missed that whole Where’s Geno? thing two weeks ago. Personally, I don’t believe they haven’t made up their mind on Dustin Garrison this week because I don’t believe Dana and his staff would be so indifferent toward a detail like that as part of a game plan. I just think they’re better than that and that they have instead chosen to keep that quiet … probably a little like Marshall did with Tron Martinez, who didn’t just get hurt yesterday. That’s been an issue for a while, but it didn’t become news until yesterday.

Anyhow, Doc and Dana both like their competitive privacy and both have tried to maintain it this week, yet WVU decided to call out one thing it believed it knew to be true. I thought that was great.

It could go in so many directions. What if WVU just stuffs Marshall? People will be mad the secret couldn’t be kept secret. What if Marshall wanted only tempo stuff, like how to play with pace and signal plays in faster, and doesn’t run much or any of the Oregon offense? People will complain that Marshall didn’t do any Oregon stuff. What if WVU gets surprised? People will wonder how that could be the case when WVU professed to know so much. What if WVU is prepared for one and not the other? Possibilities abound, which is fun a few days before the first game, except perhaps for Doc, who probably isn’t happy the trip to Oregon didn’t stay between the two of them.

And now I can’t wait for that summer between the 2013 and 2014 seasons when Dana and Nick Saban are preparing for one another and going out of their way to say and show nothing about themselves and learn everything about the other side.