Feels like spring, and, I regret to inform you this, but WVU is very much treating this open week like spring practice.

Losers of two in a row, outscored 104-28, unable to one-up defenses, incapable of stopping offenses, without the verve that propelled them to No. 5 in the AP poll just two weeks ago, the Mountaineers are kind of rebooting the 2012 season.

“It’s about mentality,” the second-year coach said. “We’ve got to do a better job offensively playing our game. We didn’t do a very good job of that last week. Defensively, we’ve got to get better at everything that we do and make sure we understand the situation we’re in from a base, alignment and fundamental aspect that we’re trying to play with. That’s what we’re trying to improve now.”

And that’s not the way the second open week was supposed to happen.

When WVU had an open week after season opener against Marshall, the Mountaineers played a lot of live football in practice. That’s not normal, but the offense went against the defense just to keep the team developing so early in the season.

WVU is now in the ninth week of the season, but has more concerns about performance than development. Holgorsen likened this week to what the Mountaineers might experience in spring football or the early stage of preseason practice.

“At this point, I think it’s more important to get out there and focus on the fundamentals of football,” Holgorsen said. “Playing so many young kids, as we are, the first thing that goes in the heat of battle is the technique – and there have been examples of that all across the board. We’ll focus a lot on fundamentals and basic football.”