Guess what! That (salty?) guy is 2-0 in November. He was 1-3 in the 11th month in each of his first three Big 12 seasons, and let’s be honest: This iteration of his offense combined with what’s either an opportune defense or an improving defense or both is good enough to beat the remaining three opponents. Kansas is bad, bowl ineligible Iowa State’s can’t have a lot left for a road game and Kansas State … nah, I have no idea what to expect there, but let’s not pretend the Wildcats are prolific offensively.

Speaking of this iteration of the offense, was that a running team Saturday or a passing coach incompleted into a corner? Don’t answer that. That was a smart team doing what it wanted against a team that couldn’t talk the Mountaineers out of it.

“It gets to a point where you say, ‘You know what, I want to win the game. What we’re doing is working, so let’s keep doing it,’ ” Holgorsen said.

A week ago, quarterback Skyler Howard completed 12 passes, the fewest in any game Holgorsen had coached at Texas Tech, Houston, Oklahoma State or WVU. That number, the lowest of any total from 2000 on, lasted a week. Howard completed 10 passes in 12 attempts for 122 yards against the Longhorns.

WVU didn’t have much trouble after halftime and matched its highest point total in Big 12 play this season.

“I couldn’t have seen that when I was coming here,” said running back Wendell Smallwood, who finished with a career-best rushing total for the second straight week.

The Mountaineers rushed for 257 yards on 51 carries a week after rushing for 300 yards on 57 carries. Smallwood had 165 yards, Rushel Shell had 18 of his 53 in the final quarter, Howard scored the game’s final touchdown on a 2-yard run and finished with 34 yards and fullback Eli Wellman scored on a 1-yard run on his first carry of the season and the only one during a game he spent most of blocking.

Together, they took command in the fourth quarter, which began with them in the lead 28-17, by holding on to the ball for 9:31.

“You lean on what you’re doing well,” running backs coach JaJuan Seider said. “They were having a hard time stopping us running the ball, especially with the fullback in the backfield.”

The Mountaineers could have lost yesterday and still made a bowl, but that’s not to say the game was without meaning. Far from it.

For starters, Dana Holgorsen crowd surfed after the game, and WVU subtly and unmistakable teased Texas.

So proud of our team. Great victory over the University of Texas https://t.co/l07E30EoE7

— Dana Holgorsen (@Holgorsendana) November 14, 2015

The Mountaineers might not be scoring with easy, but they do know how to keep score.

The celebration afterward mocked that of Texas and coach Charlie Strong, who crowd-surfed his players in the locker room following a 33-16 upset of then-No. 23 West Virginia in 2014. This time, Mountaineer coach Dana Holgorsen caught the wave.

“We wanted to do that, especially after how [Texas] acted last year and two years ago when they beat us,” said WVU back Wendell Smallwood.

Apparently, the players were shown the video over and over this past week. (“I was sick of hearing that song,” Smallwood said.)

Indeed, for the second week in a row, Holgorsen was riding high instead of being hit with a tsunami that surely would have followed a pair of losses.

Skyler Howard grew up a Texas fan in Forth Worth, and he took great pride in coming all the way from his burnt orange bedroom to contributing three touchdowns in the win. And then there’s Jared Barber, who lost a season the last time he played Texas. He had a full circle moment when he scooped and scored in the first quarter.

“If you asked me about it before the game, I’d probably say, ‘Yeah, I’m getting revenge for what they did to me,’ but it wasn’t like that during the game or even after it,” Barber said. “It was all about us as a team. They beat us the past two years and derailed our season the past two years. It was more about, ‘Let’s give the offense some confidence and get some points on the board.’ ”

That wasn’t so simple. Barber wasn’t sure how he came to recover the fumble, but the Longhorns couldn’t cleanly run a reverse. Players from both teams jumped on top of the ball and Barber saw it squirt out close to his feet. He scooped it up, turned around and ran for the end zone and a 7-3 lead.

“I saw a shadow from my left keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger,” Barber said. “I thought, ‘Oh, shoot. I’m going to get caught.’ But it was fun, definitely a memory I wanted to get.”

I love noon games. I get started early, I get done early, I get to work on some upcoming things and I get to watch football. Saturday’s action was as reliable entertaining as all the others, and that included the Arizona v. Utah game that got the Wildcats bowl eligible.

There’s a lot left to be decided, but there’s a — I’m going to call it good — good chance WVU and Arizona meet in the Cactus Bowl. Happy Sunday!