West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen can’t help but admire what Bill Snyder has done at Kansas State.

The Wildcats veteran coach has built K-State’s program into a contender, not once but twice, during his 23 seasons as the program’s CEO. Snyder’s 185 career wins would fill anyone with envy.

“I can’t emphasize enough how much respect I have for Bill Snyder as far as building a program,” Holgorsen said. “I think everybody across the country tries to build a program like he’s been able to do at Kansas State.”

Snyder built K-State into a conference power during a 17-season run from 1989-2005 before a four-year hiatus and his eventual return in 2009. He promptly rebuilt the Wildcats into a conference title contender again, with KSU tied with Baylor a half game behind Big 12 leader TCU heading into the final stretch of the season.

All of Holgorsen’s admiration will go out the window for 60 minutes on Thursday. The Mountaineers host Snyder’s Wildcats at Milan Puskar Stadium looking to shake off a two-game losing streak and start a run toward a 8-4 final record along with the best bowl game possible.

As WVU plans for success against K-State, Holgorsen knows his squad will have to erase the tendency to beat itself that arose during back-to-back losses to TCU and Texas, which featured seven combined WVU turnovers.

The Wildcats won’t beat themselves. KSU has eight turnovers in nine games, a stark contrast to WVU’s 16, and has built years of success on fundamental dominance, toughness and creative offense.

“Everything that people say about them you can see on film,” Holgorsen said. “[KSU] is a mentally and physically tough football team made up of a bunch of blue collar guys.”

Even though Holgorsen’s squad let an opportunity to win the Big 12 slip away in its past two games, proving preseason doubters wrong while securing its best finish since joining the Big 12 lands on the list of potential accomplishments during WVU’s final two games. But it won’t be easy against a No. 13-ranked Wildcat squad that has Big 12 title hopes.

“We’ve been in a bunch of these games this year,” Holgorsen said. “We have another top team coming to Morgantown.”

“There’s a lot for us to play for right now.”