MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Dana Holgorsen liked West Virginia’s fast start, a 31-point flurry that transpired before Comcast managed to get the game switched on in Morgantown and Wheeling.
The sum of Saturday night’s 54-0 beatdown was the Mountaineers (1-1) enjoyed a 606-122 edge in total offense, cheered their first win since last November, cleared the bench in the second half and set sights on another state of Maryland team awaiting in Week 3.
Before talking Terps, though, here’s the Monday Morning Stock Report on West Virginia’s one-sided home opener, the largest margin of victory since that 80-7 flogging of Rutgers in 2001:
QUARTERBACKS
The new and surgically improved Clint Trickett (35-of-40 for 348 yards) played a near-flawless game, completing 13 consecutive passes in one stretch. He tossed two touchdowns, had a third erased by a disputed replay, and ran in a draw from 5 yards out.
Just as importantly, he kept the offense in motion with timely checks at the line of scrimmage and efficient decisions after the snap.
“There were multiple plays called tonight that were versus a bad look, but our guys made it work,” said offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson. “I feel like we’re getting to a point where we have the freedom to call anything.”
The biggest buzz was reserved for Trickett’s heir apparent, freshman William Crest, who entered late in the third quarter and overcame a turnover to lead two scoring drives.
RUNNING BACKS
Rushel Shell paired rugged running with nice receiving skills to net 118 yards from scrimmage. He also scored his first touchdown in nearly two calendar years, doing so with his twin daughters and an entourage of loved ones at the stadium.
Whereas Shell did it early with 71 yards on 14 carries, Andrew Buie ran over Towson late, gaining 70 yards on just nine rushes. He ripped off a 26-yard run by punishing several defenders larger than him (aren’t they all?) and added a 3-yard score, his first since Dec. 1 2012.
With Dreamius Smith in a slump, Buie made a sudden and strong push for the role of WVU’s No. 3 running back behind Shell and Wendell Smallwood.
“We’re going to need more than two backs,” Holgorsen said. “There’s a strong competition between Buie and (Dustin) Garrison and Dreamius for who’s going to be the next guy in.”
Smallwood (eight carries for 33 yards, one TD) made three catches for 55 yards, including a 25-yarder that was WVU’s longest completion of the game.
RECEIVERS
Those drops that destroyed drives against Alabama? They weren’t an issue against Towson, whose coverage defenders weren’t nearly as fast and physical. Six wideouts made catches, highlighted once more by Kevin White (10 receptions for 101 yards), who was utilized primarily on underneath routes.
On his biggest gainer, White took a middle screen 24 yards before being tripped up at the Towson 13. Tackled inside the 10 three times, his failure to score was the only shortcoming in a solid performance.
“I’m tired of him getting tackled inside the 10,” Holgorsen said. “I don’t think he likes to score touchdowns. If he wants to be a dominant player, he needs to learn to stay on his feet.”
Jordan Thompson (five catches for 52 yards) collected his first career touchdown, easily beating a linebacker on a 19-yard third-down conversion. “He’s doing things on Saturdays in the fall a opposed to Saturdays in the spring,” cracked Holgorsen.
Mario Alford’s five-catch night was largely quiet except for a juggling 1-yard TD. Daikiel Shorts caught his first four passes of the season for 44 yards, and Shelton Gibson teamed up with William Crest on two completions for 9 yards.
OFFENSIVE LINE
The first unit played for nearly three quarters and paved the way to three rushing touchdowns, though some short-yardage failures left room for improvement. WVU’s second series featured a first-and-goal from the 2 but ended in a field goal after three unproductive runs.
Also, on the play preceding Alford’s catch, Shell was stacked up shy of the goal line.
“The only time the running game slowed down a little bit was when we got in short-yardage situations,” said Dawson. “Yeah, by the nature of (Towson’s) defense it’s a numbers game, but you’ve got to be able to get 1 yard. Obviously, we’re going to work on that.”
Towson was credited with a 1-yard sack of Trickett that contributed to a red-zone stallout, and right tackle Marquis Lucas was beaten inside by Ryan Delaire—the Tigers’ NFL-bound defensive end—on the third-quarter sack that created Crest’s fumble.
“We could play better, but we’re playing very good right now,” said center Tyler Orlosky. “We got to the goal line a couple times and we didn’t execute. We’d like to turn some of those field goals into touchdowns.”
The second-string unit played three possessions and West Virginia scored on two of them, relying on a 15-4 run-to-pass ratio.
DEFENSIVE LINE
Sophomore Noble Nwachukwu and transfer Shaq Riddick form an interesting boom-and-zoom duo at left defensive end, with the 6-2, 265-pound Nwachukwu looking like a bowling ball next to the sleek Riddick. Both halves of the platoon were effective against Towson: Nwachukwu had two quarterback hurries, including an athletic pursuit that prevented Connor Frazier from turing the corner on a scramble. And Riddick collected a safety sack when he wrapped up Frazier to force an intentional grounding in the end zone.
Nose guard Christian Brown sometimes in a standup position on pass-rushing downs, and former walk-on Jon Lewis of University High made three tackles in the fourth quarter.
Dontrill Hyman looked good in the first half and Eric Kinsey was active in the second.
After Towson averaged 1.4 yards on 29 rushing attempts, defensive line coach Tom Bradley lauded his unit for taking the FCS opponent seriously.
“I thought all those guys up front did a nice job,” he said. “What you’ll take from (playing Towson) is the effort. They hustled and they were excited to play and that’s what you can build on for next week’s game. Obviously it will be a different style game next week, but we’re looking forward to it.”
LINEBACKERS
Sam linebacker Wes Tonkery made a team-high five tackles, including a half-sack and another TFL, before sustaining a leg injury in the first half. More on his prognosis should be learned Monday morning. The fifth-year senior was an inspiration during camp after missing seven games last season with a thumb injury.
Tonkery’s backup Isaiah Bruce, after playing exclusively on special teams against Alabama, made four stops in extended action.
Blowouts present unusual opportunities, such as Shaq Petteway earning the coaches’ defensive champion award despite not being on the two-deep. The junior made a sack among his three tackles.
With Mike linebacker Nick Kwiatkoski playing less than a half, Al-Rasheed Benton saw valuable reps—as did Edward Muldrow behind Brandon Golson at Will.
SECONDARY
Towson’s 24 pass attempts will be a halftime total for most of West Virginia’s Big 12 opponents, so the secondary wasn’t tested much. The Tigers completed only eight passes for 80 yards and one was a tipped 20-yarder that should have been picked off by linebacker Xavier Preston.
The change in competition saw boundary safety Karl Joseph slip from 18 tackles to two, which was a good thing. (The guy has played massive snaps in his first two seasons and needs to save his body for the tough stretch ahead.) In Joseph’s absence, Jarrod Harper made a sack off the edge.
Freshman free safety Dravon Henry enjoyed a short night also, allowing the guy he beat out in camp, Jeremy Tyler to absorb most of the action. Tyler made one tackle and one QB hurry.
Daryl Worley saw one pass completed in front of him, which was quite a change after facing Amari Cooper. The cornerback must step up again next week against the likes of Maryland’s Stefon Diggs and Deon Long.
At the opposite cornerback, Jaylon Myers saw his first WVU action, albeit behind Terrell Chestnut and Travis Bell.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Jordan Thompson’s 30-yard punt return set up a score, but Alford lost 11 yards on his two attempts.
WVU’s high-scoring night kept the kick-coverage unit busy. On nine kickoffs, Mike Molinari produced two touchbacks and Towson’s only spark was a 38-yard runback by Donnell Lewis.
Josh Lambert made a 19-yard field goal but narrowly missed a 34-yarder.
Nick O’Toole could have spent the evening grooming his ‘stache because he punted only once, with 2:25 left in the game. It was a 42-yarder that forced a fair catch.
COACHING
Nothing but thumbs up here, as West Virginia seemed emotionally jacked for a game wedged between Alabama and Maryland. The usage of Crest remains questionable, unless Holgorsen and Dawson unveil goal-line and short-yardage packages where his read-option skills can be exploited. Only time will tell how they intend to make Crest’s season worthwhile.
The defense played lights out against an overmatched guest and substituted liberally in order to better evaluate reserves who most assuredly will be needed as the injuries begin to bite.