MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — With young burners catching bombs on the outside, running backs softening up the middle, and a slew of missed opportunities, West Virginia opened 2015 with a performance that was both versatile and volatile.
Skyler Howard’s 359-yard passing night cued the Mountaineers to a 44-0 romp over Georgia Southern, though the postgame film review is likely to reveal they should’ve scored 60.
“We have a lot weapons,” said Howard, who hit on all six second-half passes to finish 16-of-25. “With running the ball and putting the ball in the air, there’s weapons everywhere. People are going to have to prepare for that.”
Freshman Jovon Durante and sophomore Shelton Gibson combined for 251 receiving yards on only six catches. Each caught his first college touchdown, and each dropped a catchable pass.
Wendell Smallwood ran for 96 yards on 11 carries—highlighted by a 19-yard fourth-quarter touchdown, lowlighted by a fourth-and-1 stuff in the red zone. Rushel Shell added 42 yards on eight attempts. He didn’t suffer a lost-yardage play, nor did he break any longer than 7 yards.
With Georgia Southern’s option offense rolling the clock, West Virginia’s 66 plays were its fewest since running 47 in that 2013 Baltimore beatdown against Maryland. Yet its 8.2 yards per play was the most since Geno Smith and Co. carved through Kansas 59-10 on Senior Day in 2012.
The buzz surrounding the outside receivers appeared justified when Durante caught a 41-yard touchdown on the game’s first drive and added a 57-yarder on an underthrown post route later in the opening quarter. Gibson ran past the cornerbacks on his side for receptions of 57 and 47, before hauling in a 26-yard score in the second half.
“We have two young receivers that have over 100 yards in the first game of the year with a new quarterback—that’s exciting,” Holgorsen said. “No. 5 is a player. No. 1 is a player. Those guys can run. I told you they can run.”
Josh Lambert converted three first-half field-goals, all from in-close distances as West Virginia’s offense started 0-of-4 in red zone touchdown efficiency.
That left West Virginia ahead 16-0 at the break, not quite the return Holgorsen expected on a 319 to 89 edge in total offense.
“I was furious (at halftime). I challenged our guys,” he said. “I yelled at them, but I yelled at myself. I said, I guess I forgot to tell you that you’re supposed to score. I called all these plays, and they executed it pretty good, but we didn’t finish those plays. I got on them pretty good.”
The Mountaineers responded by scoring touchdowns on all three red-zone trips after half.