MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Wendell Smallwood ran for a career-high 147 yards, Skyler Howard tossed four touchdowns and West Virginia capitalized on six turnovers in a 45-6 pummeling of border rival Maryland.
“Our guys hit the field, and were ready to play,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. “Obviously, I feel pretty good about the victory. We started fast, and it was a pretty good way to finish up the series with Maryland.”
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Howard’s 21-of-33 passing day—tempered only by his first interception as a Mountaineer—ended early in the fourth quarter with a 1-yard touchdown to Daniel Shorts. By that point, the junior had thrown a bootleg score to Elijah Wellman and two touchdowns to Shelton Gibson of 15 and 41 yards.
Gibson finished with 118 yards on six catches, providing downfield balance to the running of Smallwood, who counted a 4-yard touchdown among his 22 carries. Russell Shell added 77 yards and a 2-yard score on 15 carries.
Maryland’s 96th-ranked defense was no match, allowing 427 yards first-half yards as West Virginia built a 38-0 cushion. Along with a school-record 37 first downs, the Mountaineers (3-0) piled up 601 yards. Some 304 of that came on the ground.
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“When you turn it over six times and you have 10 penalties, you’re 4-of-16, on conversion downs … that makes it tough,” Terps coach Randy Edsall said. “We just didn’t get it done today.”
Daxx Garman, who replaced Caleb Rowe after four interceptions, finally provided Maryland (2-2) with points on a 46-yard strike to Jarvis Davenport in the fourth quarter, albeit against WVU’s reserve defense.
“We were kind of upset when they scored on the second team but those guys have got to get in and learn,” said safety Karl Joseph.
Rowe finished 10-of-27 passing for 67 yards, throwing red-zone interceptions to Joseph and Daryl Worley in the third quarter. He was picked off in the first half by Terrell Chestnut and KJ Dillon.
That made nine interceptions in only two full games of action for Rowe, giving Edsall cause to consider starting his third quarterback of the young season.
“He’s got to learn to take what’s given to him.” Edsall said. “He’s got to get out of the mentality of thinking that people are open when they aren’t and forcing things.”
Even though Brandon Ross picked up 130 yards for the Terps, he capped a 55-yard second-quarter run by fumbling out of the end zone as Chestnut made a diving tackle from behind.
The 45 points matched the second-most for West Virginia against Maryland in a series that won’t continue until 2020.
“This is the last true rivalry we have right now with the conference we’re in,” said defensive coordinator Tony Gibson. “We told our kids we’re not going to be able to play them for the next four years, so we wanted to make a statement.”