MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Youngstown State, a RANKED team (in the FCS poll, that is), arrived at Milan Puskar Stadium for a Week 2 matchup that had upset potential for a bit, before West Virginia asserted itself in a 38-21 win.
My live blog rolled throughout the 90-degree afternoon:
Final stats
— West Virginia outgained Youngstown State 624-405, averaging 7.9 yards per play in the first half and 8 per snap in the second half.
— Skyler Howard threw for five touchdowns and 389 yards on 20-of-33 passing. Shelton Gibson made six catches for 171 yards with two scoring bombs.
— WVU finished 10-of-15 on third downs, while the Penguins were 5-of-14.
Fourth quarter
— William Crest wins today’s edition of backup quarterback roulette and takes the second-team snaps to kill the final 2:02.
— The Mountaineers finally force a turnover: Al-Rasheed Benton picked off Trent Hosick to wrap this one up.
SCORE: Howard 21-yard pass to Kennedy McKoy (5:37) WVU leads 38-21: West Virginia answered with a seven-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. It featured something unexpected (McKoy’s first college TD) and something completely expected (a Bo Pelini unsportsmanlike flag). The coach took fiery exception to the pass interference flag against David Rivers, which extended the drive after a third-down incompletion.
SCORE: Hosick 15-yard touchdown run (8:44) WVU leads 31-21: The Penguins tried a new quarterback and Hosick jump-started the nine-play, 57-yard drive. His key throw? A fourth-and-3 connection with Alvin Bailey for 4 yards at the WVU 32.
— Pinned at its 2, West Virginia goes three-and-out. That ends a string of three consecutive scoring drives.
— Youngstown State punted for the sixth consecutive possession and was lucky to escape a pick-six after Davis floated a careless swing pass over linebacker Xavier Preston.
Third quarter
SCORE: Howard 57-yard pass to Gibson (2:50) WVU leads 31-14: After eating clock with a twin fullbacks on the previous series, West Virginia does it the quick way—a one-play strike that consumed nine seconds.
—Youngstown gained 3 yards on a three-and-out.
SCORE: Molina 32-yard field goal (2:50) WVU leads 24-14: The Mountaineers settled for the kick after Kyle Bosch’s holding flag negated Shell’s 6-yard touchdown run. Otherwise, a solid and steady drive that consumed 14 plays, 65 yards and featured three third-down conversions. Howard popped a 12-yard run on third-and-long, Kennedy McKoy ripped off a 22-yarder on third-and-short, and Howard added a 4-yard red-zone run to set up first-and-goal.
— YSU didn’t capitalize on Darien Townsend’s 39-yard kick return. The Penguins punted from the WVU 41 after Damoun Patterson dropped a potential 20-yard throw from Davis.
SCORE: Howard 11-yard pass to Shorts (9:26) WVU leads 21-14: The Mountaineers rolled 86 yards in nine plays, capped by that ever-reliable fade-route hookup, just as crisp as it looked in the Cactus Bowl. WVU moved into scoring position when Gibson roasted Kenny Bishop on a 45-yard bomb, which came two plays after Holgorsen sniped at Gibson for creating an illegal formation penalty.
— Despite WVU dropping eight in coverage, Davis completed a third-and-10 pass to Scott for 21 yards. On the next third down, Maurice Fleming maintained tight coverage on Stefan Derrick and YSU punted.
Halftime update
— West Virginia holds 327-220 edge in yardage, 15-10 margin in first downs and leads 42-34 in total plays.
— QB comparison: Skyler Howard 11-of-19 for 222 yards, two touchdowns and a tipped interception. Ricky Davis 7-of-13 for 149 yards and one touchdown, plus 53 yards on nine carries.
— Daikiel Shorts has 82 yards on five catches, followed by White with 75 yards on three grabs and Gibson with 66 yards on two.
— Third-down comparison: WVU is 5-of-8 with Youngstown 3-of-7.
Second quarter
— Mike Molina, 4-of-4 last week, shanks a 30-yarder on the final play of the half. (At the same moment, in Stillwater, Central Michigan went Hail Lateral Mary to stun Oklahoma State. Coincidence? Hardly.) The missed chipshot ruined a good-looking last-minute drive highlighted by two Daikiel Shorts catches worth 34 yards.
— An eventful three-and-out for Youngstown as Davis tracks down an errant snap some 20 yards deep in the backfield before running out of two tackles to minimize the damage to a 6-yard loss.
SCORE: Howard 54-yard pass to Shelton Gibson (3:15) Game tied 14-14: Gibson’s first official target of the day saw him haul in the deep ball. (Yet again, Youngstown had safety help and yet again the WVU receiver outran it.) On third-and-3 earlier, Shelton drew a pass interference flag on Bishop.
— YSU went three-and-out as Justin Arndt and Douglas stuffed Ruiz on third-and-1.
— Backed up to its 9 by a kick-return flag, WVU advanced to the 36 before Howard was hit by a blitzer, dangerously deflecting the ball at the line of scrimmage. His third-down swing pass was dropped by Crawford in the flat.
SCORE: Davis 74-yard pass to Alvin Bailey (10:13) YSU leads 14-7: West Virginia’s third-and-4 blitz was scorched when Bailey zipped past Jarrod Harper on the deep ball. Two scores in less than 4 minutes have energized the Penguins and put WVU on the dreaded upset alert.
— West Virginia went uptempo on a fourth-and-2 at the YSU, leading Bo Pelini to angrily call timeout. (Perhaps thinking his unit should have been allowed to sub?) After the break, it was Holgorsen’s turn to bark at officials as Shell was flagged for illegal procedure while Howard checked the play.
SCORE: Martin Ruiz 1-yard run (13:47) Game tied 7-7: After a Rasul Douglas interception was negated by a Rasul Douglas holding call, the Penguins finished off a nine-play, 72-yard drive. Davis threw a 22-yarder to Scott and converted a third-and-5 pass to Darien Townsend at the sticks. The quarterback also dodged a blitzing Al-Rasheed Benton before dumping a 15-yard pass to running back Tevin McCaster.
First quarter
SCORE: Howard 53-yard pass to Ka’Raun White (3:16) WVU leads 7-0: Howard lobbed a deep ball over double coverage and White tracked it for his first college touchdown. (Big brother Kevin can’t tease him anymore.) Howard and White made a third-and-8 hookup for 11 yards earlier in the drive, a play extended by Howard’s mobility after Derek Rivers beat right tackle Marcell Lazard. Justin Crawford also ran 5 yards to convert a third-and-3.
— Replay works! Youngstown’s 18-yard completion to Isiah Scott was overturned thanks to Rasul Douglas ripping the ball loose on the way to the ground. Mark Schuler booms a 59-yard punt that barely gets a piece of the goal line for a touchback.
— The Mountaineers move from their 20 to their 44 but YSU all-time sacks leader Derek Rivers flushes Howard into a third-and-5 incompletion. Billy Kinney’s 44-yard punt pins the Pens at their own 12.
— Ricky Davis racked up 31 yards on five QB keepers, but YSU also hurt itself with a late-hit penalty before Maurice Fleming broke up a third-and-7 pass near midfield.
— A 21-yard run by Rushel Shell and a 16-yard pass to Shorts had WVU moving, until Howard’s slant pass went through Durante’s hands, leading to Eric Thompson’s interception at the Youngstown 31.
Pregame notes
— Expect a few more deep shots by WVU this week. Shelton Gibson (six catches for 39 yards on seven targets) and Ka’Raun White (two catches for 32 yards) were tamped down by Missouri’s relaxed corners and over-the-top safeties.
“We could never get those guys loose,” Dana Holgorsen said. “We’ve got some guys who can run, some guys we can big-play with. We just need to give them opportunities.”
— Youngstown State is 1-10 against the Power Five since adding an annual pay-to-play game in 2005. That win was a doozy, 31-17 at Pitt to spoil Paul Chryst’s debut in 2012. The Penguins own 21 wins over FBS teams since the divisional split in 1978.
— The Penguins and Mountaineers haven’t played since 1938, which is the year top-ranked TCU won the national title by beating No. 6 Carnegie Tech (pre-Mellon) in the Sugar Bowl.
— Peruse the MetroNews staff final-score predictions above. And spend 3 minutes watching the Friday Gold & Blue Lunch Report for all the staff picks and Tony Caridi’s call of Grant Wiley Hall of Fame moment.
— Marshall would be celebrating two I-AA national titles if not for YSU, which beat the Herd in the 1991 and ’93 championship games.
— We played “Pregame MatchGame” again on the MetroNews network (astonishingly Hoppy did not cancel the segment after Week 1). Here’s what went down:
1) The home theater sports experience has become so realistic. When I ordered my satellite package last month, they bundled it with BLANK. [Studio answers: Beer and brats, cheerleaders and “a security guard to bust me.”]
2) NASCAR’s influence on the Battle at Bristol is yuuge. When Butch Jones told his assistants to make pregame adjustments, they brought a BLANK. [Studio answers: Air wrench, jack and “one of those fuel things.”]
3) Dumb Dora is so dumb. She heard Skyler Howard had problems with his ribs so she brought him BLANK. [Studio answers: Barbecue sauce, wet wipes, a bib.]