10:06am: Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval

Live blog: West Virginia finally shakes K-State

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Recappng the action as West Virginia removed a Wildcat-sized monkey from its back by edging Kansas State 17-16:

Fourth quarter

— KState had its chance to make it a five-year run, but Matthew McCrane pulled a 42-yard kick wide left with 2:03 remaining.

SCORE: Skyler Howard 7-yard touchdown pass to Jovon Durante (6:11) WVU leads 17-16: The Mountaineers took their first lead as Howard bought time rolling right and Durante found an opening in the back of the end zone. Crawford’s 21-yard run jumpstarted the drive and Ka’Raun White made two physical runs after possession grabs.

— K-State used only 91 seconds on a three-and-out, which included Kyzir White’s first career sack.

— The bad news? WVU went three-and-out after the turnover. Silver lining? Skyler Howard is a switch-thrower. (His left-handed screen pass was dropped by Rushel Shell, however.)

— With the crowd at full-throat, Ertz converted a third-and-15 pass. But Rasul Douglas made sure K-State got nothing more, wrestling an interception away from Byron Pringle at the WVU 27.

SCORE: Justin Crawford 1-yard touchdown run (13:41) K-State leads 16-10: An acrobatic 52-yard catch left Shelton Gibson sans helmet but sparked West Virginia to life. A fourth-and-6 slant pass from Howard to Ka’Raun White gained precisely enough to extend the drive, before Crawford walked in on third-and-goal.

Third quarter

— K-State earned 18 yards’ worth of breathing room after the turnover, but Noble Nwachukwu sacked Ertz to force a punt.

— The first fumble by a WVU running back this season negated a good-looking drive at the Kansas State 2-yard line. Shell lost the ball on second-and-goal, stripped by backup defensive end Reggie Walker. A 10-play, 63-yard march — on which Howard converted a fourth-down pass to Jovon Durante for 17 yards — produced only a Holgorsen head-shake.

SCORE: McCrane 22-yard field goal (6:37) K-State leads 16-3: Pringle ripped off a 58-yard kick return to resurrect WVU nightmares of games past, but he also dropped a would-be 16-yard touchdown pass. McCrane did his job again and K-State used 4:38 to go 37 yards.

SCORE: Josh Lambert 37-yard field goal (11:24) K-State leads 13-3: Even a long-awaited scoring drive was tainted when left tackle Adam Pankey jumped on fourth-and-2 at the K-State 15 with WVU trying to convert. (Ron Crook became quite animated.) A 31-yard Howard-to-Shorts pass highlighted the series, but right tackle continues to be a problem after Jordan Wilis made his second sack of the afternoon.

Halftime thoughts

— West Virginia (1-of-6 on third downs) hasn’t looked this sluggish offensively in an opening half since the K-State game of 2014, when it trailed 17-3.

— Average third-down distance is 8.3 yards for the Mountaineers.

— The Mountaineers were only outgained 178-174 overall but committed a dropped-pass interception and flubbed a chip-shot field goal.

— WVU also minus-55 yards in penalties compared to 10 for K-State.

— Howard is 13-of-21 passing for 131 yards, while Ertz is 6-of-18 for 118.

Second quarter

— Seeking some late-half momentum, West Virginia endured a clunky three-and-out. After being pressured into an incompletion by Jordan Willis, Howard barked at right tackle Marcell Lazard. That’s three consecutive punts for the Mountaineers.

SCORE: McCrane 31-yard field goal (1:10) K-State leads 13-0: Brutal field position didn’t stop K-State from driving 83 yards for another score. They consumed 5:25 doing it as well. It was a methodical drive except for Ertz lobbing a risky 37-yard pass to Deante Burton, on which the 6-foot-2 receiver outjumped 5-10 Maurice Fleming. (Noble Nwachukwu’s roughing-the-passer infraction extended the gain.)

— WVU reached the Wildcats’ 40, but their third trip across midfield produced nothing. Billy Kenny’s punt pinned K-State at its own 3, however.

— K-State went three-and-out, netting just 2 yards.

— West Virginia couldn’t answer. Jordan Willis sacked Howard on a four-man rush, and third-and-9 pass never got off when Howard was flushed for a 1-yard gain.

SCORE: McCrane 37-yard field goal (12:09) K-State leads 10-0: The Wildcats move 49 yards in nine plays to extend the lead. Ertz converted a third-and-1 keeper at the WVU 29, but K-State endured a delay-of-game penalty and spent two timeouts while showing personnel confusion. This made Bill Snyder a grumpy grandpa.

First quarter

— Either Holgorsen’s confidence in his kicking game seems sketchy, or Lambert is injured. Facing fourth-and-7 at the K-State 31, the offense stays on the field and Howard’s pass falls incomplete. A 13-play drive nets zilch.

SCORE: Jesse Ertz 2-yard touchdown run (4:41) K-State leads 7-0: The Wildcats capitalized on the short field as Ertz hit Byron Pringle for 18 yards on third-and-10. Ertz riddled the WVU zone again on a 26-yarder to Dominique Heath to set up the score.

— Howard’s pass hit Ka’Raun White on target but K-State’s Duke Shelley popped it loose leading to Elijah Lee’s interception at the WVU 48.

— K-State goes three-and-out on its second series, and breaks the huddle with 12 men. This egregious lack of discipline clearly shows the game has passed Snyder by.

— Josh Lambert’s first field goal try of the season was good, only it wasn’t. A delay of game flag negated his 25-yarder before Lambert hooked a 30-yarder wide left. (Only took 7 minutes for special-teams mistake to surface!!!) West Virginia wasted a 46-yard pass from Howard to Gibson that sparked the threat.

— Strong first impression for the WVU defense after yielding a first down. TFLs by Justin Arndt and David Long lead to third-and-18 before Ertz’s sideline pass was nearly picked by Douglas.

West Virginia’s Rushel Shell carried out the state flag Saturday.

 

Pregame fodder

— Injuries are taking a toll in the WVU secondary. Cornerback Antonio Crawford (shoulder) is out today, meaning Maurice Fleming and Rasul Douglas are the starting corners. Backup free safety Toyous Avery, who missed the BYU game, is listed as the backup at free safety.

— Also, redshirt freshman David Long will make his first start at Will linebacker, overtaking Sean Walters. Tony Gibson has raved about Long’s potential since he stepped on campus in the summer of 2015.

— Storylines? You want some stinkin’ storylines? Look here for the Four-Down Territory preview. We cover Adam “He’s Definitely A Guard” Pankey relocating to tackle, West Virginia’s soft run defense, and the severe medical secret K-State linebacker Charmeachealle Moore concealed from the media for a year.

— Picks? You want some stinkin’ picks? Watch Friday’s Gold & Blue Lunch Report for the complete rundown, and here are the guesses for West Virginia-Kansas State:

— Sports handicapper Brad Powers, a fixture on the MetroNews GameDay broadcast, strongly likes K-State straight-up today, nevermind the 3.5 points.

— Skyler Howard on dual-threat quarterbacks like himself and K-State’s long lineage: “I don’t think you can defend it. When you cover everybody downfield and then you have an athletic quarterback make a play, it’s probably the dagger in a defense’s heart. They did everything right but the guy just makes a play. The game is progressing that way, and if you can keep the guy healthy it’s going to be successful.”

Health is the key word there. Howard obviously wasn’t fully functional last December, hobbling on a tender ankle, which hindered him dramatically on a crucial fourth-down keeper.

— Gametime weather is 72 degrees and partly cloudy.





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