MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Follow along as West Virginia plays its first home game with full capacity permitted since 2019. The Mountaineers welcome Long Island University, members of the Northeast Conference in the Football Championship Subdivision, for a 5 p.m. kickoff that will be carried on ESPN+.
8:30 p.m. — FINAL: WEST VIRGINIA 66, Long Island 0. Mountaineers have won six straight at home dating back to the start of the 2020 season.
8:08 p.m. — A 1-yard touchdown run by A’varius Sparrow marks the first points of the final quarter. WEST VIRGINIA 66, Long Island 0, 5:25 4th qtr
Double Deuce! ? pic.twitter.com/7X1VYHNHx9
— WVU Football (@WVUfootball) September 12, 2021
8:05 p.m. — WVU remains in front 59-0. Mountaineers are about to start a series at the Sharks’ 29 with 6:43 remaining.
7:45 p.m. — A high snap from Jordan White leads to West Virginia’s first turnover of the day as Greene is unable to handle it. Sharks take over at their own 15 with time for one more play in the third quarter.
7:40 p.m. — Will Crowder comes in for a play as WVU’s quarterback — a handoff to Mathis that goes for 3 yards.
7:35 p.m. — Greene rushes for his second TD, this one from 13 yards. He is easily the team’s leading rusher to this point with 53 yards. WEST VIRGINIA 59, Long Island 0, 5:59 3rd qtr
If you blink you’ll miss him ? pic.twitter.com/K2NWcCYumL
— WVU Football (@WVUfootball) September 11, 2021
7:26 p.m. — Greene back in at QB for the Mountaineers and James Gmiter is at center. Doege’s day appears to be done. If so, he finishes 14-of-22 for 267 yards with three touchdowns.
7:20 p.m. — Mountaineers capitalize on their field position. Doege to James for a 15-yard touchdown. WEST VIRGINIA 52, Long Island 0, 11:16 3rd qtr
7:17 p.m. — It took until the seventh quarter of the season, but West Virginia forces its first turnover as defensive lineman Sean Martin recovers a fumble. The Mountaineers will start at the Sharks’ 21-yard line.
7:10 p.m. — Official attendance of WVU’s home opener is 50,911.
7:08 p.m. — Sean Ryan provides YAC (yards after catch) that West Virginia’s coaches spoke of wanting to see more of this week, turning a short reception into a 39-yard touchdown catch on a ball thrown by Doege. WEST VIRGINIA 45, Long Island 0, 12:34 3rd qtr
? to the ? pic.twitter.com/9TPcobQsaB
— WVU Football (@WVUfootball) September 11, 2021
6:55 p.m. — West Virginia with a 307-88 advantage in total yardage at halftime. Doege is 12-of-19 for 205 yards with one touchdown. The Mountaineers have had very little success on the ground to this point. Brown has 13 rushes for 21 yards.
6:42 p.m. — WVU moves into field goal range and Legg converts from 44 yards on the final play of the half. HALFTIME: WEST VIRGINIA 38, Long Island 0
6:37 p.m. — The Sharks move into the red zone before being set back when Akheem Mesidor sacks Camden Orth. Two plays later, kicker Paul Inzerillo misses a 25-yard field goal on what appeared to be an attempt with the football laying horizontal. Long Island remains scoreless.
6:20 p.m. — Doege returns behind center and throws an 18-yard touchdown pass to Sam James. WEST VIRGINIA 35, Long Island 0, 3:07 2nd qtr
Wiiiiiiide open @Samjames_13 ? pic.twitter.com/7BuyVB42HL
— WVU Football (@WVUfootball) September 11, 2021
6:12 p.m. — Replay has returned to being operative. West Virginia honors former coach Bobby Bowden with a video tribute on the scoreboard during a timeout.
6:04 p.m. — Greene keeps it for a 3-yard touchdown run on his first drive of the season. WVU’s second-string quarterback rushed six times for 34 yards and connected with Isaiah Esdale on a 28-yard pass for his lone completion in three attempts. WEST VIRGINIA 28, Long Island 0, 8:58 2nd qtr
6️⃣ coming right at ya ‼️ pic.twitter.com/XYEahvtVyB
— WVU Football (@WVUfootball) September 11, 2021
6:00 p.m. — The replay system is currently down, making replay inoperative.
5:50 p.m. — Greene takes over at quarterback for the Mountaineers, who start their third series from their own 31 with a three-touchdown lead.
5:37 p.m. — Brown scores again, this time on a 2-yard run. He’s up to five touchdowns this season, which equals the number the Mountaineers’ offense has produced. WEST VIRGINIA 21, Long Island 0, 2:18 1st qtr
5:25 p.m. — Leddie Brown scores on a 1-yard run to cap a 14 play, 80-yard drive. The Mountaineers converted a fourth-and-9 on Jarret Doege’s 21-yard pass to Bryce Ford-Wheaton, as well as a third-and-19 on Doege’s 29-yard pass to Wright in which the quarterback escaped pressure. Brown now has four of WVU’s five touchdowns to this point in the season, including three on the ground. WEST VIRGINIA 14, Long Island 0, 6:16 1st qtr
5:10 p.m. — Penn State transfer Lance Dixon makes the tackle on West Virginia’s first kickoff and starts at linebacker.
5:06 p.m. — Winston Wright returns the opening kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. One week after Wright set a single-game program record with 217 kickoff return yards against the Terrapins, the junior wideout picks up where he left off in the return game. Casey Legg converts the point-after kick after the hold was nearly botched. WEST VIRGINIA 7, Long Island 0, 14:49 1st qtr
The ✈️ #HailWV pic.twitter.com/n76cEJUNN2
— WVU Football (@WVUfootball) September 11, 2021
5:02 p.m. — Long Island wins the toss and defers to the second half. West Virginia will receive. Mountaineers’ captains for today’s game are wideout Sam James, running back Leddie Brown, defensive lineman Akheem Mesidor and linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo.
4:55 p.m. — One of West Virginia’s primary goals today is to play as many players as possible. Fatigue played a factor in the defense’s fourth-quarter struggles a week ago in a 30-24 loss at Maryland. Many Mountaineer fans will also be granted their wish of seeing quarterback Garrett Greene. WVU head coach Neal Brown confirmed on the radio Greene will play today.
4:50 p.m. — O’Laughlin is officially out for today’s game.
4:40 p.m. — Gray tops and pants with blue helmets for the Mountaineers. White tops and pants with yellow helmets for the Sharks.
Let’s Go! #TrustTheClimb pic.twitter.com/Mdswbg62s1
— WVU Football (@WVUfootball) September 11, 2021
4:20 p.m. — WVU tailback Tony Mathis is dressed and participating in warmups. No sign of tight end Mike O’Laughlin warming up.
We’re so happy to have this tradition back ? pic.twitter.com/ED182t9VVF
— WVU Football (@WVUfootball) September 11, 2021
3:40 p.m. — Former West Virginia cornerback Adam “Pacman” Jones is here and talked briefly with Mountaineer athletic director Shane Lyons in the press box moments ago. Jones was the sixth overall pick in the 2005 NFL Draft and played until 2018. He spent the majority of his career with the Cincinnati Bengals and also played briefly for the Tennessee Titans — who he was drafted by — and Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos.
The Mountaineers have arrived at Milan Puskar Stadium and the mantrip is complete pic.twitter.com/EnUw2jsSBL
— MetroNews (@WVMetroNews) September 11, 2021
3:25 p.m. — A 2-for-2 start to West Virginia’s season in terms of good weather games. Temperatures currently in the high 70s in Morgantown and tailgating looks as you’d expect.
3:00 p.m. — Long Island made the jump in 2019 from Division II to the FCS level and finished 0-10 that season. The Sharks were 2-2 in abbreviated 2020 spring campaign and lost last week’s opener at Florida International, 48-10. The Mountaineers are listed as a 47-48 point favorite and are after their sixth straight home win dating back to the start of last season.
Your essential pregame links:
Setting the scene from Morgantown
Mountaineers want to fine-tune effort against Sharks
Ben Waibogha returns to Morgantown as LIU visits WVU
WVU preparing for home opener as coronavirus numbers surge
After ‘mixed bag’ in opener, coaches hope to see better version of Doege
‘Three Guys Before the Game’ — Long Island edition
WVU defense seeks better start, improvement in communication
Bluefield’s Sean Martin raising his profile on WVU defensive line
Brown hopeful Mountaineers will keep faith, yet no lose sight of reality