BLACKSBURG, Va. — West Virginia’s defense was rightfully praised by head coach Neal Brown moments after the Mountaineers wrapped up a 33-10 win at Virginia Tech to even their record at 2-2.
Over the last eight quarters, that defense has surrendered one touchdown, and several personnel and position tweaks have proven beneficial since the unit was carved up in a home overtime loss to Kansas that left West Virginia 0-2 for the first time in 43 seasons.
“We felt like that was an aberration, but we had to go prove otherwise,” Brown said. “We answered last week versus an inferior team, which we were expected to. [Thursday] was a big challenge. We talked about this being a redemption game for us.”
Yet for as much improvement as the defense has displayed on the road to redemption, the Mountaineers’ offense continues to operate at a high level.
Thursday’s performance against the Hokies marked one of the more balanced and efficient efforts in Brown’s four seasons as head coach. Of WVU’s 421 total yards, 218 came on the ground, while quarterback JT Daniels passed for the remaining 203.
“Offensively, we controlled the game,” Brown said.
Although it was a slow start for the WVU offense, 10 points over the final 1:50 of the opening half turned the game in the Mountaineers’ favor and allowed them to lead for good.
After scoring three points over its first four series, West Virginia was forced to settle for the second of four Casey Legg field goals that cut Tech’s lead to 7-6.
The Hokies managed one first down on the ensuing possession, before being forced to punt. One of 15 Virginia Tech penalties on the punt allowed the Mountaineers to start at their 30-yard line with 1:01 remaining and two timeouts to work with.
West Virginia likely needed to gain at least 40 yards to consider a go-ahead field goal. Instead, the Mountaineers put together their first touchdown on an impressive and memorable 70-yard drive that put them in the driver’s seat.
“It was big and much-needed,” Daniels said. “A huge momentum swing and you felt it. End of half drives are always huge and they help you a lot. You feel great going into the locker room, which we did.”
To start the drive, Daniels found tight end Mike O’Laughlin on consecutive passes that totaled 19 yards and allowed the Mountaineers to approach midfield.
A 14-yard pass from Daniels to wideout Kaden Prather followed, and two plays later, Prather’s 13-yard catch put WVU just outside the red zone.
Out of a timeout and with 17 seconds remaining, Daniels made a perfect read against a look VT had yet to deploy, finding Sam James up the seam on a perfectly placed 24-yard touchdown pass.
“It was a Tampa 2, which they haven’t run very much this year, but they do run it in 2-minute situations when the offense needs to throw the ball,” Daniels said. “I had talked to Sam before the play, because he had that inside seam vertical, and I told him, ‘If it’s that 2 cover, attack the mike and beat him down the middle’, and that’s exactly what happened.”
As was the case throughout the contest, West Virginia’s offensive line was solid in protection on the final first-half series, which combined with the steady play of Daniels, allowed the Mountaineers to gain control.
“I felt like we were in control of the game, but the scoreboard didn’t say that,” Brown said. “From that drive on, we were in control. We managed the clock well. JT does a really nice job in those situations and the 4-minute situations, because he’s relaxed and he’s played a lot of football and is highly intelligent. Our offensive line did a great job in protection.”
For the game, West Virginia allowed one sack against a defense that had created havoc in its first three contests, often from blitz packages. Daniels was rarely pressured and VT wasn’t credited with a quarterback hurry.
WVU went on to score on three of its four second-half series, with the Mountaineers opting to take a knee in the red zone as time expired on their only non-scoring drive after halftime.
A 218-yard rushing effort was keyed by true freshman CJ Donaldson’s 106 yards, while sophomore Justin Johnson Jr. rushed for 83 yards and his first career touchdown.
“We felt like in the first half we were close,” Brown said. “We kind of shot ourselves in the foot. We got a penalty and fumbled the football, which is uncharacteristic. We felt good about our plan. We never hit the panic button. We made a couple adjustments at halftime in the run game, but we kept running the same pass plays. We made sure we moved our pieces a little more in the second half.”