MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s defense allowed all of Albany’s point production in the second quarter of Saturday’s 49-14 victory at Mountaineer Field.
The Great Danes put together consecutive series of 87 and 64 yards, respectively, to turn what had been a 21-0 deficit into a one possession game late in the first half.
It was a somewhat similar script for the defense as to what transpired a week earlier in a 34-12 loss to Penn State. In that game, the Nittany Lions did not score on their first two possessions, but then produced touchdowns on three of their remaining four series in the opening half.
“That’s not unique just to our defense,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said. “A lot of times, offenses take a while to get into rhythm a little bit. We played really fast early and the other thing is they started taking shots downfield and that’s where they had success.”
The Great Danes punted on their first three possessions and had 11 yards in the opening quarter. Yet Albany went to halftime with 191 total yards after developing an offensive rhythm during the second frame, which included quarterback Myles Burkett’s nine completions for 156 yards in the period.
Albany’s first touchdown drive included a third-and-16 conversion on Burkett’s 19-yard pass to wideout Seven McGee. Two plays later, tailback Griffin Waddell was in the end zone on a 7-yard run.
Immediately after forcing the game’s only turnover, the Great Danes put together their second and final scoring drive. This one featured a 22-yard pass from Burkett to McGee on second-and-10, along with Burkett’s 33-yard touchdown pass to wideout Jacari Carter on second-and-16.
“We have to do a better job playing the ball in the air,” Brown said.
Even in a scoreless second half, Albany managed 183 total yards and was in the red zone on three of its four series. Two ended with the Mountaineers stopping the Great Danes on fourth-and-1, including from the 1-yard line on one occasion, while the game clock expired on the game’s final series with the Great Danes losing 16 yards on their last play to go from the Mountaineers’ 12 to 28.
On the first series of the second half, Burkett, a Wisconsin transfer, connected with Levi Wentz for 49 yards on third-and-17. However, the Great Danes ultimately managed 1 yard on four plays starting with first-and-goal from the WVU 2. The drive ended with Burkett’s fourth-and-goal pass toward McGee falling incomplete after the wideout slipped and fell early into his route.
Albany’s inability to produce on the ground (35 carries, 68 yards) made it tougher on the Great Danes to convert in short yardage situations.
“Our rush defense was really good and our end of possession downs were good,” Brown said. “We got off the field on fourth down, which was a positive.”
Yet as West Virginia stuffed Albany’s ground game, Burkett threw for 306 yards despite completing only 18-of-39 passes.
Six of the nine players to catch a pass for Albany had at least one reception of 20-plus yards.
The Great Danes also converted twice on third-and-16 as well as the aforementioned third-and-17 on the pass play to Wentz.
“We went into the game wanting to play more man coverage, and we did,” Brown said. “That’s what we were in on two of those. We have to mix it up. You kind of pick and choose what you’re going to do in these games. Sometimes you need a tendency break or trial and error, which you can do. We learned some things we can do and some things we can’t do.”
West Virginia was credited with three pass breakups — one each from defensive backs Anthony Wilson, Rodney Gallagher and Jacoby Spells — but has yet to intercept a pass through two games.
“We had a pass interference call [against cornerback Dontez Fagan], and we were in coverage, but we didn’t look back, so it’s the right call. We had two other times where we didn’t make the play down the field because we didn’t have eyes back,” Brown said. “We have to do a better job of playing the ball in the air and that’s something we can continue to work in practice. No. 7 [McGee] is a good player. He started at Oregon and they’re not in the business of signing bad players. He can play. He was really good last week in their first game and he made a bunch of plays. He made two really highly contested plays. One of them was on a bender in the second quarter and the other was on the first play of the second half [a 41-yard reception]. Those were big-time plays.”
Burkett’s passing total was substantially more than the 165 yards he threw for one week earlier in a six-point win against Long Island. It came on 13 more attempts with six more completions.
“He did a nice job. He played a lot better than he did in Week 1,” Brown said. “He was tough. That’s probably the best compliment I can give him. He took some hits and their center was a little off on his snaps. He had to handle some of those and still threw the ball. Some of his seam balls were really big-time throws.”
Transfers Garnett Hollis and Ayden Garnes have gotten the bulk of the snaps at cornerback through two weeks and both continue to adjust to a new defense.
For Garnes, who previously played at Duquesne, it’s a step up in competition. The same can be said for Fagan, who previously played at Charlotte, Central Oklahoma and Independence Community College.
Mountaineer opponents have completed 30-of-57 passes for 541 yards with five touchdowns over the first two games.
“We did a much better job of getting aligned and handling their formations,” Brown said. “But we didn’t play the ball in the air very well and we didn’t play real fast.”