MORGANTOWN - It's not as if Jock Sanders has never played tailback at West Virginia. After all, when he arrived in the same recruiting class as Noel Devine, there was a battle waged between the two for playing time.

And even though Devine won that battle in the early days of their career and Sanders was subsequently moved to slot receiver, Sanders still has kept his hand in some backfield plays. In West Virginia's offense, he quite often motions into a spot beside quarterback Jarrett Brown or takes a handoff on an end-around.

Still, when Sanders was asked Saturday to pretty much take over full time for an injured Devine in the second half of West Virginia's 17-9 win over Louisville, it took him a while to adjust.

"At first you're kind of playing on eggshells,'' Sanders said. "But then it's just like playing the slot. You get the hang of it.

"I guess that's why they gave me a scholarship. I'm versatile.''

Sanders was versatile enough Saturday to move into the backfield when Devine was hurt at the end of a 20-yard run late in the first half. The play was Devine's first for any significant yardage and wound up being pretty much his last. He would return for a couple more snaps and even caught a short pass in the second half, but then retired for the day with what trainer Dave Kerns described as a minor ankle sprain.

The first few times Sanders touched the ball in the second half, it was as a motioning slot receiver. More and more, though, he began lining up in the backfield. Throughout that second half, running backs Chris Beatty coached Sanders between series on his tailback duties. On the field, Brown did the same.

"I had to tell him a few things,'' Brown said. "But not much. He knows what he's doing.''

Sanders finished the game with 12 carries for 66 yards, to go along with three receptions for 20 yards and a touchdown.

Kerns tried as best he could to go through West Virginia's injuries after the game.

Devine's ankle sprain, he said, was minor and that the tailback would be day-to-day this week as the Mountaineers prepare for Friday night's game at No. 4 Cincinnati. Brown rolled his ankle late in the fourth quarter and was replaced for one snap by Eugene Smith, but he returned and seemed no worse for wear after the game.

On defense, safety Sidney Glover and nose guard Chris Neild suffered shoulder sprains. Neild missed the entire second half, although Kerns said he could have returned if needed.

Defensive tackle and backup nose guard Josh Taylor missed the game with a back sprain.

The best news from an injury standpoint was probably that middle linebacker Reed Williams played much of the game and wasn't affected by shoulder and foot problems.

MORGANTOWN - It's not as if Jock Sanders has never played tailback at West Virginia. After all, when he arrived in the same recruiting class as Noel Devine, there was a battle waged between the two for playing time.

And even though Devine won that battle in the early days of their career and Sanders was subsequently moved to slot receiver, Sanders still has kept his hand in some backfield plays. In West Virginia's offense, he quite often motions into a spot beside quarterback Jarrett Brown or takes a handoff on an end-around.

Still, when Sanders was asked Saturday to pretty much take over full time for an injured Devine in the second half of West Virginia's 17-9 win over Louisville, it took him a while to adjust.

"At first you're kind of playing on eggshells,'' Sanders said. "But then it's just like playing the slot. You get the hang of it.

"I guess that's why they gave me a scholarship. I'm versatile.''

Sanders was versatile enough Saturday to move into the backfield when Devine was hurt at the end of a 20-yard run late in the first half. The play was Devine's first for any significant yardage and wound up being pretty much his last. He would return for a couple more snaps and even caught a short pass in the second half, but then retired for the day with what trainer Dave Kerns described as a minor ankle sprain.

The first few times Sanders touched the ball in the second half, it was as a motioning slot receiver. More and more, though, he began lining up in the backfield. Throughout that second half, running backs Chris Beatty coached Sanders between series on his tailback duties. On the field, Brown did the same.

"I had to tell him a few things,'' Brown said. "But not much. He knows what he's doing.''

Sanders finished the game with 12 carries for 66 yards, to go along with three receptions for 20 yards and a touchdown.

Kerns tried as best he could to go through West Virginia's injuries after the game.

Devine's ankle sprain, he said, was minor and that the tailback would be day-to-day this week as the Mountaineers prepare for Friday night's game at No. 4 Cincinnati. Brown rolled his ankle late in the fourth quarter and was replaced for one snap by Eugene Smith, but he returned and seemed no worse for wear after the game.

On defense, safety Sidney Glover and nose guard Chris Neild suffered shoulder sprains. Neild missed the entire second half, although Kerns said he could have returned if needed.

Defensive tackle and backup nose guard Josh Taylor missed the game with a back sprain.

The best news from an injury standpoint was probably that middle linebacker Reed Williams played much of the game and wasn't affected by shoulder and foot problems.

"I feel good,'' Williams said. "My shoe blew up once. It split completely in half and I had to run off the field because of it. But otherwise I was fine.''

Punter Scott Kozlowski survived another day and thrived through it.

One of the country's top-10 punters in terms of average, Kozlowski again failed to get a kick downed or out of bounds close to the goal line in the first half. It went into the end zone and came out to the 20 and resulted in a net gain of just 25 yards.

It's the same thing that almost got him fired from those short punts last week at South Florida.

Coach Bill Stewart, though, didn't replace Kozlowski, who later had a kick downed at the 2-yard line. On seven kicks overall, he averaged 47.6 yards.

"I was pleased with the way Scott Kozlowski bounced back,'' Stewart said. "He was on the verge of being set down.''

Kicker Tyler Bitancurt also was terrific at times in his first full game as the kickoff specialist, putting two into the end zone. But a third kick dribbled out of bounds inside the 5 and gave Louisville the ball at the 40 and another, to the 12, was returned by Trent Guy to the 45.

Briefly

Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.