MORGANTOWN - It was game day.
MORGANTOWN - It was game day.
The sea of cars with WVU flags moved into Touchdown City. The ticket scalpers were stationed at interstate exits. Beforehand, the Mountaineer players were fired up, the chest bumps were aplenty.
The band was strutting. The cool temperatures were perfect for college football.
And there were expectations - of the high variety.
Shortly before the season began, West Virginia star tailback Noel Devine said to expect fireworks from the Mountaineer offense.
On Saturday, there were spinners and sparklers. Devine finished with 111 rushing yards and a touchdown. The Mountaineers wore down an overmatched Coastal Carolina team and won 31-0.
But it wasn't exactly the Fourth of July.
It was instead, perhaps appropriately, a laboring day at times for the Mountaineer offense.
Yes, WVU finished with 400 total yards. But the Mountaineers' opening Big South victim last season, Liberty, defeated the Chanticleers by 58-13 in 2009.
"I thought our offense misfired early,'' said WVU coach Bill Stewart. "I don't want to make excuses for [quarterback] Geno [Smith], but this was his first complete game and he's a sophomore.''
Smith wasn't bad. Not at all. He completed 20-of-27 passes for 216 yards in what seemed to be a purposefully controlled offensive attack.
There simply weren't the Roman candles one expected.
"A lot of times we were so close,'' said WVU left tackle Don Barclay. "A lot of times there was like one more block to bust out longer runs, like Noel did at the end.''
In the end, Devine broke a run off for 39 yards to the 4-yard line. It was his game long. But for his career, Devine entered the game averaging over 6 yards a carry. Against Coastal, he averaged 4.8. It was somewhat odd because one imagined WVU's offensive line, which returned almost every starter, would be more impressive. At least against the Chanticleers.
"I mean, I thought we made some progress,'' Barclay said of the line. "At first, we took 16 plays [on the initial scoring drive]. We just kept sustaining it. We never stopped. We gave Geno some good protection. He didn't get hit that much at all.''
In fact, he wasn't sacked once. Heading into the season, pass protection was a concern from the unit.
"We made some steps forward,'' Barclay continued. "We just have to work on sustaining our blocks. Maybe get that extra block. Then Noel will get more longer runs.''
Of course, WVU wasn't showing all its cards. Stewart and company had to think they could simply overpower the visitors. Also, the coaches wanted to allow Smith to wade in, rather than dive.
MORGANTOWN - It was game day.
The sea of cars with WVU flags moved into Touchdown City. The ticket scalpers were stationed at interstate exits. Beforehand, the Mountaineer players were fired up, the chest bumps were aplenty.
The band was strutting. The cool temperatures were perfect for college football.
And there were expectations - of the high variety.
Shortly before the season began, West Virginia star tailback Noel Devine said to expect fireworks from the Mountaineer offense.
On Saturday, there were spinners and sparklers. Devine finished with 111 rushing yards and a touchdown. The Mountaineers wore down an overmatched Coastal Carolina team and won 31-0.
But it wasn't exactly the Fourth of July.
It was instead, perhaps appropriately, a laboring day at times for the Mountaineer offense.
Yes, WVU finished with 400 total yards. But the Mountaineers' opening Big South victim last season, Liberty, defeated the Chanticleers by 58-13 in 2009.
"I thought our offense misfired early,'' said WVU coach Bill Stewart. "I don't want to make excuses for [quarterback] Geno [Smith], but this was his first complete game and he's a sophomore.''
Smith wasn't bad. Not at all. He completed 20-of-27 passes for 216 yards in what seemed to be a purposefully controlled offensive attack.
There simply weren't the Roman candles one expected.
"A lot of times we were so close,'' said WVU left tackle Don Barclay. "A lot of times there was like one more block to bust out longer runs, like Noel did at the end.''
In the end, Devine broke a run off for 39 yards to the 4-yard line. It was his game long. But for his career, Devine entered the game averaging over 6 yards a carry. Against Coastal, he averaged 4.8. It was somewhat odd because one imagined WVU's offensive line, which returned almost every starter, would be more impressive. At least against the Chanticleers.
"I mean, I thought we made some progress,'' Barclay said of the line. "At first, we took 16 plays [on the initial scoring drive]. We just kept sustaining it. We never stopped. We gave Geno some good protection. He didn't get hit that much at all.''
In fact, he wasn't sacked once. Heading into the season, pass protection was a concern from the unit.
"We made some steps forward,'' Barclay continued. "We just have to work on sustaining our blocks. Maybe get that extra block. Then Noel will get more longer runs.''
Of course, WVU wasn't showing all its cards. Stewart and company had to think they could simply overpower the visitors. Also, the coaches wanted to allow Smith to wade in, rather than dive.
"I thought if we just stuck to our man zone, our bread and butter, we could just work with that,'' Barclay admitted. "We did a lot of that today.''
There were, though, other Mountaineer standouts. Like the entire defense.
"They were fast,'' said Coastal quarterback Zach MacDowall. "It felt like, I don't know, maybe they had 12 to 15 guys on the field with that 3-3-5. A lot of movement around with the linebackers. They were real fast, real athletic. And they played a great ballgame.''
MacDowall said his team "shot [itself] in the foot'' via penalties. The Chants had six for 40 yards. WVU had but three. The visiting QB, though, also hurt his team by tossing an interception right before halftime - after Coastal had intercepted Smith. The chance was there for the Chants to move within 10-7.
Then along came Brandon Hogan with a terrific interception, complete with foot drag, to end the threat.
"Our offense had just [thrown an interception] and it went into the red zone,'' Hogan said. "The next play, I just picked it and took it right away. Took the life from them.''
WVU's defense had Coastal's offense on life support the whole game. The Chants had but 186 yards and no points.
"We're satisfied,'' Hogan said. "That was our first doughnut in a long time. The defense played well. The offense just had a couple turnovers. They played well also.''
"We played very basic football,'' said assistant coach Steve Dunlap. "When you go in that opening game, you really don't know what you're going to get. Every year is a new year in college football. We did what we think we did best.
"Overall we can do better with mechanics, but we'll get it ironed out.''
WVU did show its front with Julian Miller and Bruce Irvin on the field.
"We're just trying to get our four best pass rushers on the field,'' Dunlap said. "Third down is a big deal to us. We spend a lot of time on it. That's what gets you off the field.
"I always know the best pass coverage is that front four covering that quarterback up. They knock him down and put him on his back, we don't have to worry about much else.''
Indeed, the defense played well. As expected, the team's starters played until the start of the fourth quarter before retiring. The offensive and defensive schemes were vanilla.
Heck, the 31-0 score will pass the eye test for poll voters. It was fine.
On this Labor Day weekend, though, it just wasn't the Fourth of July.
Reach Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827, mitchvin...@wvgazette.com or follow him at http://twitter.com/MitchVingle.
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