Homecoming came to Morgantown, and it was not good. After looking like the class of the conference, WVU stumbled out of the gates this afternoon and couldn’t put together the small number of plays it would have taken to win this football game.
Unfortunately, the first half found WVU wunderkind QB Geno Smith throwing three interceptions, leading to scores each time. In the second half, the sidelines called it conservative, and the tires spun in the mud.
As most of WVU’s second halves have been this year today was a defensive stalemate. Unfortunately for the old Gold N’ Blue, the hole that was dug in the first half was too much to get out of. While Noel Devine broke a few good runs here and there, the offense and run game in particular couldn’t move the chains. When faced with third and long, as the ’Eers were for the entire second half, the line broke down and Geno was pressured or sacked or worse.
On a gorgeous day at Mountaineer Field, the Mountaineers lost a game they should have won. With more talent than the Orange, the Mountaineers should have controlled things from the get-go. But they didn’t. Now, with a 1-1 Big East record, they fall back to the pack. It’s any body’s conference, and the way things are going ... it’s going to get ugly in the Big East. Stay tuned. I’ll ruminate more on this tomorrow, but there’s no looking around it: this is bad. It’s going to be a long and dirty conference slate from here on out. All of the teams in the conference still think they can win this thing, let’s hope Stew and crew can right the ship ...