(Football News – Photo Illustration/MetroCreative)
West Virginia finally put together a complete game at home in a solid 31-21 win over Central Florida. For area fans who made the trek to Morgantown on a cold windy day, the return trip across Route 50 in the dark became much shorter.
The Mountaineers took control early jumping out to a 14-0 first quarter lead behind running back CJ Donaldson, and then essentially put the game away with back to back scores at the end of the first half and beginning of the second. Leading 14-7 with seconds remaining in the second quarter and facing third-and-goal from the UCF 12-yard line, Garrett Greene lofted a perfect pass on a fade pattern to Rodney Gallagher in the corner of the end zone to give WVU a comfortable two score halftime lead. West Virginia then scored quickly after the second half kickoff to extend the margin to 28-7 which was more than enough to secure the victory.
UCF did try and make a comeback attempt in the second half, but the Mountaineers responded to a touchdown by the Knights with an eight-minute drive ending in a field goal. After UCF scored again to close within 10 points, WVU ran out the final five minutes. On the last possession the Mountaineers converted two fourth down plays. On 18 occasions during the afternoon, West Virginia was faced with third downs but were able to convert a first down 12 times, four of those being on fourth down.
Greene did not complete his first pass until midway through the second quarter but finished 13 of 21 in one of his best outings of the season. Special teams were also a factor, as two long kickoff returns by Preston Fox set up the Mountaineers with good field position, and punter Oliver Straw averaged 50 yards on four punts. There was some amusement, however, when he picked up what might have been the first personal foul by a punter in Mountaineer Field history.
Central Florida entered the game eighth in the nation in total offense, but lacked the high profile passing attack to take advantage of the vulnerable WVU secondary.
In an unusual anomaly West Virginia has been an underdog from 2 to 5 points for seven consecutive Big 12 games, but managed to win four of those. Overall, in the six years of Neal Brown’s coaching tenure WVU has won 15 conference games when underdogs.
THIS SATURDAY: The Mountaineers travel to Texas Tech for a noon game to finish the regular season and will be underdogs for the eighth consecutive time. The winner of this game will finish a solid 6-3 in Big 12 play. The Red Raiders can put up plenty of points and the WVU pass defense will be challenged. While most see little chance of an upset, the Mountaineers are 3-0 on the road in conference play and enter the game with little pressure.
WEST VIRGINIA 34 TEXAS TECH 31.