The long anticipated wait for West Virginia football came to an end tonight, as they played their annual spring football game at Milan Puskar Stadium on the campus of West Virginia University.
For years, West Virginia has been known for their high-powered offense that at times would bail out the defense with high-scoring affairs. The defense made sure they wouldn’t take a back seat tonight.
The start of the game looked like a typical Mountaineers game with the offense stealing the show. Geno Smith led the offense methodically down the field on their first possession, capped off with a touchdown pass to junior wideout Stedman Bailey. Bailey also delivered the key play in the drive with a diving grab down the sideline on the second play of the game.
The defenses’ struggles continued on the next possession, this time led by backup quarterback Paul Millard. The drive was capped off by senior running back Shawne Alston touchdown plunge, giving the Gold an early 14-0 lead. That would be the last celebrating the offense would be doing until the final minutes.
The defense recorded back-to-back turnovers on an interception by senior defensive back Matt Moro, followed by a fumble recovery after a hit on freshman receiver Jordan Thompson. The turnovers cut the Gold lead to 14-12. Coach Holgorsen was not surprised on how dominant the defense played throughout the course of the game. “The defense has been getting after the offense for the last five practices.”
Senior kicker Tyler Bitancourt connected on his first field goal attempt of the game, converting on a 36-yard field goal. The defense took their first lead of the game midway through the second quarter, after back to back stops. Already with an 18-17 lead, the Blue team stood up the offense on a three-and-out, increasing their lead, 23-17.
The dagger in the offenses’ heart was at the end of the first half when Millard was intercepted by redshirt junior defensive back Brodrick Jenkins, who nearly returned it for a touchdown. The interception put Blue up 34-17 at the half.
Blue increased their lead in the third quarter, as Millard was intercepted once again, this time by defensive end Will Clarke. Blue went up 40-17 and all but finished off the Gold.
The offense connected on two late touchdown drives, the latter coming after the time expired just to get more practice in. The defense showed their dominance in this year’s spring game, dismantling of the offense, 43-34.
Smith finished the day completing 23 of 29 passes for 281 yards, two touchdowns and one interception, while Millard went 26 of 35 for 253 yards and two interceptions.
Overall, Coach Holgorsen was pleased with his players but did not take a lot out of this game with how his squad would perform during the regular season. “We are about 33 percent into where we need to be by the first game. Our depth is not very good right now. Where we are at, we have a long ways to go,” said Coach Holgorsen. “We are playing a whole bunch of people that we won’t be playing in the fall. Nobody is happy with where you are after spring because you are playing so many different people.”
West Virginia will have some time off the next couple of weeks to finish the semester, followed by a three week vacation before they start back up.
Although Coach Holgorsen is not happy with where his team is at this point, he expects them to be in mid-season form by the time their regular season opener comes around on Sept. 1 against Marshall University.
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