A lot of times in sports, we see examples of teams being first half teams and second half teams. Usually this term applies to a team over the course of the game, but for the West Virginia Mountaineers, this term can be used to summarize the two halves of the season thus far. West Virginia (6-3) entered their bye week is a 5-1 record and ranked #16 in the country. However, since that bye week the Mountaineers are 1-2 after their 38-35 loss to Louisville (5-4) today at Milan Puskar Stadium. If not for a comeback win against Rutgers in the snow last week where they trailed by 10 points at halftime, the Mountaineers would have no wins in the second-half of the season.
This marks the third win for Louisville over West Virginia of all-time. This is the first time the Cardinals have beaten the Mountaineers in Morgantown since 1990. Thanks to sloppy play by the Mountaineer special teams, the Cardinals were able to pull out the victory.
““Not very hard to figure out, you lose the turnover battle and you go 0 for 2 on field goals, that gets you beat,” said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen.
One of the field goals Holgorsen was speaking of was the one that Andrew Johnson returned for a touchdown after his teammate blocked it to start the fourth quarter. West Virginia also struggled in the punting game, averaging just 20 yard per punt for the day.
“Our football team played very well today,” said Louisville coach Charlie Strong. “We went on the road and won a tough game here at West Virginia and got our third win in the conference. I am so happy for our team, and I am so happy with how well we responded.”
Leading the way for Louisville was freshman quarterback Teddy Bridgewater. Bridgewater went 21-27 for 246 yards and a touchdown on the day. Bridgewater did an adequate job at escaping pressure and making something out of nothing on numerous plays. Louisville also attacked the vulnerable run defense of the Mountaineers rushing for 140 yards on 33 carries. Dominque Brown led the way with 76 yards and a touchdown. Jeremy Wright and Senorise Perry also added rushing touchdowns of their own.
Bridewater’s lone touchdown pass went to Eli Rogers with only nine seconds left on the clock in the first-half. The 4-yard strike was set up after a 11-yard punt by Mike Mullinari.
“We were incredibly competitive in two areas of special teams and incredibly not competitive in two areas of special teams,” said Holgorsen.
On the defensive side of the ball, Bruce Irvin reached the quarterback twice for two sacks on the day. Najee Goode added an interception in the third quarter after a Bridgewater pass was deflected. Pat Miller led the defense with 7 solo tackles on the day.
Quarterback Geno Smith continued to impress as he threw for 410 yards and 4 touchdowns going 31-44 on the day and rushed for 26 yards. Smith did have a costly fumble in the fourth quarter that was recovered by the Cardinals. However, they failed to capitalize on the turnover. Freshman Dustin Garrison led the Mountaineers in rushing with 67 yards on 13 carriers, but it was Shawne Alston who made the biggest impact for the second consecutive week as he rushed for 2 touchdowns and 45 yards.
Stedman Bailey recorded his 6th 100-yard receiving game of the season as he led the Mountaineer receiving corps with 118 yards and 2 touchdowns. The ever versatile Tavon Austin racked up 271 all-purpose yards and a receiving touchdown for the day. However, Holgorsen would gladly trade all of the stats for a win any day.
“I don’t care about the number of yards,” Holgorsen said. “We had the ball in the red zone and didn’t convert.”
West Virginia will look to finish their season strong as they have three games remaining against Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and South Florida.
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