West Virginia Cruises in Home Opener

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown: “We got done what we needed to get done. It wasn’t perfect by any means.”

Morgantown, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers bounced back with a 66-0 drubbing of the Long Island University Sharks Saturday evening after falling to Maryland last week in the season opener.

West Virginia was expected to win and win big over LIU, and depending on where you looked, the Mountaineers were a 49.5-point favorite. They handled it with ease.

“We got done what we needed to get done. It wasn’t perfect by any means,” said West Virginia head coach Neal Brown.

Mountaineer Field erupted on the opening kickoff after Winston Wright Jr. went untouched 90 yards for the touchdown for the early advantage.

Sep 11, 2021; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers wide receiver Winston Wright Jr. (1) runs the opening kickoff back for a touchdown during the first quarter against the Long Island Sharks at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium / Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

“Winston is turning into a real threat there on kickoff return,” said Brown. “I thought he did a nice job. Obviously, he started the game off with a bang on the return. We blocked that really well.”

The West Virginia defense rode the momentum, coming out aggressive, and played downhill throughout the game. They only allowed 95 yards of total offense on the evening. And despite holding a 38-0 lead at the half, the defense never eased it up, remaining stingy, giving up a mere seven yards in the second half.

Many West Virginia Mountaineers defenders tackle Long Island Sharks running back Jonathan DeBique (2) during the first quarter at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium / Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

“I thought we flew around,” said Brown. “We got line up. Our communication was improved from a week ago. I thought we did a better job other than that drive right before half, disappointed in that one, where we blocked the field goal, but I thought we played better team defense.”

West Virginia quarterback Jarrett Doege was 14-22 for 259 yards and three touchdowns.

“I thought Doege was really efficient, and I thought our first group of wideouts, minus one ball probably, played like that should have in this game.”

Neal Brown added a little flare to the game plan, putting in backup quarterback Garrett Greene on the third offensive series. According to Brown, it was part of the game plan heading into the game and had his first two series scripted. He drove the Mountaineers down the field primarily with the second team receivers. Greene ended the evening with a team-leading 98 yards on the ground and two touchdowns.

West Virginia Mountaineers quarterback Garrett Greene (6) runs from the pocket against the Long Island Sharks during the second quarter at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium / Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

“I don’t know if he ran any of the plays the way they were exactly supposed to be ran, but he made some plays,” said Brown while giving out a chuckle. “So, credit to him, and that’s kind of where it’s at right now. He’s fun to watch. He’s got some juice about him. I thought he did a good job of creating some plays. Some of those didn’t need to be created - he could have thrown into rhythm, but he showed some growth.”

“There’s some things he probably didn’t do a good job of, but everything he did was full throttle, and that’s one of the reasons we’re excited about him, and he made a couple of nice throws. And he ran the ball – he has the ability to do that. You saw that, continued Brown.

Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

Doege returned to the game on the following series, leading the Mountaineers on another touchdown drive before hustling the offense 53 yards into field goal range in under 30 seconds. Casey Legg capped it off, drilling the 44-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.

However, West Virginia struggled to run the ball, aside from the backup quarterback nearly breaking the century mark. Leddie Brown is the feature of the offense and, in two games, only has 104 rushing yards. He had 31 on Saturday and two touchdowns. Nonetheless, as a team, the Mountaineers racked up 198 yards on the ground on their way to 542 yards of total offense.

West Virginia Mountaineers running back Leddie Brown (4) runs for a touchdown during the first quarter against the Long Island Sharks at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium / Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

“I thought we were efficient. We were able to break some tackles, something we haven’t done,” said Brown. Not as fired up about what we did in the run game, especially early in the first half. We didn’t want to get Leddie (Brown) a ton of work, but we would’ve liked to give him more room on some of his carries. So, that was probably the only disappointing thing offensively.”

West Virginia moves to 22-0 all-time versus FCS schools, and taking a look around college football on Saturday, the Mountaineers seemed to be one of a handful of teams that handled their lower-level opponent as expected.

“I told our team, winnings hard. It really is. It's hard. This is a game that, obviously, we should have won, and we did, and we took care of business. One thing I was proud of our team was, we played quality football – it wasn’t sloppy. There was a couple of fourth downs you’d like to get offensively, but there wasn’t a whole bunch of penalties, and so, it was clean football which I was proud of them.”

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