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Published Oct 7, 2024
Cummings and Goings: The WVSports.com: 3-2-1
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Keenan Cummings  •  WVSports
Managing Editor
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@rivalskeenan

WVSports.com continues with our popular feature: The 3-2-1. We'll break down three things we learned that week, two questions we have and give one prediction.

Here is the next installment of the 3-2-1 looking at the West Virginia football program, the latest on basketball and what’s happening in recruiting.


3 things I learned:

1–West Virginia is 2-0 in the Big 12. After being at the lowest of lows blowing a 10-point lead with under five minutes left against Pittsburgh, the Mountaineers have now put back-to-back Big 12 wins together with the latest being a 38-14 demolition of Oklahoma State on the road.

The Mountaineers rolled up 558 yards, with 389 of those coming on the ground as the offense scored 31 points in the first half and controlled the game in every respect. Even with senior quarterback Garrett Greene going down with injury for two series in the first half, backup quarterback Nicco Marchiol came into the game and operated the offense flawlessly to lead the offense to a pair of touchdowns.

The win was a statement for a West Virginia team that was coming off a tough non-conference portion of the schedule and played their best football of the season in Stillwater. The 24-point win is the largest Big 12 Conference road win of the Neal Brown era and the largest in the league overall since beating Iowa State by 30 in 2016.

West Virginia was able to control the football on the offensive side averaging 6 yards per carry on 65 attempts while the much-maligned defense more than held their own holding Oklahoma State to just seven points when the game was in doubt and recording two interceptions. The Cowboys had only just over 160 yards of offense late in the game and with the backups taking reps and played their best game of the year.

Now, the Cowboys came into the game with back-to-back losses and their backs against the wall so this performance on the road is certainly one of the highlights of the young season regardless of how this plays out over the course of the year.

West Virginia needed to find a way to win some games they weren't favored and while it is still a little hokey, the go 1-0 each mantra has now led this team to a 2-0 start in the league and back-to-back wins in Stillwater.

This team deserves this victory lap, but things will shift very quickly as nationally ranked Iowa State will come to town in a monster game given the fact it is an 8 p.m. kickoff and will feature the coal rush black-themed uniforms. This was an excellent win for West Virginia for a lot of different reasons but moving to 3-0 will now be the focus.

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