West Virginia’s 48-21 rout of Kansas came as no surprise to many. What may have come as a surprise was the offensive slump the Mountaineers fell into early in the game.

Following a 40-yard completion from West Virginia quarterback Skyler Howard to receiver Shelton Gibson on its first drive that ended with a 35-yard field goal from Mike Molina, the Mountaineers went three and out on their next two drives and only gained a total of three yards within those drives.

“They were squeezing hard,” West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen said. “It took us a couple series to kind of figure out what to do.”

According to Holgorsen, the offense could either take shots all day or get big and run the ball.

The Mountaineers got big.

Running back Kennedy McKoy provided a much needed spark. On the true freshman’s third carry of the game, McKoy raced up the right side of the field for a 44-yard gain into Kansas territory. It was West Virginia’s longest offensive play of the night. The big run eventually set up a 22-yard touchdown run by Skyler Howard to give West Virginia a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.

McKoy’s 44-yard run along with a 24-yard run at the end of the first quarter opened up the run game as well as the overall offensive attack for the Mountaineers and they never looked back, putting up 48 points, the most they’ve scored in a single game since the Texas Tech game three weeks ago.

The true freshman rushed for a career high 127 yards and is now averaging over 10 yards a carry. His play and progress has come as no surprise to West Virginia running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider, who has noticed McKoy’s raw talent and work ethic since day one.

“He’s going to be a good one,” Seider said. “I’ve been telling everybody he’s good enough to start here right now as a freshman. All he do is validate everything I said from day one.”

Junior running back Justin Crawford also had an impact performance but got off to a slow start early on in his first start. Crawford gained only one yard on two carries in the first quarter.

Crawford settled in during the second quarter and erupted for a career high 129 rushing yards on 13 carries and one touchdown. It was his first 100-yard rushing performance since the Kansas State game.

Howard got involved in the running game as well. For the third time this season, Howard rushed for at least 50 yards or more and finished Saturday with 64 yards on the ground and two touchdowns. The senior has been utilized in the rushing attack more due to the injuries in West Virginia’s backfield and has had success.

The Mountaineers have shown that they can have success running the ball with several different players which makes for a dangerous rushing attack that opposing defenses will have difficulties preparing for. West Virginia has had three different running backs rush for over 100 yards in a single this season.

With the help of the offensive line and redshirt junior fullback Elijah Wellman, the Mountaineers rushed for 341 total yards on Saturday despite not having redshirt senior running back Rushel Shell, who was held out of Saturday’s game against Kansas with an ankle injury.

According to Seider, Shell has been moving and jogging around. The coaching staff didn’t feel it was necessary to force Shell to play in a game like Saturday’s and wanted to give Crawford and McKoy more experience.

Once the Mountaineers get Shell back, they will have three different running backs they can utilize going into the final stretch of the regular season and Big 12 conference play, which will provide more depth in the backfield and give Big 12 defenses something to be concerned about. Three out of four of West Virginia’s remaining opponents each allow over 190 rushing yards a game.

“We’re going to need all three of those guys next week,” Seider said. “We’re a better team when we got all three of them.”