Each week WVSports.com Managing Editor Keenan Cummings provides a look at some of the things that stood out to him during the course of the game and on the stat sheet.
These observations are a snap shot of what unfolded in the West Virginia 20-13 win over FCS opponent James Madison and what could come next.
--Well, it wasn’t necessarily a beauty pageant but in the end West Virginia won the game and isn’t that all that matters? The Mountaineers have a lot of things to clean up in a short period of time before heading to Missouri but this wasn’t just an FCS team, it’s one that is projected to be one of the best in the nation. The good news is the second half was all-around better than the first after the Mountaineers managed only 3 points and 107 total yards to finish with 17 and 187 in the second half. The positive news is Neal Brown is 1-0 as the head coach at West Virginia and the Mountaineers are still a perfect 20-0 against FCS teams. Outside of those two points most of this game was nothing that you'll race to your DVR for future viewings.
--West Virginia just won a football game where it rushed for 34 yards. Since 1976 the program has only one three such games prior to Saturday with the most recent being a 31-21 win against Maryland in September of 2012. The other two? On the road at Cincinnati in 2011 and at Virginia Tech in 1982.
--Third down was a battle for West Virginia, especially early, but a large reason for that is that the program was often playing behind the sticks. For the game, the Mountaineers were 6-18 but the average distance to go in those situations was just short of eight yards. It’s hard to be efficient on third down when you’re basically going to the full length of the chains to get there. That sort of goes hand-in-hand with the inability to establish a run game but things won’t get any easier.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @PatrickKotnik
•Like us on Facebook
