West Virginia made it a point to run the football against UCF.
The results were 286 rushing yards, the most for the Mountaineers against an FBS opponent since Neal Brown has been atop the football program. Overall, it was the most for the football program since rushing for 288 yards against Kansas in the 2017 season.
The Mountaineers had 8 runs over 10+ yards in the contest and relied on a mixture of sophomore CJ Donaldson, freshman Jaheim White and junior quarterback Garrett Greene.
“We’ve run the ball really well. CJ Had a different personality this week so I had a lot of confidence in him and they’ve had a difficult time stopping the run,” Brown said.
West Virginia did this despite losing two starters during the game due to injury but the Mountaineers didn’t miss a beat. That’s a testament to the depth that the program has built up front.
Donaldson had his best game since the Pittsburgh contest and ran not only physically, but efficiently taking 17 carries for 121 yards and a touchdown. He came into the game with a long run of 17-yards on the season, but ripped off carries of both 21 and 32-yards in this contest.
It was a strong bounce back after some struggles in recent weeks.
"It didn't bother me it made me have a reality check that I'm not being productive. I'm on this football team to break tackles and run the ball and when I'm not doing that I'm not helping the team out," he said.
Related: National Statistical Rankings for West Virginia Football Week 8
The Mountaineers relied on Donaldson not only in short yardage situations but to kill the clock.
“When he runs like that he’s a load. The thing today is he was so good after contact even on that last drive,” Brown said.
White had been limited over the past two games to just 23 yards on 7 carries, but saw his biggest role of the season against FBS competition taking 9 carries for 89 yards and a touchdown. He also had another touchdown negated by penalty on a holding call late in the game.
The Mountaineers had made it a point to get White more involved heading into the game and true to their word that was the case. The true freshman did a better job taking care of his body and practiced better Tuesday and Wednesday which allowed him to get more reps Saturday.
“Jaheim White gave us a spark. This is really what I thought after fall camp what he would be,” Brown said. “When you play true freshmen, it’s always a trust deal.”
That trust is critical because typically when freshmen make mistakes it’s critical errors such as not picking up guys in blitz situations or misalignments. But in prep, White was locked in and played very well throughout which gave him the chance to show his burst on the field.
The strength of this team is behind the offensive line and running the football. So, the Mountaineers need the running backs to play well down the stretch run of the season.
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