By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
September 3, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Notes and quotes from West Virginia’s 42-10 season-opening victory over Marshall Saturday in the Friends of Coal Bowl at Milan Puskar Stadium:
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West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez holds up the Friends of Coal Bowl trophy.
All-Pro Photography photo |
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This year the NCAA rules committee chose to begin the clock immediately after possession changes with the objective of speeding up games. The first quarter of today’s West Virginia-Marshall game went at the lightning pace of 58 minutes.
During his post-game press conference a reporter asked West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez which trophy meant more to him – last year’s Nokia Sugar Bowl championship trophy or the brand new Friends of Coal Bowl trophy. Noticing a several members of the West Virginia Coal Association standing behind him, Rodriguez answered, “The Coal Bowl … are you kidding me? The Sugar Bowl is in the past,” he said to laughter.
West Virginia left tackle Damien Crissey left the game on the Mountaineers’ second drive with what has been described as a left foot sprain.
“His foot is not broken but they’re unsure about ligament damage,” said Rodriguez. “He couldn’t put any weight on it.”
West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton had 87 yards rushing by the end of the first quarter and 140 at the end of the first half. He finished the game with 203 yards and two TDs, passing the 100-yard mark for the sixth time of his career. Including his 204-yard performance in last year’s Nokia Sugar Bowl Slaton becomes the first back in WVU history to post back-to-back 200-yard games.
It was the 17th time in school history a WVU back has run for more than 200 yards in a game.
“We thought we should have gotten more yards,” said senior center Dan Mozes. “There were some miscues we made up front. We strive for perfection.”
Quarterback Pat White showed a much more accurate passing arm and exceeded his career-high total of 120 yards performed against Georgia in last year’s Nokia Sugar Bowl by the end of the first half. He finished the game completing 10 of 14 passes for 168 yards and two scores.
“In the second half we were limited a little bit with what we did with Pat because the muscle problem he had in the camp resurfaced a little bit again,” Rodriguez said. “We did a lot more under-center stuff in the second half.”
The two teams combined for 19 penalties for 195 yards.
“The thing to worry about most in the first game is turnovers, missed assignments and silly penalties,” Rodriguez said. “We had a lot of silly penalties which we need to fix.”
Critical penalties were the hallmark of West Virginia’s third scoring drive of the game that covered 96 yards.
The drive should have started at the West Virginia four, but Byron Tinker was called for a 15-yard personal foul on Steve Slaton’s seven-yard run to move the ball to the Mountaineer 26. Four plays later, WVU tight end Mike Villagrana was flagged for a holding call on a nifty reverse that Darius Reynaud took to the Marshall 22. Two plays after that on third and 18, Marshall defensive back Jeremy Frazie was cited for pass interference on an under-thrown Pat White pass to Brandon Myles that placed the ball at the Herd 40.
Ryan Stanchek got caught holding on Steve Slaton’s 10-yard TD run, but one play later White shaped a pretty pass between two defenders to Brandon Myles for an 18-yard touchdown.
West Virginia successfully converted seven of its 10 third-down attempts. The Mountaineers were also six of six in red zone tries.
Marshall coach Mark Snyder nearly gave West Virginia an opportunity to get three more points right before the end of the first half. The Herd tried a pair of unsuccessful swing passes out in the flat and burned a pair of timeouts before giving the ball back to West Virginia with 20 seconds left at its own 46. A 12-yard pass from White to Slaton and a interference call on Marshall linebacker Matt Couch gave the Mountaineers a reasonable field goal try from the 27, but Pat McAfee’s 44-yard attempt was blocked by Curtis Keyes.
Freshman Quinton Andrews got his first career interception in the third quarter when he stepped in front of a Bernie Morris pass intended for tight end Cody Slate down the seam. Andrews returned the pick 14 yards to the WVU 34.
West Virginia has now won 37 straight when scoring 30 points or more in a game. WVU is 34-0 when scoring 30 points or more since 2000.
True freshman fullback Maxwell Anderson said he spent last year parking cars for Mountaineers games as a senior at Morgantown High School. On Saturday he got his first collegiate action against Marshall and caught a pass for five yards.
West Virginia’s defense produced only two negative yardage plays and no sacks Saturday against Marshall. Linebackers Kevin McLee and Marc Magro were credited with tackles for losses.
“The thing I was happy with is that we didn’t miss a lot of tackles,” Rodriguez said.
