MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It turned out to be a winning performance on Saturday against James Madison, but quarterback Austin Kendall believes he can play much better and so does his coach Neal Brown.
 
"You look back on it and he won the game," Brown said. "I think he handled the end-of-the-game situations really well. He was accurate at times – I think he missed some underneath throws in the first half and got frustrated there late in the first half, but I thought in the second half he did a good job.
 
"He checked to some plays and I thought he threw the ball better," Brown added.
 
Kendall's final passing totals of 27 completions in 42 attempts for 260 yards and two touchdowns in Saturday's 20-13 win are in line with some of the other prominent four-year transfers in their first Mountaineer performances.
 
The gold standard for West Virginia quarterback debuts was Penn State transfer Jeff Hostetler's 321-yard, four-touchdown effort in the Mountaineers' 41-27 upset victory at ninth-ranked Oklahoma to begin the 1982 season.
 
Yet lost in that great effort was Hoss completing less than half of his 37 pass attempts in that momentous WVU victory, which meant he was terrific but by no means perfect.
 
Florida transfer Will Grier also put up big numbers in his Mountaineer debut against Virginia Tech in 2017 when he completed 31-of-53 passes for 371 yards and three touchdowns, but the Mountaineers couldn't finish the deal in a 31-24 loss to the Hokies over at FedEx Field.
 
Grier also threw a pick and West Virginia struggled to cash in on several scoring opportunities in that loss.
 
Notre Dame transfer Jake Kelchner's Mountaineer debut against Miami, Ohio in 1992 was statistically solid (13-of-19 for 219 yards and two touchdowns), but West Virginia came out of that game with a disappointing 29-29 tie.
 
Florida State transfer Clint Trickett's Mountaineer debut against William & Mary in the 2013 season opener consisted of just two incomplete passes in a 24-17 win over William & Mary.
 
Trickett eventually beat out Paul Millard and Ford Childress for the starting job, and his first start three weeks later resulted in a 30-21 upset victory over 11^th-ranked Oklahoma State when he completed 24-of-50 passes for 309 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions.
 
Of the four, only Kelchner had the benefit of a strong running game to compliment his passing, which puts Kendall with the other three in terms of what he's facing in the immediate future.
 
Right now, it looks like West Virginia is going to have to rely on Kendall's arm to move the football until the Mountaineers can figure out a way to run it better.
 
"That's kind of who we are right now," Brown admitted. "We've got to do some things in the run game. We didn't do a whole lot of what I call dressing up run plays today. But we will."
 
Brown thought Kendall's pretty, 28-yard scoring strike to George Campbell early in the third quarter was a glimpse of what Kendall is capable of doing.
 
Austin correctly checked to Campbell running a go route he executed the play perfectly.
 
"He was well prepared," Brown said. "He studied this week."
 
Still, Brown said there were too many missed passes downfield that could have resulted in big plays. 
 
"We missed a bunch of go balls," he said. "We wanted to throw anywhere from six to eight and I think we were pretty close to that and we only hit one. You've got to be a little better percentage than that."
 
Kendall agrees with his coach.
 
"That can't happen," he said. "Coach (Sean) Reagan and Coach Brown are always on me about letting the receivers make a play, and there were some game-changing plays I left too deep.
 


"There were two third downs, one when I led a crossing route over the middle to T.J. Simmons too much ahead of him and another one to Bush, I missed that one too so I've got to improve," Kendall added.
 
The junior admits he was a little too amped up for the game and that likely impacted some of his throws. James Madison corners were also doing a good job of disrupting the timing.
 
"I guess in practice (the receivers) were getting off a little easier and when game time came they were getting held up a little more because it's all a timing deal," Kendall said. "I was letting the ball out and we were able to adjust a little bit."
 
Bear in mind, too, that Kendall has only been West Virginia's starting quarterback for three weeks following a lengthy quarterback battle with Miami transfer Jack Allison.
 
Additional reps Kendall could have gotten with the ones was going to Allison and No. 3 quarterback Trey Lowe III as part of that quarterback competition, so Kendall's timing with his receivers will improve the more he works with them.
 
Overall, Kendall realizes that West Virginia is going to have to get more out of its running game in the coming weeks to keep defenses honest. Twenty four carries for 34 yards is just not going to cut it against some of the teams coming up on the horizon.
 
"We've just got to do a little better job as an offensive unit running the ball because that helps set up the passing game," Kendall explained.
 
The quarterback expects improvement will be made in that area this week, just as improvement was made from scrimmage one to scrimmage two early last month.
 
"You have to be better, especially in this league. Going out to play Missouri, we've got to be better and I think we will improve this week," Kendall concluded.