Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Neal Brown is reteaching Mountaineer fans that there are more ways to winning college football games than by just trying to outscore the other team.
 
Today, West Virginia not only outscored NC State, it out-defended the Wolfpack and special teams once again shined in this afternoon's complete, 44-27 victory over the favored Wolfpack here at Milan Puskar Stadium.
 
It's been 40 years since NC State last played a football game in Morgantown, and after this afternoon it may be another 40 years before it will want to come back.
 
"A big win," Brown said afterward. "I'm really proud of our staff and our players."
 
For the 57,052 who showed up this afternoon, one week after West Virginia's 38-7 blowout loss at Missouri, what they saw today from the Mountaineers was a complete 180.
 
Quarterback Austin Kendall completed 27-of-40 passes for 272 yards and three touchdowns, the last one a pretty 9-yard strike to true freshman Ali Jennings to put the Mountaineers ahead by two scores with 12:24 remaining. However, the real story of today's game was the way Brown's young football team bounced back from last Saturday's albatross in Columbia.
 
West Virginia (2-1) used first-time starters Briason Mays, John Hughes and James Gmiter at center and offensive guard, and the football field was littered with freshmen and other first-time starters on both sides of the ball. 
 
All of them held up well, especially after West Virginia forced the Wolfpack to become a one-dimensional offense late in the third quarter.
 
That was the result of two second-half defensive stands that ended with a pair of Christopher Dunn field goals instead of touchdowns. The second one came gift-wrapped from Kendall when he was picked off by backup middle linebacker Drake Thomas at the WVU 32.
 
When the dust had settled, West Virginia ended up coming out of it one point better than its 10-point third quarter lead when Jennings made his sliding touchdown catch in the end zone with 12:24 remaining. That forced NC State to play catch-up which meant empty backfield sets without the threat of Zonovan Knight running the ball and sophomore Matthew McKay flinging the ball downfield.
 
The sophomore completed only 9 of his 24 second-half pass attempts for 72 yards, including a pair of fourth-down misfires that turned the football over to West Virginia on downs with great field position.
 
The second fourth-down stop came with 4:48 remaining at the NC State 23, setting up Leddie Brown's 3-yard touchdown burst on third and goal. All 23 yards of that scoring drive were made on the ground, as was Kennedy McKoy's 5-yard touchdown run in the third period that was set up by Logan Thimons' blocked punt at the State 12.
 
"We didn't have a block called, but we always try to put pressure on the shield and that's why we always do," Brown explained. "We always have multiple people attacking the shield and he comes free. He did a tremendous job on that."
 
"The blocked punt was a major mistake, a mental error on that play," NC State coach Dave Doeren added.
 
McKoy finished the game with 66 yards rushing on 10 attempts, or 2 yards more than the entire team produced in its first two games against James Madison and Missouri.
 
Overall, the ground game netted 173 yards on 28 attempts and could have had at least 51 more if not for Sam James' 51-yard first quarter jet sweep being officially credited as a pass instead of a run by the official statistics crew.
 
"They were putting their formations into the boundary in the second half, pinning our backer and getting around it," Doeren explained. "Those were plays they hadn't run, so we hadn't practiced it and we didn't do a good job of adjusting to them."
 
James led all receivers with 155 yards on nine catches, one going for a 20-yard touchdown on West Virginia's opening offensive possession of the game.
 
McKoy produced a 23-yard touchdown run with 3:54 left in the first quarter, and Touchdown Maker George Campbell's lone catch on the afternoon went for a 13-yard score right before halftime. 
 
The Florida State transfer now shows four catches for the season with three of those going for touchdowns.
 
Evan Staley was successful on his only field goal attempt of the game when he punched through a 23-yarder on West Virginia's opening possession of the third quarter.
 
LSU transfer Josh Growden was also effective pinning NC State deep in its own territory with four punts being downed inside the 20.
 
In the first half, the Wolfpack (2-1) found success running the ball against West Virginia's defense. Knight, coming off a 100-yard performance in last week's victory over Western Carolina, gouged WVU's defense for runs of 17 and 26 yards to set up a McKay touchdown pass to Thayer Thomas and Jordan Houston's 1-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter.
 
NC State's other touchdown was the product of some trickery when Thomas took a pass from McKay behind the line of scrimmage and lofted a floating 18-yard aerial to 6-7 tight end Cary Angeline that he was able to grab before running out of the back of the end zone.
 
NC State finished the game with 144 yards rushing, but 119 of that came in the first half.
 
Overall, West Virginia outgained NC State 445 to 369.
 
"Offensively, they did a lot of things that we haven't seen," Doeren said. "We adjusted as we went and didn't do a good job getting the players to understand the adjustments. We have to own that, first and foremost, as coaches."
 
In addition to the blocked punt and Growden's punting, West Virginia's coverage units were also spotless - a tip of the cap going to former Kansas State assistant coach Blake Seiler. 
 
West Virginia fans have been accustomed to holding their breath each time the Mountaineers kicked off, punted or caught punts, but those three areas have shown dramatic improvement through the first three games this year.
 
As did the entire team this afternoon.
 
"It was a three-phase win," Brown said.
 
Sophomore Dante Stills was credited with two sacks today to tie his older brother, Darius, for the team lead with three. Senior Reese Donahue got the other sack, one of seven negative yardage plays produced by the Mountaineer defense. That's now 21 TFLs in three games for West Virginia.
 
WVU played most of the game without starting free safety Josh Norwood, who was ejected for targeting on the game's opening possession. Kerry Martin Jr., another one of those freshmen, stepped in for Norwood and played a solid game.
 
"Kerry is one of those guys who has made so much improvement since spring ball," Brown noted. "He went through spring practice having never played defense before (Martin is a converted high school quarterback)."
 
Today's victory now sets up a very interesting Big 12 opener next Saturday afternoon in Lawrence, Kansas, against the Jayhawks. 
 
Kansas is coming off an impressive 48-24 victory at Boston College last night. KU (2-1) also shows a victory over Indiana State and a 12-7 loss to Coastal Carolina.
 
Next Saturday's game will only be available to watch via livestream through Big 12 Now on ESPN +.
 
Stop back to WVUsports.com next week for more detailed viewing instructions.