Mountaineers Finish off Coastal Carolina

Another September means another season of Mountaineers football and this season has been more anticipated than most because of the hype regarding how good this team can be. Players are talking Big East Championship and BCS bowls, well before all that was a contest against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.

The Mountaineers (1-0) picked up a solid opening game victory over Coastal Carolina, 31-0. New WVU QB Geno Smith was ready to take the field today after a summer full of predictions and talk, Smith was ready to finally take his first snap.

Smith started strong in the first quarter going five for six with 35 yards and a touchdown, but that was the only touchdown the Mountaineers put on the board in the first half.

West Virginia looked sharp on its first drive of the season, with Smith peppering passes right on target as he went five for five on his first drive including that TD to J.D Woods, the sophomore from Naples, Fla.

It was Woods' first catch of the game and the first catch of his career and it was a touchdown which was a treat for the receiver as he spoke about the moment after the game.

"I [had] to go to my right spot and I hoped to get the ball and when I saw Geno release it, it was all cheers and all smiles, " Smith said.

The drive took 18 plays and ran eight minutes off the clock and got WVU fans on their feet.

After that score, the Chanticleers picked up their play defensively and forced two consecutive three and outs.

On the third drive, the Mountaineers were able to drive the ball to the Coastal Carolina's four yard line and that's where the drive stalled. Three straight run plays to Noel Devine went nowhere and Tyler Bitancurt came on to kick a chip shot of a field goal from 21 yards out to give the Mountaineers a 10-0 lead.

The Mountaineers had another chance to score a touchdown in the first half when Tavon Austin caught a pass at Coastal Carolina's 15 yard line and as he raced towards the right corner of the end zone, Austin lost control of the football and it bounced through the end zone to force a touch back.

The next drive by Coastal Carolina resulted in a punt and what happened next could have been a game changer for the Chanticleers.

Dominique Davenport picked off the Geno Smith pass and took the ball all the way down to the West Virginia 21 yard line, but Coastal Carolina gave it right back when Brandon Hogan intercepted the next pass thrown by Coastal Carolina QB Zach MacDowall.

Smith talked about responding to throwing his first interception of the season following the game.

"You try to stay away from mistakes and I think the harder you try to not make mistakes, you then make a mistake," said Smith. You just got to get over it."

Coastal Carolina coach David Bennett had high praise for WVU following the game.

"We told our guys coming into this football game that this will be the best team we face all year," said Bennett. "We won't face anybody this good all year."

After a fumble on the opening kickoff by Coastal Carolina, the Mountaineers capitalized on the crucial error by scoring a touchdown on drive that took only three plays. Jock Sanders caught his first TD pass of the season and it was Smith's second on the day and that really took the air out of the Chanticleers sails. 

The Mountaineers were effective all day long, especially on third down going 9-17 and they also cut down on penalties only picking up three on the day. 

With the 31-0 shutout it's the first time the West Virginia defense has pitched a shutout since 2005 when they blanked Cincinnati and it's the first time they've done it in a opener since 1996 when they silenced the Pittsburgh Panthers 34-0.

Brandon Hogan talked about how the defense felt about getting a shutout to begin the season.

"It lets us know we're capable of doing a lot and can shut people out", Hogan said.

Noel Devine started off the season on the right foot as he had an 100 yard day on the ground. Devine had 111 yards on 23 carries, averaging 4.5 yards per carry with a touchdown.   

West Virginia won its seventh straight season opener and are now looking forward to in-state rival Marshall next on the schedule in the Friends of Coal Bowl next Friday night. 

Photos Courtesy All Pro Photography Dale Sparks

Saturday Lineup

Hamels Wins 1-0 Game

The Phillies (77-58) defeated the Milwaukee Brewers last night, 1-0 and pulled to within one game of the NL East leading Atlanta Braves and extended their lead in the wild card standings to three games.

Philadelphia has won four games in a row and after it looked like the offense had returned with a bang the previous day in a 12-11 win over the Rockies, Hamels got none of the same pop from the bats as the lineup squeaked out one only run for Cole to work with, but once again he has been masterful when put in such situations this year.

Hamels got win ninth win on the season and since April, he has been down right dominant on the mound with an ERA of 2.89, but he has a 6-8 record. In three out of Cole's last six starts he has pitched in 1-0 games and he has only won one of those games.

In August, Hamels complied an ERA of 2.79 and had a record of 1-3 over that span, the offense is averaging just under three runs a game in Cole's starts since the month of April, but none of that matters now as the Phillies are as close to first place as they have been in a month.

Over the last month plus of baseball, the Phillies have made up a lot of ground as they have a record of 29-12 since the date of July 21st, which is the best record in the Major Leagues.

Here's the last impressive stat on Hamels, he has pitched 18 scoreless innings and has allowed just two runs in his last three contests consisting of over 22 innings of work and the good sign for Cole is that he's won two starts in a row for the first time since mid-May.

Halladay will be on the mound tonight for Game 2 of the series against the Brewers and is looking for his 17th win of the season as he will try to make it five straight for the Phils.

Mountaineers Kick Off Season Today

It's a brand new season for the West Virginia Mountaineers and a brand new team taking the field today for the first time under sophomore QB Geno Smith.

Smith is going to try to maintain the success the Mountaineers have had in home openers. The Mountaineers have not lost a home opener since 2003, when they lost to Wisconsin 24-17.

While today is important for the fact that the team get to finally hit players wearing a different jersey, the eyes will be on an offense that underwhelmed last year late in the season after 30+ points in their first five games.

And although the Mountaineers have had success in the win-loss column on opening day, they haven't been as dominant as people would like in their last two season openers.

The Mountaineers struggled to beat Liberty last year by a score of 33-20 as the Football Championship Subdivision squad were able to pull to within four in the second quarter and were within two scores throughout the contest.

Two years ago, the Mountaineers opened the season against another FCS team in the Villanova Wildcats and the 'Cats were able to dominate time of possesion and stay in the game until halftime and were able to rack up some garbage time TD's to make the score a little closer.

Fans were uneasy about those two games and want to leave today confidence in their offense as they prepare to take on Coastal Carolina, a bunch that went 5-6 last season. Coastal Carolina is the second straight Big South team to open a season at West Virginia. 

Head Coach Bill Stewart is definitely ready for the 3:30pm kickoff.

“For the fans, I can’t wait,” Stewart said. “I can only imagine what it is like. When I come out of the tunnel, it is all business. It is fun, but it is business as well. I want to see how tough, explosive and fast the Mountaineers play. I also want to see us bond and fight fair as a family.”  

The fans won't have to wait long for kickoff as it's less than four hours away, and then fans will finally be able to lay their eyes on the newest WVU QB. And don't forget that What's Ill is your place for West Virginia coverage and we'll have video recaps and written summaries after every Mountaineer game.

Photos Courtesy Philly.com and NaplesNews.com