Win vs. Marshall: The complete rehash

 

By Colin Dunlap | 12:30 a.m. Sunday 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The bad news first: West Virginia's starting quarterback, Jarrett Brown, got mashed, his bell was undeniably rung and, as of the time I left Mountaineer Field about 9 p.m. on Saturday, there were no updates as to his status. Purely a guess here -- he probably has a concussion, at worst, and should be back for this week's game against Connecticut. After all, he was on the sideline after the injury, left the field for the most part under his own power and, in the second half, was cheering on his teammates.

That's the bad news, you know, that one of the superstars got drilled in the head.

The good news: After a little stretch of getting his feet wet, the backup quarterback looked pretty darn good. Geno Smith, a freshman with a pedigree as deep as any QB who has been recruited to Morgantown, looked every bit the big time player after he got it going.

All that said, this 24-7 win against Marshall was probably closer than many anticipated, and because of the offensive questions (with the quarterback injury) it sort of overshadowed a fabulous defensive effort but, nonetheless, a win is a win.

          > FULL GAME STORY IN SUNDAY'S POST-GAZETTE

Overall grade I give WVU in the win against Marshall: C (the defense gets and A)

Some quick facts about the Marshall win:

  • Geno Smith's 33-yard touchdown pass to Alric Arnett was Smith's first career touchdown pass.

  • Wes Lyons set a career best in receiving yards with 53. His previous best was 48 in 2007.

  • Jock Sanders had four catches to move  into a tie  with Cedric Thomas for 10th place in all-time in receptions at WVU with 110.

  • Brandon Hogan had his first fumble recovery of the season and third of his career. Julian Miller forced the fumble, the first of his career.

  • West Virginia is 47-10 in its last 57 games and has won 58 of its last 71 regular season games.

 

Some audio:

Brandon Hogan talks about his interception and the overall job the defense did:

 

Nose tackle Chris Neild -- with that Jersey accent -- talks about knowing the 'D' had to take over the game:

  

J.T. Thomas, who is a great talker, said this was the defense's best game:

 

 

Posted Oct 18 2009, 12:56 AM by Colin Dunlap
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Comments

WVU1984 wrote re: Win vs. Marshall: The complete rehash
on Sun, Oct 18 2009 8:14 AM

Wow, another ugly win vs. Marshall.  Geno Smith's performance was encouraging, especially that TD pass to Arnett, but you have to think we'll need JB back to compete with USF, UC and Pitt.

Colin Dunlap wrote re: Win vs. Marshall: The complete rehash
on Sun, Oct 18 2009 11:04 AM

Agreed.

In time, in my estimation, Geno Smith will grow into a marvelous leader of the West Virginia University football program. The guy is destined for success.

But, at this time, he is probably a bit young for something so burdensome. That said, for this season to trudge forward in a successful manner, Jarrett Brown will have to play the overwhelming majority of the snaps.