West Virginia’s Hudson Clement (3) makes a pass during Saturday’s game against Central Florida in Morgantown. (Photo by David Pennock)
MORGANTOWN — The West Virginia University football team got the elusive complete-game victory from a roster it had been searching for all year. And the Mountaineers’ reward was an extra game during the holiday season.
WVU played offense, defense and special teams Saturday at Milan-Puscal Stadium, defeating visiting UCF 31-21 for its sixth bowl-clinching win of the season. It was West Virginia’s first home win in more than two months. Their last win was on September 21 against Kansas State (32-28).
“This is one of the few times all year long, probably going back to the Oklahoma State game…We’ve won some games, but this is probably the first time in all three phases.” WVU coach Neil Brown said.
WVU dominated the Knights with 200 rushing yards, the much-criticized defense held UCF, one of the most prolific offenses in the country, to 348 total yards, and the Mountaineers’ special teams looked to help. They came up with some big plays.
There was a moment near the end of the fourth quarter when the Knights came back to life a little. UCF running back RJ Harvey scored his second touchdown of the game, pulling the Knights within 10 points. However, the attempted onside kick failed, and on the ensuing drive WVU converted two fourth downs to run the clock.
The majority of Saturday’s game was spent on the field. WVU didn’t have to pass, but neither team spent much time passing. CJ Donaldson set the tone early in the game, running with a tough style reminiscent of his first year in WVU’s backfield. The Mountaineers (6-5, 5-3 Big 12) capped off an opening eight-play, 68-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Donaldson. The running back gained 57 yards on four carries on that drive.
Donaldson said he could have done a better job in this game by not running too tall and running with the proper pad height.
“They said to me every day, every week, ‘CJ, you’re too high, you’ve got to keep your pads down, run the ball, make tough tackles.’ Donaldson said. “It’s really important to understand that you’re a 240-pound running back and you have to run behind the pads all the time.”
Donaldson finished the first half with 85 yards on 13 carries for the opening score. WVU kept the chains and clock moving with 115 yards rushing in the first half. Donaldson returned to the end zone to end WVU’s first drive of the second half, completing a five-play, 56-yard trip and scoring another 1-yard touchdown to swing the game to 28-7.
The Knights (4-7, 2-6 Big 12) entered Saturday’s game with a reputation for gaining yards. They finished seventh in the Football Bowl Subdivision with an average of 464.6 yards per game. For the WVU game, they were able to muster just 348 people. The Knights had the No. 2 rushing offense in the FBS and the No. 3 leading rusher in Harvey, but neither was able to reach their average on Saturday.
UCF averaged 262.8 rushing yards and gained 176 yards on the ground as a team. Harvey averaged 132.8 yards per game and gained 130 yards against the Mountaineers.
The Knights, who have struggled in the passing game all season, were unable to look up their offense despite facing one of the nation’s worst pass defenses in WVU. This year, the Mountaineers allowed the lowest passing yards of the season (172) and had the second-lowest completion percentage (52.3%) of their opponents. WVU’s defense also played much better than usual on third downs, with the Knights converting just 3-of-9 for the game.
WVU’s special teams also did not disappoint. Returner Preston Fox helped WVU gain field position with kick returns of 40 and 36 yards, and punter Oliver Stroh averaged 50 yards per punt, had a long 57 yards, and had two punts that were inside UCF’s 20. , Michael Hayes made his only field goal. 35 yarder.
Garrett Green completed 13 of 21 passes for 118 yards and a touchdown. Two of those successes were fourth-down conversions to Justin Robinson and Hudson Clement on the final drive. Donaldson rushed for 96 yards and two scores, his highest total since 125 yards against Albany.
The Mountaineers qualified for their fourth bowl game in the past five seasons. They can look for their seventh win of the season on Saturday in Lubbock, Texas against Texas Tech. A win there would give WVU a 6-3 conference record in consecutive seasons, the first time this has happened since WVU joined the Big 12.
“I’m happy to have reached six (total wins).” Mr. Brown said. “We’ve had our ups and downs. I don’t hide that. If we can win six (conference) games, we’ll be happy as a program. That’s never been done before.”
