WVU handles business against UCF, gets back on winning path
By Zippy Zimmerman, RealWV
The Mountaineers pulled off a dominant win at UCF, ending their two-game losing streak. Through the help of Garrett Greene’s three rushing touchdowns, and the Mountaineer’s four forced turnovers on defense, West Virginia got things back on the right track and placed a tally mark in the left side of the win column.
Both CJ Donaldson, and Jahiem White had big days on the ground as well; combining for 212-yards and a touchdown a piece.
West Virginia would open the game by receiving the football. The Mountaineers used the balanced offensive attack fans have seen the over last two weeks to work their way done the field. CJ Donaldson ripped off a 21-yard run on the sixth play of the drive to put them inside UCF’s 34-yard line. Garrett Greene capped off the possession with one of his signature scrambles; this time a 6-yard run up the middle aided by the strong offensive line of WVU. Following the extra point from Michael Hayes, West Virginia led early, with 10:57 left to play in the first, 7-0.
UCF tried to even the score on their first possession of the game. Following some short yardage gains through both the air and on the ground, Quarterback John Rhys Plumlee found his wideout Kobe Hudson on a deep 34-yard strike. The Knights tied everything up at 7-7 after the Colton Boomer extra point. Plumlee put together a short efficient drive, only taking 3:51 off the playclock.
West Virginia then looked to reclaim the lead. With the help of a defensive pass interference call, the Mountaineers worked the ball into UCF’s territory. Running back Jahiem White found a seem on the eighth play of the drive, and broke off a 19-yard run to place the ball at UCF’s 9-yard line. West Virginia would be unable to get the ball across the goal line, as they would go three and out. The Mountaineers were still able to retain their lead with a Hayes field goal coming from the 6-yard line. West Virginia was leading again by the score of 10-7 with 2:01 still left in the first quarter of play.
On the Knights’ next possession, they relied on running back Johnny Richardson who got them back inside West Virginia territory. Richardson broke off a 17-yard run to place UCF at West Virginia’s 49-yard line. Plumlee would make his first mistake of the day as WVU’s Beanie Bishop Jr. came down with the interception. Bishop Jr. returned the pick for 31 yards to allow the Mountaineers to start their drive with good offensive position on their own 36-yard line.
Following the Plumlee interception, WVU would go back to work on offense. The Mountaineers returned to their early season form, putting together a methodical possession. White would be the player to cap off the drive with a four-yard touchdown rush. The Mountaineers extended their lead to 10 points on a 10 play, 64-yard touchdown drive which took 4:19 off the game clock. West Virginia led 17-7 with 10:02 left to play in the second quarter.
The Knights of UCF came out on their next possession determined to score and stay in the ball game. RJ Harvey had the biggest play of the drive, rushing for 29-yards to bring the Knights to West Virginia’s 20-yard line. Plumlee took things into his own hands in the red zone, and ran the ball into the endzone on an 8-yard scramble. UCF cuts West Virginia’s lead down to 3 with 5:50 left to play before half.
While the Mountaineer’s seemed to be working to ball down the field, Greene went down with an injury to the lower extremity. A very scary scene for Mountaineer fans, as Greene seemed to have had his leg rolled on by a large defensive UCF knight. Nicco Marchiol stepped in following the injury. On Marchiol’s first play behind center, he found Jaylen Anderson for a completion, but Anderson lost the ball, and turn it back over to the Knights with 2:05 left to play before the half.
On the Knights first play following the WVU fumble, Plumlee throws his second interception of the day. Plumlee looked to throw a deep strike, but with a defender in his face, Plumlee came out short on the throw with WVU’s Marcis Floyd on the receiving end of the interception. Greene did come back to the field following the scary play that took him out of last possession, but West Virginia wass forced to punt after going three and out. After a couple of failed attempts to score before half for UCF, West Virginia went into halftime with a lead of 17-14.
The Knights opened up the second half with yet another Plumlee interception. Bishop Jr. was again on the receiving end of the Plumlee throw for the Mountaineers. After the interception, Greene led West Virginia back down the field on a 68-yard drive to be capped off by no other than Greene himself. Greene extends West Virginia’s lead back to 10 points after his 7-yard scramble. The Mountaineers now lead (24-14) with 9:01 on the game clock in the third.
On UCF’s next possession, they scored their first points of the half. Plumlee found Javon Baker in the corner of the endzone for a 7-yard strike to cut the Mountaineer’s lead back down to three. WVU still leads 24-21 with 5:25 left in the third. West Virginia was forced to punt on their next possession, but they quickly retained possession following a Plumlee fumble—his fourth turnover on the day.
Following the UCF fumble, it was all West Virginia. The Mountaineers scored 17 unanswered points to make the score 41-21. UCF scored a touchdown late in the fourth while West Virginia’s defense was playing prevent to kill the game clock, but the Mountaineers deal with the Knights of UCF in easy fashion. The turnovers forced by West Virginia’s defense, and the ground game from Greene, Donaldson and White aid WVU in winning the ball game by a final score of 41-28. WVU advances to 5-3 on the season, while UCF falls to 3-5. The Mountaineers will prepare to take on BYU next week back in Morgantown at Milan Puskar Stadium.
