Howard, Shell banged up, West Virginia beats Missouri 26-11

It was Crawford’s first touchdown as a Mountaineer and would put West Virginia up 20-3. “When you get in the Big 12 you can’t score 26 points and expect to win the game”.

While its defense is intimidating, its offense doesn’t pose the same threat.

West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen hugs Missouri’s Barry Odom after the Mountaineers won 26-11 win Saturday. WVU’s revamped defense limited Missouri to just three points with the game in doubt points, and got off the field in 14 of 24 third down situations.

Though overall happy with the result, Holgorsen was disappointed in redzone efficiency.

Shell 23 run (Molina kick), 01:43. But Holgorsen points out the unit has plenty of playing experience. When starting quarterback Skyler Howard went down with a rib injury in the second quarter, backups William Crest and Chris Chugunov both saw action. The main issue for WVU is getting past that Missouri defensive line.

Running the ball and attempting to control the clock is a common tactic against Dana Holgorsen’s team, and the Mountaineers mostly held their own against it past year. They must do a better job of sustaining drives.

West Virginia’s offense, meanwhile, sputtered at times but did enough in securing the game going into the fourth quarter a contest that wasn’t that close in the latter half.

The gunslinger, Skyler Howard, is back to lead the offense after throwing for 3,145 yards and 26 touchdowns previous year. Howard’s brief absence shifted the moral of the entire offense, according to teammate Rushel Shell. “When he went down, a lot of people where like ‘dang man, what’s going to happen?’ but he’s a tough kid”. But it was as poor a sample as one could ever recall from a back-up. He came back out and performed. WVU’s 494 yards of offense were the most against MU’s defense since the 2014 SEC championship game loss to Alabama. He collected 101 yards on 21 attempts and found the endzone once.

2 SEC head coaches are guiding the football team at their alma mater, and each will be coaching his first game on Saturday. When you have a kid who can make the wild plays, you’re always leery of trying to force a wild play.

“I was really happy with our ones”, said West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson. WVU fans also are excited to see how Ka’Raun White improved this off season. Senior Daikiel Shorts had his first-career 100-yard game.

Meanwhile, other receivers (Emanuel Hall, Dominic Collins, Dimetrios Mason, Johnathan Johnson, Keyon Dilosa, and Ray Wingo) combined to catch just six of 13 passes for 45 yards (3.5 per target). Missouri is pretty sound on defense but they struggle a bit on the offensive end. However, defensive coordinator Tony Gibson doesn’t think the ‘Eers defense should be anxious.

“We played together, we played fast and we never gave up”, said Crawford.

Spread: West Virginia opened as an 11.5-point favorite, but that line has crept smaller. He’s a good player.

A handful of fresh faces got the opportunity to play today, including freshmen Reese Donahue and Zach Sandwhisch. Missouri kept a deep shell over the top, at at times backed the corners 10-plus yards off the ball.

The 0-1 Tigers will host Eastern Michigan next Saturday evening. “We’ll see how it works”.

The game kicks off at noon, at Milan Puskar Stadium.