By John Antonik for
MSNsportsNET.comMORGANTOWN, W.VA – West Virginia used a vicious second-half pass rush to pull out a 28-16 come-from-behind victory over Idaho Saturday afternoon at Mountaineer Field.
WVU produced a school-record 12 quarterback sacks for the game. Grant Wiley, David Upchurch and James Davis had two sacks each.
"I thought the longer the game went on, the better our defense got," admitted West Virginia Coach Don Nehlen.
The turning point in the game came after Mark Fazzolari boomed a 76-yard punt that pinned Idaho deep in its own territory. At the time of Fazzolari’s 76-yard boomer, fourth-longest in WVU history, West Virginia trailed 9-0.
Shortly after Fazzolari’s boot, the Mountaineers got a momentum-gaining interception from freshman linebacker Wiley, who raced 15 yards to the end zone for WVU’s first score to reduce the deficit to 9-7.
"I just made my reads and the ball came my way," admitted Wiley, who finished the afternoon with seven tackles, two tackles for losses, two sacks and two interceptions.
"The interception for a touchdown was the momentum swing for West Virginia and we never recovered," Idaho Coach Tom Cable admitted.
After Wiley’s score with 6:39 left in the third period, West Virginia took its first lead of the game at the start of the fourth quarter when quarterback Brad Lewis hit Khori Ivy for a 22-yard TD pass that made it 14-9.
That score was also set up by an athletic interception from Wiley, who now owns three on the season. Shawn Hackett and Richard Bryant also had interceptions.
"We knew we had to make some big plays to help get the offense going," Wiley noted.
The WVU offense responded by expanding the lead to 21-9 with 11:17 left in the game on a five-play, 60-yard scoring drive that was done entirely on the ground. The big gain was a 34-yard run by Cooper Rego down the far sideline. Rego finished the drive with a one-yard dive over the top.
West Virginia added an insurance score two minutes later when Rego crossed the goal line from five yards out – his eighth rushing TD of the season.
Rego’s rush was set up when Antonio Brown took a Ryan Downes punt, appeared to be tackled, but bounced outside and raced 69 yards to the Idaho five-yard line.
In the end, West Virginia’s 12-point victory looked easier than it actually was.
"It’s disappointing because we thought that we could play them a lot closer than what the final score was," said Cable.
Idaho controlled the first half, out-gaining West Virginia 277-71. The Big West Conference school missed two scoring opportunities when kicker Ben Davis shanked both field goal attempts in a stiff wind.
The Vandals controlled field position the entire first half, and benefited from crisp passing from John Welsh, who completed 20-of-27 passes for 204 yards by halftime.
Welsh was responsible for the only touchdown of the half when he found a wide-open Willie Alderson for 19 yards down the middle of the field to make it 7-0.
Idaho added a safety with 8:05 left in the second quarter when West Virginia committed another special teams mistake. Linebacker Chris Nofoagia blocked Mark Fazzolari’s punt out of the end zone.
In the second half, West Virginia made adjustments that resulted in the school-record sack total to go along with the four interceptions.
"We had to go after the quarterback," said Nehlen. "If you didn’t blitz this guy, you’re not going to beat them."
Idaho, on the other hand, stymied West Virginia’s running game, holding the Mountaineers to just 116 yards on 34 rushes. WVU didn’t reach 100 total yards until 8:32 left in the third quarter when Lewis hit Antonio Brown for a 21-yard gain across the middle.
Welsh finished the afternoon completing 35-of-50 passes for 365 yards and two touchdowns. His final touchdown-pass came in the fourth quarter when he found Ethan Jones for a seven-yard score.
West Virginia could muster just 247 total yards including 88 yards on the ground from Rego, who again subbed for an injured Avon Cobourne.
Lewis, who left the game late in the fourth quarter with a bruised passing hand, finished 12-of-29 for 131 yards and one touchdown. He also tossed an interception.
Brown had five catches for 69 yards, while Ivy caught four passes for 48 yards, extending his consecutive catch streak to 33 games -- which ties the WVU record held by David Saunders.
"Offensively we looked terrible," Nehlen moaned. "We’re not good. We’ve somehow lost our rhythm and we have to get it back."
Safety Rick Sherrod was credited with an unofficial total of 15 tackles. Linebacker Kyle Kayden contributed 12.
A crowd of just 41,185 – 16th smallest in Mountaineer Field history, witnessed the contest.
The victory improves West Virginia’s record to 4-1 with a key clash at Virginia Tech coming up on Thursday night. That game will be televised nationally on ESPN.
The Hokies, who won today against Temple, should move up to No. 2 in the polls after Miami’s win over No. 1-ranked Florida State.
Idaho, which had won two-straight coming into this afternoon’s game, falls to 2-4 on the season.
Scoring Summary
ID – Alderson 19 pass from Welsh (Davis kick)
ID – Safety (punt blocked out of end zone)
WV – Wiley 15 interception (Ohliger kick)
WV – Ivy 22 pass from Lewis (Ohliger kick)
WV – Rego 1 run (Ohliger kick)
WV – Rego 5 run (Ohliger kick)
ID – Jones 7 pass from Welsh (Davis kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: ID – Alderson 22-95, Gerstner 3-2, Lacy 1-minus 2, Welsh 22-minus 6, Total 48-89; WV – Rego 23-88, Lewis 4-13, Ours 3-10, McBrien 2-5, Brown 2-0, Total 34-116.
Passing: ID – Welsh 35-50-4-365-2; WV – Lewis 12-29-1-131-1, McBrien 0-1-0-0-0, Total 12-30-1-131-1.
Receiving: ID – Alderson 9-82, Jelmberg 8-106, Roeberg 7-54, Lacy 5-46, Belser 2-40, Townsley 2-24, Jones 1-7, O’Connel 1-6, Total 35-365; WV – Brown 5-69, Ivy 4-48, Berton 1-8, Ours 1-5, Rego 1-1.
Attendance: 41,185
