The All-American and 2,000-point scorer is in town for Homecoming weekend and served as the parade marshal in last night’s parade. This had him throwing up hook shots with handfuls of candy as the red convertible motored down High Street on a miserable evening in Morgantown. And this toss method was an adjustment from earlier on the parade. “The first time, I threw it overhanded. Messed a kid up.”

Butler, by the way, is with the San Antonio Spurs and would be playing now if the NBA was playing. The Spurs have just three small forwards on their roster — Butler veteran Richard Jefferson and draft pick Kawhai Leonard. Shooting guards? Manu Ginobili, Gary Neal and James Anderson. He’s got a real good look at it and the knee is fine. Never came up in conversation.

11:01 am: Much was made about Geno Smith’s performance against LSU, and understandably so when the final numbers are 38-for-65 for 462 yards and two touchdowns, but what if we were looking at 34-for-57 for 541 yards and three touchdowns? Believe it or not, the Mountaineers — and that includes Smith and his coaches — saw two plays he left out on the field.

11:16: By the way, Smith was much better against the Tigers this season than he was last season.

And then, in one of the most bizarre press conferences I can remember, this happened (and note finger!):

12:52 pm: No Mountaineer Mantrip today. Weather is just awful.

12:55: No Doug Rigg today. The starting linebacker broke his wrist — and kept playing — against LSU. WVU will slide starting middle linebacker Najee Good to Rigg’s strong side spot and start redshirt freshman Jewone Snow in the middle. Running back Andrew Buie is dressed, but fellow freshman Dustin Garrison will start.

12:28: No Matt Lindamood or Cole Bowers and, as far as we know, Corey Smith is still your punter.

1:05: Again, just awful weather. Here’s the scene in the Blue Lot.

And here’s the Silver Lot, right at the entrance of the Puskar Center.

1:16: Bob Hertzel was cleaning out the treasure chest this week and found this. We figure it’s either a column head shot from the 1970s or his “Mr. Kotter” Halloween costume.

1:20: WVU hasn’t lost to a MAC team since 1949 and is 27-4-1 all-time against MAC teams. The last home loss to a MAC team was 1945, also to Ohio. The Mountaineers have won 16 straight at home against non-BCS teams and the average score is 41-12.

1:27: Phil Steele picked Bowling Green to finish sixth in the MAC’s East division.

1:29: WVU is a 20-point favorite and the over/under is 60.5. The Galcons are 23-14 against the spread as a road underdog since 2001, including 2-0 this season (eight- and two-point underdogs at Idaho and Miami, both ATS and straight-up wins). The Mountaineers are 22-28-1 against the spread as home favorites since 2001 (0-1 this season … as a 231/2-point favorite in the 34-13 game against Marshall. Wonder if that one counts, since it was an abbreviated game.)

2:08: Twitter zing from Darien Hickman: “I’m not a fan of the Mantrip name but it is supposed to represent toughness. Canceling due to weather is kind of weak.”

2:22: Bowling Green has a very MAC white-on-orange look. Tremendous. There is also a left-footed kicker and punter.

2:49: This a is Bowling Green stretching. I counted 66 players. That’s not a lot.

2:55: And here’s the significantly deeper WVU team stretching.

3:08: Chad Snodgrass (!) had the sledgehammer and the Mountaineers were very into it.

3:32: I believe the team takes the field in seven seconds, but I’m not sure. Something is wrong with the video board.

3:33: Whoa. Receiver Eugene Cooper, arguable Bowling Green’s best offensive player, will not play. He’s second on the team with 21 receptions, but leads the Falcons with 374 yards and six touchdowns and averages 93.5 yards per game. Big, big loss there. He’s also the top, and dangerous, punt returner.

3:36: And the aptly named Boo Boo Gates makes the mistake to start the game and WVU’s special teams turned awful coverage into a forced and recovered fumble. Fun little start.

3:40: Cue it up! How about a 77-yard kickoff return? Eighteen-yard touchdown drives are pretty easy.

3:42: Look, I get the point of making changes and putting starters on special teams … but if you’re making these changes now, then it’s the first time some of those guys have covered kicks this season.

3:49: Apart from the “greeting” upon returning to the sideline, no one has said a word to Corey “14 yards and a cloud of ‘Yuck'” Smith except Trey Johnson.

3:52: WVU absolutely wasn’t expecting the trickery there … but Bowling Green, despite the admiration for the ingenuity, has to make that play. Field goal makes it 10-3 and the Mountaineers dodge a sharp bullet.

3:55: Also, this Jamel Martin fellow has three carries and 22 yards. He had 10 carries for 54 yards in the season’s first four games.

3:57: If you’re WVU, you couldn’t ask for a better start to the game. A fumble recovery on the opening kickoff and a first down at the 39 is pretty ideal. And if you’re WVU, you could barely script a worse start. Only things to go right are Boo Boo’s mistake, Bitancurt’s field goal and the incomplete pass on the trick play.

3:59: BGSU has had a few pretty strong shots on Geno thus far.

4:03: Runs facilitate the pass and Eu and McCartney make a far-from-simple play look simple on both ends. Now 10-10, but WVU has to kickoff. I’m pretty excited.

4:06: Cecil Level with the tackle. I believe you’ve heard of him.

4:12: Silly play by Geno. Second-and-10 and the screen to Garrison doesn’t materialize, but Geno rolls and flips one to Garrison, who has no choice but to catch it. Three-yard loss. Third-and-13 … and he makes a ridiculous throw across the field to Austin, who was running an out pattern. Just a very difficult, very impressive play.

4:18: Garrison already has 11 carries and 64 yards and WVU seems to have singled out something specific on the left side. Everything is going that way, even cuts back into the play. It’s 17-10 and BGSU isn’t all to excited to be here now.

4:22: The clock never stopped running after Garrison’s run, and the first down that was supposed to stop the clock, and the first quarter ends with WVU in possession of 93 yards rushing. The season high for a game is 102 yards.

4:26: Holgorsen is having kittens.

4:43: That’s four times Bowling Green has needed to stop play and have a player take off the field. Two seem bogus to me. This is a good time to say I’ve got a pretty good column for Tuesday about what to do about this. And Garrison’s touchdown makes it 31-10 and he has 164 yards on 18 carries. School record, you may remember is 337 by Kay-Jay Harris against East Carolina in 2004. That would be a heck of an encore after what Geno did last week.

4:54: Tyler Bitancurt is punting into the net on the sideline. I’ve never seen him do that during a game.

4:59: Everything going WVU’s day now. Geno is in the grasp of a defender for seven or so seconds and throws a bad pass rather than take a sack and nearly completes it. Garrison fumbles and right guard Tyler Rader somehow recovers it. Brad Starks now catches a 6-yard touchdown. Geno is no 4-for-11 for 17 yards and three touchdowns from the opponent’s 10 and in this season.

5:04: I said Eugene Cooper was arguably BGSU’s top offensive player and I hedged because three freshman running back Anthon Samuel could be in the argument, too. He averaged 7.0 yards per carry and 107 yards per game. He, too, is out injured today. We just found out Samuel’s backup, Jordan Hopwood, is also hurt. I’d have to assume these are not fake injuries.

5:07: Give Bruce Irvin some credit for that interception. He pressured a miserable pass Terence Garvin intercepted. Dana lets Garrison pad his stats, but it’s a 25-yard gain to the 50. With 7.3 seconds to go, they hand it off again and Garrison gains eight more. No field goal attempt here but Garrison gets 16 more yards and enters the locker room with 233 yards. Somewhere Kay-Jay Harris is holding his relevancy very tightly.

5:27: In case you were wondering, LaDainian Tomlinson ran for a NCAA record 406 yards in 1999 against UTEP. Curious to see how much Garrison plays in the second half. The game is over. Buie is hurt. Roberts could use some work. So on and so forth.

5:31: Dana’s going to win this challenge, but Brodrick Jenkins needs something good to happen this season.

5:37: Garrison didn’t block anybody on that play, but he recovered the fumble when Geno was sacked and fumbled.

5:39: Attendance today is 46,603, worst since 2003 when 35.942 watched No. 24 WVU beat Temple, 45-28.

5:52: Quinton Spain is at left guard and Don Barclay is at right guard. No word on Rader.

5:57: And Tyler Bitancurt just kicked off.

6:04: Oliver Luck not seen exchanging high fives after that interview, but apparently it was a doozy. Details, anyone?

6:08: Home state crew will NOT give Julian a sack there. Looked like he lost distance to everyone, though.

6:15: And Millard wings it on his first play for a 45-yard gain to Stedman Bailey.

6:21: Garrison now has 291 yards, even with Kerry Marbury for the second-best total in school history. Here’s your early story: http://www.charlestondailymail.com/Sports/201110012763