No. 16 WVU plays host to Connecticut Saturday and the Huskies have a run defense that is one of the country’s best. They also have the defensive like that gave the Mountaineers a lot of problems last season.

Yet WVU offers up a new problem this time. Dustin Garrison, at the very least, makes Paul Pasqualoni lean forward when he watches the film. The Mountaineers will run the ball and might be good at it. And, of course, the Mountaineers will pass the ball and they have thus far been very good at it.

This is especially useful because even though the film does not lie, it can mislead.

Bowling Green had been a zone team that took very few chances and kept tabs on receivers while keeping eyes on the quarterback. Against WVU the Falcons played man-to-man and sat on routes and tried to stop the pass. Garrison ran wild.

The Huskies have the personality of Pasqualoni, who was a defensive coach and coordinator the past few years in the NFL. They’re good against the run because of the line and some athletic players in the back, but they also really, really struggled with the pass in Saturday’s loss to Western Michigan.

It’s an intimidating prospect for UConn and probably an inviting one for the Mountaineers, who now pose two possibilities on offense and can leverage one to enhance the other.

Freshman Dustin Garrison set the school’s freshman record with 291 yards. He averaged 9.1 yards per carry and scored twice a week after Smith set school records for passing attempts, completions and yards against the Tigers.

Smith wasn’t exactly harnessed. He threw a touchdown pass in an eighth consecutive game and had a 100-yard receiver – this time Stedman Bailey, who had four catches for 112 yards – for a third straight game. WVU has seven 100-yard receivers this season.

“This was a lot easier,” Smith said.

WVU ended up with a Mountaineer Field-record 643 yards of offense. Considering what Garrison and the sudden running game did to the Bowling Green defense, WVU is eager to see how Connecticut (2-3) responds in the Saturday’s noon game at Mountaineer Field. It’s the Big East opener for both teams.

WVU rose from No. 115 nationally in rushing offense (76.5 yards per game) to No. 76 (133.2), but the Huskies are No. 8 against the run (75.2).

“Evaluating those games is going to be tough for them,” inside receivers coach Shannon Dawson said. “It’ll be interesting to see how they come out play now that we’ve shown we do have a running game.”