The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

Sunday brunch: WVU 45, Maryland 6

It began like that, and then wild and wonderful made room for weird and whimsy. Randy Edsall’s team tried to play too fast and was warned, then Edsall decided to go for it on fourth down in what might wistfully be considered the wrong place and the wrong time. Odd tone for him to try to set.

Karl Joseph’s tackle ended that drive, and then linebacker A.J. Hendy tried to end Skyler Howard’s day with a late hit out of bounds. Dana Holgorsen said his team didn’t need one play, the other or both to get rolling, that the Mountaineers were ready to play and didn’t need that sort of motivation.

His players were nevertheless moved to make a statement in that 45-6 trouncing.

“Not that we weren’t fired up, because this was a big game with a big atmosphere, and obviously we respect our opponent, but we don’t really care for them, but I think that fired everybody up,” Howard said, “including me.”

Howard internalized his anger. Right tackle Marquis Lucas did not. He spent the time the officials needed to review Hendy’s ejection for targeting by yelling and gesturing at Maryland’s sideline. The call was overturned and Hendy was allowed stay in the game, which was fine by WVU.

“I told Skyler after that play, ‘Now you go kill them,’ ” said receiver Shelton Gibson. “I told him, ‘I don’t even want [Hendy] to get out of the game.’ When they were reviewing the targeting thing, I was like, ‘I don’t want him to get out of the game. I want him to stay in the game. I want him to feel this pain.’ ”

Welp, WVU, now ranked No. 21 by the coaches with the AP poll to follow this afternoon, scored three straight touchdowns to start the game. The Terrapins would punt on five straight possessions, two after three-and-outs, two after four plays.

Then the turnovers started.

By the end of the half, the Mountaineers were pushing for a touchdown and a 42-0 lead.  Two flags tried to discourage that, and Holgorsen, who never pays attention to officials, honestly you guys never, was furious with both and would not be denied points.

They were odd penalties, especially the defenseless player flag, because Maryland was defenseless the entire first half. And that half ended with Holgorsen using two timeouts to bookend a 13-yard pass and set up a 48-yard field goal for a 38-0 lead.

Not long into the third quarter, he executed his first successful fake punt.

The outcome conspired to cover up other oddities. WVU committed two turnovers, and Skyler Howard threw an interception, but that wasn’t his fault. It bounced off Jovon Durante, who apparently did not practice as well as Devonte Mathis did last week and didn’t start the game.

The Mountaineers were one of three teams without a turnover. Maryland was one of two teams that hadn’t allowed a sack. WVU, which only had one in its first two games, finished with three.

Wendell Smallwood had one of the best days by a Holgorsen running back at WVU, the offense finished with 300-plus yards on the ground, and oddly and fittingly enough, the story afterward might have been Rushel Shell.

“It’s Game 3, we’re coming off a bye week, the offensive line’s coming together and the running backs are starting to trust the guys up front,” said running backs coach JaJuan Seider. “We played a team that played its traditional defense, a 4-2-5, and they kept a safety back. That gave us some seams.

“That’s something we’ve talked about. You’ve got to be afraid of our receivers, and if you watch Jovon and Shelton and all those guys [Saturday], you’ve still got to be afraid. Even if you play a safety up top, they can still take the top off the defense, and that’s going to allow us more room for the run game.”

That kind of day for the home team, one that ended with this.