FCS roundup

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- For one half, at least, Norfolk State coach^[1] Pete Adrian^[2] enjoyed a rare trip back to his alma mater since graduating from West Virginia^[3] in 1970.

Norfolk State built a 12-10 halftime lead Saturday.

But then No.19 West Virginia wore down the Spartans, dominated the second half and beat them 55-12.

"Our kids gave us what they had, but the tank was empty," Adrian said. "They have too many guys. We just got tired in the second half."

Still, the final score couldn't take away from the fact that the FCS Spartans gave the FBS Mountaineers a pretty good scare.

"We're not going to be intimidated," Adrian said.

That was especially true for quarterback Chris Walley, who exposed some weaknesses in West Virginia's secondary. The Mountaineers were outgained 242-143 by halftime. Walley had four passes of 15 yards or more in the first half. He finished 16 of 27 for 136 yards. Xavier Boyce caught eight passes for 100 yards.

"We knew we could go deep on them, trying to see what their safeties did and how they played the run," Walley said. "We knew we had a few opportunities there and we tried to take advantage."

But the Spartans also were penalized 19 times for 177 yards.

It marked the second straight season that Norfolk State played an FBS opponent tough early.



Last year it trailed Rutgers 6-0 at halftime before losing 31-0.

West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith threw for 371 yards and four scores. West Virginia (2-0) piled up 533 total yards and scored on their first seven possessions of the second half.

The Mountaineers have yet to allow an offensive touchdown in their first two games.

OLD DOMINION 40, GEORGIA STATE 17: Thomas DeMarco ran for two touchdowns and threw for another as Old Dominion (2-0) beat Georgia State (1-1).

Darren McCray blocked Matt Hubbard's punt, which was recovered and returned by Blair Roberts for a 36-yard touchdown. Paul Morant got the second block, which was recovered at the 19 and set up a short drive that culminated in an 8-yard TD pass from DeMarco to Reid Evans.

DeMarco added a 4-yard touchdown run with 4:27 in the third quarter and a 2-yard TD run with 10:39 to play.

References

1. ^{^} Topic - Norfolk State Coach (www2.timesdispatch.com)
2. ^{^} Topic - Pete Adrian (www2.timesdispatch.com)
3. ^{^} Topic - West Virginia (www2.timesdispatch.com)