Muskets Loaded; Spartans Invade

No. 19 West Virginia (1-0) and Norfolk State (1-0) will meet for the first time ever on the football field Saturday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium.

Its a Spartans team that has plenty of West Virginia flavor head coach Pete Adrian is a West Virginia alum and former player. Also, defensive coordinator Mark DeBastiani is a native of Preston County, and defensive line coach Mark Thurston played for West Virginia in the late 1990s at linebacker.

Ties to the state aside, Adrian said its a matchup his program can gain a lot from down the road.

It really helps us in recruiting, he said. We know the best team were going to play this year is going to be West Virginia by far theres no question about that. We try to find some positives. If we can go out there and play hard and stand up to them for a while, nobody on our schedules going to match their speed, no ones going to match the crowd or the noise so when we go to a visiting away game its no big deal. Weve already been there, done that so to speak.

The Spartans, meanwhile, have played against FBS competition three times in the past twice against Rutgers (in 2007 and 2010) and once against Kentucky (in 2008). None of those games worked out favorably for Norfolk State as the Spartans were outscored 128-3 overall in those three games.

Obviously, speeds a real factor theres no question about that. Anytime a I-AA team plays a Division I team, the 23 more scholarships always makes a big difference usually in the second half too, Adrian said. Were going come out and play as hard as we can play because thats what we do and well see where the cards fall.

Offensively, Norfolk State is led by a talented quarterback in Chris Walley who rarely makes a bad decision with the football. In 2010, he set a school record, completing 167 of 272 passes for a 61.4 completion mark.

Hes a real mature person and handles the game situation really well, Adrian said. He really sees the field well and hes like having a coach on the field. He doesnt get rattled and makes a lot of good throws and a lot of good decisions.

The Spartans won their first game of the year over Virginia State 37-3 behind the arm of Walley he completed 25 of 29 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns. Overall, they outgained the Trojans 438-161 in the contest.

The quarterback is very accurate and showed the ability to run the ball last week against Virginia State, said Mountaineer defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel. But still, for us, itll be to cancel the run and if we cant do that then we create issues for ourselves.

Casteel, meanwhile, is just glad to have the Marshall game in the past after having so many new guys in starting roles defensively for the Mountaineers to open up the year.

Thats really a big game to get through because you have so many kids that are having to play in a major role in an emotional game and with a great crowd I think they were cheek to cheek pretty much when we came out of there and thats big for the kids to get used to that, Casteel said. So, its kind of good to get that behind you.

West Virginia gave up just 187 yards to Marshall in its weather-shortened 34-13 win over the Herd in week one. Meanwhile, offensively for West Virginia, head coach Dana Holgorsen was pleased overall with that win over the Herd. However, there was an area that was lacking.

The blocking was a huge disappointment.



We can dissect it as much as we want to, but the one component is and always will be blocking, Holgorsen said. Geno (Smith) did a nice job of making some plays. Our receivers ran some good routes and caught some balls. We did a decent job of converting third downs.

West Virginia managed just 42 yards on 26 carries against Marshall, but Holgorsen cautioned putting the blame squarely on the offensive line.

Some of the running game problems were the running backs not blocking for the other backs, he said. Some of the running game problems were inside receivers not blocking for running backs. The others blocking was just as bad as the offensive lines blocking. The name of the game offensively is blocks. We have to do a better job with that.

Meanwhile, the game statuses for freshman running back Andrew Buie and sophomore Trey Johnson are still not clear both are battling injuries and have been listed as day-to-day. Defensively on the injury front, lineman Julian Miller said he continues to progress.

Im not as limited as it may seem, he said. I probably could have gone a little bit more (against Marshall), but it was something that was a good thing that I didnt play too much just to give it more rest.

Miller saw minimal action against the Herd and didnt record a tackle. With Miller limited, Will Clarke received more action against the Herd, totaling four tackles in the contest.

Overall, West Virginia has a 17 game non-conference home winning streak dating back to 2005. The Mountaineers are also 11-0 all-time against schools which are members of the NCAA Division I FCS.

Kickoff on Saturday is set for 1:00. Pregame coverage on many MetroNews stations will begin at 9:00 in the morning.

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