Halftime Update

Syracuse 21, West Virginia 9

Syracuse continued to engineer long drives and dominate West Virginia in time of possession. The WVU defense had no answer for the Orange in the first half, as Syracuse picked up three or more yards on nearly every play. But if Syracuse's offense is a poisonous molasses, then West Virginia's is a quick striking dagger. With a blitz coming in quickly, Geno connected with Stedman Bailey on a 64 catch and run that led to the first Mountaineer touchdown of the night.

However, WVU's special teams problems resurfaced in horrific fashion.  Bitancurt missed his first extra point of the season, banking it off the left upright. Then, deja vu: WVU gave up another huge kickoff return for a touchdown, putting the Mountaineers in an 12-point hole. Special teams has had problems on kickoffs and punt returns all year, and it looks like that trend will continue after a promising performance against Connecticut.

The Mountaineer defense finally came up with a three-and-out with about three minutes left in the half. The offense was able to come up with another big pass play to get within striking distance. However, Geno Smith was picked off along the goal line on third down.

One word to describe West Virginia tonight is "frustrated". Every aspect of the team has played off-kilter. It looks like the Mountaineers will have to rely on another big second half, but the pressure is really on the defense to get the Orange off the field. That starts with slowing down the run game, which is chewing up big chunks on every play.  On offense, look for some counter-plays and screen passes against the blitz happy defense to take some pressure off of Smith. But with the poor play all around for West Virginia, the difference on the scoreboard is the breakdown on special teams.

Halftime Update

Score: WVU 10, UCONN 9

The Good

• Garrison was a bright spot in the offense again, scoring the only touchdown for the Mountaineers. He didn't rack up many yards, but it's points that matter. It's nice to see the running game bailing out Geno on an off day. 
• Special teams have improved. Molinari nailed a beautiful 41-yard punt that pinned the Huskies at the 2-yard line. If Mr. Molinari keeps this up, there's no doubt the job is his. 
• We've seen this type of play against Norfolk State, only for the Mountaineers to explode in the 2nd half. Point: the offense has the ability to get back on track quickly based on half-time adjustments. 

The Bad

• The game has played to Connecticut's favor at times, with long drives by the Huskies that keep the WVU offense off the field. Time of possession: UCONN 18:56, WVU 11:04
• The defense was gashed at the end of the half to allow the Huskies to get a field goal, which was nearly a touchdown. The defense needs to play with more intensity. 
• Geno's passes seem to be a little off in today's game. He overthrew a possible touchdown and under threw several receivers. There were also several batted balls. 

The Ugly

• Dana Holgorsen says "play hard, play smart, play fast," but the Mountaineers rarely played any of those ways in the first half. The coach's halftime speech will be ugly. 

Prediction
The Mountaineers need to play with more energy and make fewer mistakes in the 2nd half to get the offense clicking. Special teams needs to continue its much improved play. Expect a higher scoring 2nd half from both teams.