West Virginia dominated East Carolina on both sides of the ball Saturday.  Pat White played a masterful game under center and the West Virginia Mountaineers looked like a true title contender.

The regular season is only a quarter of the way through and many pundits have already stamped Southern Cal’s and LSU’s ticket to the National Championship game.  West Virginia is often on the outside of the title discussion but made a case for supremacy against an under matched East Carolina team. 

Since the loss to Louisville, and then to South Florida a year ago, many West Virginia fans were looking forward to this year’s season opener.  They wanted to see a revamped defense and the same consistent offense they had seen in 2005. Many got what they wished for on Saturday.

The West Virginia defense was spectacular in holding the East Carolina offense to only 160 total yards.  Mountaineer head coach Rich Rodriguez was just as impressed stating he thought it was the best they had played in a long time.  The improving Mountaineer secondary suffocated the Pirates allowing only 54 yards through the air, nearly 150 yards less than their season average.  The defensive line did a masterful job stopping the run throughout the game until ECU’s final drive which gave them their only score of the day.  That final drive took 10 plays and totaled 67 yards, meaning for 55 minutes the Mountaineer defense held East Carolina under 100 total yards.

Skip Holtz’s spread offense, a variation of the offense that WVU employs, was no match for a Mountaineer defense that continues to improve each week.  The Pirate offense is no juggernaut, but has the athleticism at the skill positions to be dangerous.  Mountaineer defenders were all over the field Saturday in what proved to be their best performance in recent memory.  Now the team will look to build on the success of the defense from the last few games as the schedule becomes significantly tougher.

The defense did not do it alone on Saturday, Pat White and the West Virginia offense made East Carolina look silly.  White could not miss through air completing 20 of his 22 pass attempts.  The rushing attack blew up for nearly 400 yards in a methodical, almost business-like day for the Mountaineer offense.  They weren’t flashy, the long runs were scarce and the Mountaineers only had two touchdown scoring drives that were less than 8 plays.

This style of offense, systematically long drives that take up time, has not been a trademark of the West Virginia offense the last two seasons.  West Virginia’s affinity for scoring quickly, often made the defense work over time resulting in missed assignments and ultimate scores.  Not on Saturday.  The offense and defense played what seemed to be it’s most complete game going back to last season.  East Carolina was helpless.

The Pirates had been the most successful team against the Mountaineer attack dating back to 2005.  East Carolina had been the only team to hold West Virginia under 200 yards rushing, and did in consecutive years.  However, the third time wasn’t the charm for lowly buccaneers and it resulted in a 40 point pounding at the hands of the #5 team in the country. 

West Virginia now travels south to Tampa, Florida to take on the Bulls of South Florida in a primetime Friday night match-up.  The Mountaineers will be seeking revenge for a loss suffered at the hands of Matt Grothe and the Bulls a year ago at Mountaineer field.