Brown, Bitancurt lead West Virginia over Liberty

By JOHN RABY, AP Sports Writer Sep 5, 5:05 pm EDT

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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP)—Jarrett Brown ran for one score and Tyler Bitancurt kicked four field goals to lead West Virginia past Liberty 33-20 Saturday.

West Virginia won its sixth straight season opener and improved to 10-0 against Football Championship Subdivision opponents since 2000.

Brown completed 19 of 26 passes for 243 yards in the first game of the post-Pat White era but also struggled at times to move the Mountaineers down the field.

The win wasn’t secured until Robert Sands intercepted Liberty’s Tommy Beecher midway through the fourth quarter and West Virginia’s Noel Devine scored two plays later on a 24-yard run for a 33-13 lead.

Devine rushed 17 times for 112 yards. Liberty’s Mike Brown caught 11 passes for 157 yards and a score.

West Virginia has plenty to work on with East Carolina coming to Morgantown next Saturday.

An offensive line that lost three longtime starters was unable to give Devine much room.

West Virginia did nothing to improve its standing as one of the nation’s worst in yards allowed on kickoffs. Two of Liberty’s drives after kickoffs started in West Virginia territory, and Western Washington transfer Josh Lider booted one out of bounds.

At least West Virginia temporarily solved its inability to move the ball in short-yardage situations. WVU converted six of 12 times on third down, including fullback Ryan Clarke’s 2-yard TD run late in the first quarter.

Beecher’s first game at Liberty went much better than his last start—a four-interception mess in South Carolina’s 2008 season opener against North Carolina State.

Beecher went 22-of-33 for 210 yards and engineered two first-half scoring drives, including a screen pass that Mike Brown turned into a 20-yard TD and tied the game at 10-10 early in the second quarter.

On the next series, Jarrett Brown scored from 22 yards out on a planned draw play on third down to put the Mountaineers ahead to stay.

But West Virginia found the end zone only one more time the rest of the game.

Bitancurt kicked field goals of 38, 35, 45 and 36 yards. West Virginia outgained Liberty 438-299.

Updated Sep 5, 5:05 pm EDT
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Head to Head - Week 1

Team Total Yds Pass Yds Rush Yds First Downs 3rdD% Pen./Yds Turnovers Time of Poss.
Liberty 299 210 89 15 23.1% 9/80 1 30:38
West Virginia 438 243 195 22 50.0% 7/69 0 29:22
NCAAF

19 Comments

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  1. DanielC
    19. Posted by DanielC Mon Oct 26 2:50am EDT

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    Liberty did well against the likes of WV. Just keep this in mind when judging Libertys' performance....This is a rebuilding year for them. Not to take anything away from WV.

    Go Flames.
  2. <i>kellerbrandon11</i>
    18. Posted by kellerbrandon11 Fri Sep 11 2:02am EDT

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    Okay first game jitters and getting back in rhythm is always part of opening day but West Virginia still should of smashed Liberty. Come on people this is a team that two years ago would of gone to the national championship title game and were making excuses. I'm telling you if they come out this coming Saturday sleep walking then E.Carolina is going to smash us. Yeah I said it! This team needs to get that old fire they used to have. I'm not a big fan of Stewart.

    Prediction: Overtime type game against E.Carolina.
  3. Willie
    17. Posted by Willie Thu Sep 10 1:37am EDT

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    Michael, you are right about a lack of fire and passion. That is what kick off coverage primarily consist of - fire and passion. You have to want to get down the field and knock the heck out of someone and it is up to the coaches to get the right personnel, the correct combination on the field that wants to do some head hunting.

    I blame the coaching staff. The players have been tackling since little league. It is up to the coaches to devise a scheme, and stick a fire under their butts if necessary to get them to perform effectively. Its not that complicated.
  4. Michael
    16. Posted by Michael Tue Sep 8 2:33pm EDT

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    Lets give Liberty a little credit here, they were well coached & ready to play unlike our guys!! I am not going to say too much just yet, need to see another game before I call for the coaches head, chalk it up as the first game jitters ( I hope). I just didn't see the fire & passion I would like to see, they seemed flat, but we shall see!!!
  5. Don E
    15. Posted by Don E Tue Sep 8 4:20am EDT

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    Reply to Dan -

    I share your enthusiasm but if they are still trying to get kickoff coverage right after having all off-season to work on it and they are playing with a re-built offensive line then beating the likes of Cincinnati (who dismantled Rutgers yesterday) and Pitt will be a daunting task.
    As adman noted, they aren't going to show too many cards with their first game.....but that should have been a cakewalk. Liberty may have 22 transfers from BCS schools, but I doubt they transferred because the NFL scouts hang out at Liberty.
    We'll have to see how we do against E. Carolina, but this looks to be an 8-4 year with some luck.
  6. DAN
    14. Posted by DAN Mon Sep 7 7:25pm EDT

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    Comment on billy d
    yes, you are right but i think jarrett brown will be spectacular in our offense.
    wvu is set this year only. set to win the big east. cinncinatti and pitt will go down. anyways, lets go mountaineers!!
  7. <i>adman0994</i>
    13. Posted by adman0994 Mon Sep 7 11:38am EDT

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    This is to Jeff...Yes Pat White's little brother Coley White is almost as good as Pat. They say Coley can run just like Pat. The only problem is he has a weird throwing motion he must work on before he can play in the offense effectively. He is currently 3rd on the depth chart behind Jarrett and Geno. And yes we can survive without Pat White and I do believe he can survive as a NFL QB.

    And as for the game, you can expect too much from the 1st game. They are not going to show their whole offense in the 1st game. And if you didnt know this, Libery has 22 transfers from BCS schools, yeah. The only part that was truely horrible was kickoff coverage, which is more of a personel problem than a coaching problem,so lay off Coach Stewart, he is a good coach, plus you can only coach kickoff coverage so many different ways. They just need to find the right combination and type of players. Let's Go Mountaineers!
  8. <i>adman0994</i>
    12. Posted by adman0994 Mon Sep 7 11:37am EDT

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    This is to Jeff...Yes Pat White's little brother Coley White is almost as good as Pat. They say Coley can run just like Pat. The only problem is he has a weird throwing motion he must work on before he can play in the offense effectively. He is currently 3rd on the depth chart behind Jarrett and Geno. And yes we can survive without Pat White and I do believe he can survive as a NFL QB.

    And as for the game, you can expect too much from the 1st game. They are not going to show their whole offense in the 1st game. And if you didnt know this, Libery has 22 transfers from BCS schools, yeah. The only part that was truely horrible was kickoff coverage, which is more of a personel problem than a coaching problem, you can only coach kickoff coverage so many different ways. They just need to find the right combination and type of players. Let's Go Mountaineers!
  9. Jeff
    11. Posted by Jeff Mon Sep 7 10:13am EDT

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    The question is can we survive the post - White era? And, can White survive as a qb in the NFL? Why didnt we play White's lillte brother? Does anyone know anything about him? Is he at least half the qb his borther was?
  10. <i>edwards.brian@...</i>
    10. Posted by edwards.brian@... Sun Sep 6 9:36pm EDT

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    This game proves that we need a true coach. so much talent not to score more. Wake up WVU seek better help. Coach do us a favor and quit.
  11. <i>wvhillbilly999</i>
    9. Posted by wvhillbilly999 Sun Sep 6 5:40pm EDT

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    The worst performing unit on the team has been the kickoff unit for 2 years. Stewart has coached that unit for 2 years. Obviously he can't coach.

    The question then is can you teach others to coach when you don't know how to coach yourself?

    Can't fire him because that would mean it was a mistake to hire him.

    He does know how to recruit; therefore, I recommend he be promoted to CHIEF RECRUITER. Then hire a coach who has a successful record of coaching.
  12. jim
    8. Posted by jim Sun Sep 6 2:40pm EDT

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    liberty was robbed
  13. Billy D
    7. Posted by Billy D Sun Sep 6 2:28pm EDT

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    I was really disappointed with WVU's performance against Liberty. This is the type of game that should have been a blow-out and 3rd stringers should have been in during the 4th quarter. Poor kick off coverage and an inconsistent offense actually allowed Liberty to compete with WVU. This should have been a tune up game. I was really disappointed to see that the coaching staff has not corrected some of the same problems that existed last season. Are we heading back to the era when going 6 &5 five is acceptable? I certainly hope not.
  14. <i>wvu11761</i>
    6. Posted by wvu11761 Sun Sep 6 12:38pm EDT

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    Bill Stewart is not the man for WVU. It's only a matter of time before the powers that be figure that out too.
  15. DNJ88
    5. Posted by DNJ88 Sun Sep 6 1:30am EDT

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    Overall not a bad showing but the ongoing problems with kickoff coverage will cost WVU wins against quality teams.....can't have the defense on it's heels half the time because the coaching staff can't fix this problem.
    Still not sold on Stewart....my impression is that he is a nice guy and won't let the team sink completely but he was and never will be the guy to have taken the team to the next level after Rodriguez left. While the program was on the rise they should have held out for someone with a better pedigree than Stewart had....but what's done is done.
  16. Tony
    4. Posted by Tony Sat Sep 5 7:17pm EDT

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    Liberty played well, looked like a top ten 1-AA team ...... So did App State, they gave E Carolina a good scare down in Greenville.
  17. lrk
    3. Posted by lrk Sat Sep 5 5:19pm EDT

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    I was at the game today, and West Virginia didn't look too bad. One problem was penalties. We allowed two long kick returns, and were penalized after a few third down stops. If they work on kick coverage and reduce the penalties they will be very tough to beat.
  18. <i>wvhillbilly999</i>
    2. Posted by wvhillbilly999 Sat Sep 5 4:49pm EDT

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    Without a pass defense you don't blow anybody out--22 completions for an average of 9.5 yards per completion. Total of 210 yards with 155 to one receiver.

    East Carolina will have a passing game AND a running game.

    Might be a long day next Saturday.
  19. 1st and 10
    1. Posted by 1st and 10 Sat Sep 5 4:31pm EDT

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    West Virginia should have blown these guys out, especially at home. Actually they shouldn't even be playing them, or any FCS/1AA team for that matter. East Carolina will be a much tougher game. Let's go Mountaineers!
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Top Performers

 Top Performers
 Liberty
M. Brown M. Brown, QB

2 Rush, 7 yds, 1 TD
11 Rec, 157 yds, 1 TD
 West Virginia
J. Brown J. Brown, QB
19-26, 243 yds
9 Rush, 69 yds, 1 TD

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