WVU beats Marshall

Associated Press

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.

Geno Smith threw two first-half touchdown passes, Tavon Austin returned a kickoff for a score and No. 24 West Virginia beat Marshall 34-13 on Sunday night in a game that was stopped early in the fourth quarter because of lightning.

Smith completed 26 of 35 passes for 249 yards. Despite difficulty running the ball, West Virginia improved to 11-0 against its cross-state rival , including six wins since the series resumed in 2006.

Marshall was limited to 13 first downs, 187 total yards and no offensive touchdowns.

The game was first halted with five minutes left in the third quarter due to severe storms and play didn’t resume for three hours.

Play was stopped again with 14:36 left. But another hour went by before the game was called off, giving new West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen a soggy, successful debut.

The wide-open offenses that Holgorsen built the past three years as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State and Houston produced average scores of 58-9 in season openers.

On Sunday, the Mountaineers had plenty of offensive plays. It just didn’t equate into that many yards, especially on the ground.

Now Holgorsen has a short week to figure out how what to tweak before Saturday’s game against Norfolk State.