A rivalry not played in the regular season since 1985 was revived Saturday night. Not in the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains the opposing states share, but back in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Virginia had their heart shattered in last season's ACC title game. West Virginia, led by the return of Coach Rich Rodriguez after nearly 20 years, aimed to shatter some hopes of their own, ultimately claiming the 38-27 and putting the Cavaliers (2-1, 1-0 ACC) expectations at bay.
“I knew that in the first two games we didn’t have any adversity,” Coach Tony Elliott said. “I knew going into this game, with that bunch on the other sideline and their ability to score quickly and be explosive, we were going to have some adversity … I felt like there were times we could have responded better.”
A pair of teams who have shaped their offensive identities on running the football would do so all night to drastically contrasting results. West Virginia (3-0, 0-0 Big 12). ran the ball more than 50 times for nearly 250 yards, while Virginia struggled to get any consistent gains behind their leading backs. The known weakness of the Mountaineers’ defense was stopping the passing attack. They had give...