#31-17

“Yeah.” Dash said quietly. “Look at us now.”

BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) — Kelly Bryant left Virginia Tech defenders grasping at air, laying on the ground and wondering how they'd missed him. Kelly Bryant leads No. 2 Clemson past No. 12 Hokies, 31-17

Saturday's Mountaineer victory was a classic of the genre, one in which the coaching staff, upon seeing impressive success occurring before them, decides that its ramifications are too much and pulls the emergency brake. Hard. Fans in the stadium and watching at home then spend the rest of the game staring in wide-eyed wonder at the scene unfolding in front of them. The final of a game that should have been 48-10 was 31-17. A Tale Of Two Halves Interrupted By The Worst Halftime Speech In History There it was, happening before us, an offense that operating quickly and efficiently, getting up to the line before Maryland's defense had a chance to adjust, Geno picking targets all over the field, spreading the ball, Devine being set free as he was only occasionally run directly into the middle of the defensive line, an offense. An honest to goodness offense. It was the one that most WVU fans have wondered about and prayed for and there it was, happening in front of us. The score, before anybody knew any better, was an astounding 21-0, and that included two turnovers that stopped what might have been even more scoring. Between Devine, Sanders, Austin, and Bailey, we suddenly featured an offense that succeeded despite its occasionally slippery hands. (Those slippery hands are a concern.) The crowd was electric, as loud as they've been in years, and the defense was flying around the field anxious to get at the quarterback, anxious to get the announcers to stop mentioning that WVU had yet to record a sack. (Eight sacks later and we can hope we won't hear this talk again.) Then, halftime. It had to have been the worst halftime speech in history. "Boys! Boys, boys! You're up 21-0. Fans are happy. Our offense? Potent. Our defense? Aggressive. Maryland is staggered. If we play our cards right, we can knock them out of this game early." The team cheers, ecstatic, thrilled at their own successful execution of an aggressive scheme. "We can't knock this team out early! We can't. That's not what West Virginia football is about! So what we're going to do is start with some very conservative play-calling, except for an occasional insane decision to let Jock Sanders throw the ball. Defensively, we're going to not have a safety back to help protect against the middle-schooler we've put in to replace Brandon Hogan. Ideally, he'll get burned two, maybe three times, although if things work out right, that last bomb of a touchdown can be dropped by a receiver shocked at his continued one-on-one coverage. Between our newly slowed down offense and opening the door wide open for a Maryland comeback, we can take the fans out of the game as they relive every awful sports memory they've ever had. Who's with me?" In other words, Stewart gave this speech only the exact opposite. It's also worth noting that our performance Saturday matched memorable West Virginia performances throughout the years. I will say this though: Stewart's halftime speech ended up being exactly what happened in that second half. So at least he can say he called it. What We Learned West Virginia University Football is fundamentally the same as it ever was, even though it seems like there's an outside possibility that the reality of the hurry-up offense is clicking with the coaching staff. Outside chances are just that though. Against LSU this coming weekend, in Louisiana, at night, is when we'll really learn if the coaching staff has absorbed anything they've seen recently or Saturday's first-half was just an aberration to spend a season dreaming about.