Norfolk St holds No. 19 WVU for a half

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP)

For one half, at least, Norfolk State coach Pete Adrian enjoyed a rare trip back to his alma mater since graduating from West Virginia in 1970.

Norfolk State built a 12-10 halftime lead Saturday.

But then No. 19 West Virginia wore down the Spartans, dominated the second half and beat them 55-12.

''Our kids gave us what they had, but the tank was empty,'' Adrian said. ''They have too many guys. We just got tired in the second half.''

Still, the final score couldn't take away from the fact that the FCS Spartans gave the FBS Mountaineers a pretty good scare.

''We're not going to be intimidated,'' Adrian said.

That was especially true for quarterback Chris Walley, who exposed some weaknesses in West Virginia's secondary. The Mountaineers were outgained 242-143 by halftime. Walley had four passes of 15 yards or more in the first half. He finished 16 of 27 for 136 yards. Xavier Boyce caught eight passes for 100 yards.

''We knew we could go deep on them, trying to see what they're safeties did and how they played the run,'' Walley said. ''We knew we had a few opportunities there and we tried to take advantage.''

But the Spartans also were penalized 19 times for 177 yards.

It marked the second straight season that Norfolk State played an FBS opponent tough early. Last year it trailed Rutgers 6-0 at halftime before losing 31-0.

West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith threw for 371 yards and four scores. West Virginia (2-0) piled up 533 total yards and scored on their first seven possessions of the second half.

Asked to divulge coach Dana Holgorsen's halftime speech, Smith said, ''I think he's a laid-back guy to the media, but us, we kind of see Jekyll and Hyde. He was kind of irate, but he stayed positive and that's what a great leader does.''

This game may be remembered for the early run the Spartans took at West Virginia, which had a short week to prepare after beating cross-state foe Marshall in a lightning-shortened opener last Sunday.

Holgorsen declared he was pleased with no player's performance heading into tougher tests at Maryland next Saturday and at home Sept. 24 against No. 2 LSU.

''We are going to keep them accountable for what they do wrong,'' he said.

West Virginia got little run production for the second straight game. Four different running backs got carries, with Vernard Roberts leading the way with 64 yards on 17 carries.

Smith held the ball too long at times and even got sacked once by Norfolk State's three-man rush.

West Virginia didn't get its initial first down until there were 2 minutes gone in the second quarter. The Mountaineers couldn't get into the end zone on three trips inside the Norfolk State 20 in the first half. Fans booed after West Virginia took six plays on first-and-goal from the 1 without punching it in and settled for a short field goal.

Things finally started clicking for the Mountaineers when they made five first downs on an 81-yard drive that ended with Smith's 18-yard scoring toss to Devon Brown midway through the second quarter.

But Corey Smith shanked a 15-yard punt to give Norfolk State the ball at the West Virginia 37 with 29 seconds left. A roughing the passer call on Bruce Irvin put the Spartans in field-goal range and Ryan Estep's 40-yarder put Norfolk State ahead at halftime.

It was the Spartans' fourth field goal of the half. Everett Goldberg hit from 50 yards in the first quarter and Estep also had a pair of 39-yarders.

Adrian said his players were fired up in the locker room.

''We outplayed them in the first half. There's no question about that,'' Adrian said. ''You can sugar coat it anyway that you want. We did, and then we got blistered in the second half. It was a tale of two halves I guess.''

West Virginia needed just three plays to find the end zone after halftime, and after Smith hit Ivan McCartney with a 39-yard TD toss early in the fourth, the Mountaineers had scored five touchdowns in a 15-minute span.

Smith finished 20 of 34 passing after going 8 of 18 in the first half.

''Hats off to those guys,'' Smith said of Norfolk State, ''because they really came in here to win the game.''

West Virginia's defense woke up, too, limiting Norfolk State (1-1) to two first downs in the second half. The Mountaineers have yet to allow an offensive touchdown in their first two games.