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No. 22 West Virginia thrashes Bowling Green

Oct 2, 2011 - 1:14 AM Morgantown, WV (Sports Network) - Dustin Garrison rushed for 291 yards and two touchdowns on 32 attempts, leading No. 22 West Virginia to a 55-10 thrashing of Bowling Green on Saturday afternoon.

Shawne Alston ran for 49 yards and two scores, Geno Smith threw for 238 yards and three touchdowns and Stedman Bailey caught four passes for 112 yards for the Mountaineers (4-1).

"The thing that makes me happier than anything is the fact that we played pretty smart," WVU coach Dana Holgorsen said. "We didn't have any turnovers, we had one penalty."

Matt Schilz threw for 114 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions, while Jamel Martin ran 23 times for 111 yards. Kamar Jorden hauled in five passes for 46 yards and Ray Hutson scored the lone touchdown for the Falcons.

"I think they overwhelmed us a little up front. We missed too many tackles on the back end early," Bowling Green coach Dave Clawson said. "We didn't do a good job getting off blocks and disrupting them."

Bowling Green (3-2) held a 10-3 lead in the first quarter, but West Virginia's offense exploded from then on, scoring seven touchdowns, including six consecutive, and a field goal to put the Falcons away.

The game began with some good fortune for West Virginia, as Jerry Gates fumbled the ball on the opening kickoff and it was recovered on the Bowling Green 39 yard-line by Travis Bell.

Smith then led the Mountaineers down to the Bowling Green 13-yard-line before Tyler Bitancurt connected on a 30-yard field goal to give West Virginia an early 3-0 lead.

The Falcons came right back on their first possession, needing only one play to take a 7-3 lead following a 77-yard kickoff return by Gates. Schilz found Hutson for an 18-yard strike for their only touchdown of the day.

Following a West Virginia three-and-out, Schilz led an 11-play, 52-yard march down to the West Virginia three yard- line and Stephen Stein was true from 21 yards out to give the Falcons a 10-3 lead.

But West Virginia came right back on its next drive and went 70 yards in five plays as Smith connected with Ivan McCartney on a 33-yard touchdown to knot the game at 10.

Early in the second quarter, West Virginia took a seven-point lead when Smith led another long march, this one of the 11-play, 71-yard variety down capped by Alston running in for the eight-yard touchdown.

The Mountaineers poured it on from there, extending their lead to 24-10 on their next possession. Following an interception by Keith Tandy, West Virginia began at its own 40-yard line and used eight plays to get down to the Bowling Green 15 before Smith hooked up with Ryan Nehlen for a TD strike.

West Virginia scored again midway through the second quarter when Garrison sprinted 19 yards to paydirt for a commanding 31-10 advantage.

The Mountaineers scored again with just over two minutes to go before the half when Smith found Brad Starks for a six-yard touchdown pass, ballooning the lead to 38-10.

After the break, West Virginia wasted no time adding to its lead as Garrison capped a six-play, 63-yard drive with an eight-yard touchdown run, taking the Mountaineers' lead to 45-10.

Bitancurt connected on a 42-yard field goal with just under six minutes left in the third quarter to push the lead to 48-10.

Midway through the fourth, Alston scampered eight yards into the end zone to account for the final score.

Game Notes

Saturday was homecoming day for West Virginia...Tandy finished with two interceptions...West Virginia leads the all-time series, 3-0...Defensive lineman Julian Miller recorded a sack for the Mountaineers and defensive back Terence Garvin finished with an interception and a sack...Since the 2000 season, West Virginia is 71-2 when scoring 30 or more points in a game.