BY DAVE MORRISON for the Daily Telegraph
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
MORGANTOWN —
West Virginia coach Bill Stewart was not assuming that Noel Devine would go off on Coastal Carolina Saturday in the Mountaineers’ season-opener.
But he sure felt that a lot of other people expected it.
That Devine had just 56 yards going into the fourth quarter — and no touchdowns — still does not concern Stewart, who saw his team open with a 31-0 win Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium.
“He played, and we tried to get him his touches,” Stewart said. “We want to get him in a rhythm. People expect him to go out and run for 300 yards against these guys. They spent the whole day trying to take Noel out of the game plan. That’s why we threw the ball.”
In the fourth quarter, Devine heated up and had runs of 12 and 39 yards that preceded his 4-yard scoring run.
“I got bullheaded at the end and we just wanted to bang it and that’s what we did,” Stewart said. “I thought he did well, but you have to spread the ball out and pass it so you don’t overload him.”
Devine finished with 111 yards and that touchdown.
And Stewart cautioned that Devine will be the focal point for teams to key on — the next being Marshall Friday night in Huntington. The game kicks off at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN.
So Stewart knows that patience must be part of the game plan.
“It’s kind of a chess game there,” Stewart said. “And what happened is we figured out they were angling towards him all the time to take him out of the offense, so we started spreading the ball and running reverses and when we had them running east and west and got them tired, we put Noel back in.
“He’s always had mental toughness, but it’s all about the patience,” Stewart said. “Right now, he’s a very patient team player and that’s what I love about these guys. That’s how much these guys have grown and that’s what excites me about them. The leadership has just been outstanding and I’m sure it’s going to continue.”
Running Devine too much in the opener wasn’t part of the game plan, though he did have 23 carries.
“I felt very comfortable we could win the football game without running Noel 30 times, I didn’t want to do that,” Stewart said. “Maybe down the road we’ll have to do that. He fumbled the ball and we have to get that corrected, but we will. He’ll be fine.”
— E-mail: demorrison@
register-herald.com
