INSTANT RECAP: West Virginia avoids Show Me State shutout with late touchdown, falls to Missouri 38-7

Well, folks, we knew things had a chance at going bad for the West Virginia Mountaineers this afternoon against a Missouri Tigers team that lost to Wyoming last week, and yet — somehow — it turned out significantly worse than expected. The Mountaineers narrowly avoided a shut out in the Show Me State with a late fourth quarter touchdown, but still got blasted by a final score of 38-7.

West Virginia won the toss and deferred to the second half, and then stopped Missouri on their opening drive — and that about sums up anything that went well for the Mountaineers in Columbia today.

If we’re looking for positives out of this game, we have to look hard. West Virginia’s run game was virtually non-existent for the second straight game, collectively running for 30 yards on 32 attempts. The offensive line played poorly again, failing to get any kid of push to allow the Mountaineer backs some room to run.

If we’re giving out passes for effort, the West Virginia defense should probably get one — even with giving up 38 points — because they were continually put in bad situations by the offense. Darius Stills recorded two more sacks today, giving him four on the young season.

The West Virginia quarterback room is dire. Austin Kendall finished the day 15-of-25 for 137 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He was briefly replaced by Jack Allison in the fourth quarter, who promptly went 1-of-2 for 4 yards and an interception. The final drive of the game saw Neal Brown insert freshman Trey Lowe, who — with less than a minute remaining in the game — only handed the ball off twice before the clock expired.

Florida State transfer George Campbell caught West Virginia’s lone touchdown, marking his second on the season.

West Virginia returns home to Morgantown next Saturday, where they’ll take on the N.C. State Wolfpack. Of course, the Wolfpack defense is led by former Mountaineer defensive coordinator Tony Gibson, so he’ll without a doubt be looking to do what Missouri couldn’t today — pitch a shut out. That game is scheduled to kick off at Noon ET, and will be broadcast on FS1.