MORGANTOWN - There were fireworks at halftime outside of Milan Puskar Stadium for WVU's season-opening football game with Georgia Southern.
Inside? Up to that point, not so much. The host Mountaineers were leading the visiting Eagles 16-0.
After the haze cleared from the halftime display, though, West Virginia lit up both the night and opponent and won 44-0 before a nice crowd of 55,182.
Especially Karl Joseph. Especially Jovon Durante. Especially Shelton Gibson. And especially, especially WVU's defense.
Defensive coordinator Tony Gibson's declaration that he has a great defense looks good at this point. West Virginia limited Georgia Southern's option attack.
Joseph almost seemed like he was picking on Fabian Upshaw by picking off three passes. The defensive front looked sturdy. And Jared Barber looked good in his comeback before limping off with 9 minutes left in the third quarter.
Quarterback Skyler Howard had a couple problems with touch. But, hey, just try to argue with a 16-of-25 passing day for 359 yards and two scores. His QB rating was 211. Upshaw's was minus 27.4.
Howard's young, four-star receivers, meanwhile, were spectacular. Uh, yeah, Dana Holgorsen, I think those two are legit starters. Durante, the true freshman, blew by Darrius White, a redshirt junior, with 10:54 left in the first quarter for his first catch - a 41-yard touchdown.
Just call him "Blur." That's all defenders see. Ask White, who saw more separation than a gossip writer in Hollywood.
Yet Gibson, the redshirt sophomore, topped Durante with three catches for 130 yards and a score. Think Howard is smiling today?
There were a couple WVU concerns. First, the Mountaineers were inside the opposing 30-yard line five times in the first half and had three field goals, ran out of downs once and had to punt once. There were big plays setting up the series, but they just straight couldn't cash in, homey.
Also, the Mountaineer offensive line wasn't exactly dominating in the run game. At the end, yes, Georgia Southern was worn out, but there has to be a bit of concern.
Overall, though, West Virginia was impressive. As in very. Last season, the Eagles gave Georgia Tech and North Carolina State fits. But they gave the Mountaineers none Saturday night.
Forty-four points for the hosts. A shutout for the hosts.
The haze cleared quite nicely for the Mountaineers.
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Saturday not only marked the season opener for WVU, but the day NFL teams cut their rosters to 53.
For many former Mountaineers, it was a day to celebrate.
Impressively, 20 ex-WVU players made the cut. That was subject to change because of trades, ect. But as of 7 p.m. Saturday, these former Mountaineers made teams, whether on the active roster, injured reserve or physically unable to perform list: Geno Smith (New York Jets), Mario Alford, Will Clarke and Adam Jones (Cincinnati), Terence Garvin and Will Johnson (Pittsburgh), Pat McAfee (Indianapolis), Quinton Spain (Tennessee), J.T. Thomas (New York Giants), Kevin White and Ryan Mundy (Chicago), Joe Madsen (Detroit), Don Barclay (Green Bay), Charles Sims and Keith Tandy (Tampa Bay), Shaq Riddick (Arizona), Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey (St. Louis), and Bruce Irvin and Mark Glowinski (Seattle). Dreamius Smith reportedly made the San Diego practice squad.
Marshall, meanwhile, had six players make the grade. They are: Albert McClellan (Baltimore), Neville Hewitt (Miami), Aaron Dobson and Darryl Roberts (New England), Lee Smith (Oakland) and Vinny Curry (Philadelphia).
Oh, and in case you wondered, three former Georgia Southern players made the grade, including Minnesota running back Jerick McKinnon.
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And finally ...
With the first WVU game also came the final season ticket sales count.
According to Mountaineer associate athletic director Matt Wells, the total sold was "just a handful short of 28,900."
"While season ticket sales are down slightly," he said, "we've seen an increase in mini-package sales compared to the same point last year. We've sold 15,000 more single-game tickets than we had prior to last year's home opener."