Throughout the years, West Virginia hasn't exactly been known for its special teams.
Virginia Tech had its Beamer-ball. WVU had its DeForest-ball.
In the Mountaineers' first game of the season, however, many boxes were checked in the area of special teams.
Punting? Check. Billy Kinney averaged 45.4 yards on five punts. Today he stands No. 16 nationally. Now all he needs to do is grow a mustache.
Field goal kicking? Check. Mike Molina was 4 for 4 with a long of 33 yards. He's tied at No. 2 nationally in field goals per game to Florida State's Ricky Aguayo and, obviously, tied at No. 1 in percentage. All he needs to do now is win Dana Holgorsen a couple games at the end - and hold off veteran Josh Lambert when he comes off suspension following the BYU game.
WVU's coverage? Check. In Missouri's only punt return last Saturday, Johnathan Johnson had but 2 yards. In three Mizzou kickoff returns, the Tigers averaged 19.67 yards. The long was 23.
Kickoffs? Check. Molina averaged 62.1 yards and had four touchbacks in seven kicks.
Also, you can check the kickoff return box. Shelton Gibson had two for 64 yards.
There were, however, two special teams boxes left unchecked.
First, there was that punt return unit. Gary Jennings took four punts from Missouri - for a mere 7 yards total. On top of that, his bell was rung like church was about to begin.
"We've got to get hands on [opponents] earlier," said WVU special teams coach Mark Scott. "We've got to slow them up to give ourselves a chance, so Gary isn't taking shots back there.
"That was the main negative from Saturday. We addressed that Sunday. We had a team meeting and watched every single special teams rep from the game. We called some guys out and challenged them. We've got guys that are eager to get in there so we're having competition this week. We're going to see how we can get better in that phase."
Of course, Jennings can call for a fair catch here and there. But Scott took up for the 6-foot-2, 203-pound true sophomore.
"There are certain situations where he needs to understand how much help he has or doesn't have and make good decisions based off that," said the coach. "At the same time, I don't want him to relax. I like that he's fearless. He goes after the ball.
"I understand he can help himself out a little bit and protect himself a little bit, but we really have to do a better job up front and, really, on the outside to give him a chance."
Scott kept going back to the "outside" on punt returns.
"Our corners are the guys trying to slow down those gunners," said the coach. "It's no different than a play on defense. It's not a play to take off. It's not a play to relax. You have to be locked in, give the same effort and execute the same way you do on defense."
Thankfully for WVU, Jennings was rocked, but the ball didn't roll out of his hands last Saturday.
"The more shots he takes, though, the scarier it gets," Scott said.
Also, there was Missouri's successful onside kick at game's end. WVU was winning comfortably, 26-3, when the Mountaineer defense allowed a late Tigers score and 2-point conversion. Kicker Turner Adams then recovered his own onside kick.
"The hands team was a bit disappointing, obviously," Scott said. "We had two guys that were untouched. Regardless of whether we're winning by two scores or whether the game is on the line, we have to have the same sense of urgency when we put that unit out there. You go after the ball. Our alignment was fine, it's just reaction and sense of urgency - which, again, should never be an issue with that unit. It's something we're going to continue to stress, emphasize and work on."
So he and the entire WVU team can cash those last two checks.
Contact Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827 or mitchvingle@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MitchVingle.