MORGANTOWN - The damage done on Sept. 21, 2013, took time to repair. West Virginia football incurred serious wounds that day, and some took longer to mend than others.
Maryland defeated the Mountaineers 37-0, WVU's first shutout loss since 2001 and worst shutout loss since 1975. The Mountaineers had 175 yards on offense, six first downs and six turnovers. You'll have to take my word for that because the team's website doesn't have the box score to remind you of when the coach said the Mountaineers were "as inept as we can possibly be in college football."
It would be fair and accurate to call it Dana Holgorsen's worst hour, not because some writer says so, but because he believes that to be true.
"It's the worst defeat that I've ever taken," he said, "but we weren't in a good place."
He looked like a coach with a shriveling reputation, a man running out of time and options. WVU finished that season 4-8, an outcome outlined on that rainy day in Baltimore, and those who might be saviors ultimately were not.
Include among the many looked at to lend the offense a hand was quarterback Ford Childress. He wound up giving the team his right arm that day.
Childress was an aggressively recruited prospect out of Houston, a 6-foot-5 player to whom WVU devoted a wealth of time and attention so that he might one day start and star for the team. That day arrived on Sept. 14, 2013. In his first start, he set WVU's freshman passing record with 359 yards and had three touchdowns in a 41-7 victory against Georgia State.
The Geno Smith era ended long before at WVU, but the search for his replacement ended that day. After the recruiting cycle and a redshirt year, the time had come for Childress and the Mountaineers.
It lasted four more quarters and, in reality, it was more brief than that.
"I tore it on the first play," Childress said Tuesday following a practice at Fresno State, the school he now calls home, his third team in as many years and the place where he shares an apartment with former WVU running back Dustin Garrison.
His 42nd pass with the Mountaineers was the first of 22 against Maryland, a short throw to running back Charles Sims that turned into an 11-yard gain. The pectoral muscle on his right side ripped on the throw, and it would be a long time before Childress was even close to the same again,
"It had been bothering me a little bit before that," he said. "That first play, I threw the ball kind of side-armed because it was a quick screen outside, and I kind of felt this sharp pain. It felt weird, but, whatever. The next play, the pain wasn't that bad, but it got progressively worse throughout the game."
The pangs that coursed through his arm on every throw kept him from pushing the ball down the field, stepping into tosses that needed a little extra and following through to ensure accuracy. Distance, quality and confidence all faded.
He finished 11 for 22 for 62 yards. Never before or since has a WVU quarterback thrown more passes and finished with fewer yards.
The injury was symbolic for an offense that was far from healthy, too. Holgorsen had new starters all over the field, but they were the best options. He didn't know Childress was hurt, so pulling him in his second start risked lasting effects for the player's confidence and the faith teammates had in their quarterback.
Going back to Paul Millard, who was benched after stumbling through a 24-17 win against William & Mary and a 16-7 loss to Oklahoma, wasn't an option. Playing Clint Trickett for the first time wouldn't give players the jolt they needed to overcome Maryland or the unnerving issue at quarterback.
"I think overall throughout that game we just played way below ourselves," said Childress, who only accounted for half the team's turnovers that day. "I think if I were healthy or if Paul or Clint had come in, we probably could have done a little better, but I don't think that day we played good enough to win."
Trickett took over the following week and led the Mountaineers to an upset win against then-No. 11 Oklahoma State. Throughout that season and the next, though, he couldn't stay healthy, and he'd yield first to Millard and then Skyler Howard.
Childress didn't enroll for the spring semester after the 2013 season. WVU said he was suspended before that and chose not to return to the team. Childress said he "needed to get out and felt like the best option was to go to junior college and eventually find another place to play."
He spent last year at Trinity Valley College in Athens, Texas, and took a medical redshirt. He never played and instead helped out as a coach, which leaves him as a junior now who could get a sixth season in 2017.
Childress never had surgery and didn't totally trust his arm or the rehabilitation until this past spring. An injury like that comes with concerns, and Childress was only offered opportunities to walk on at different Football Bowl Subdivision programs. He picked the Bulldogs and coach Tim DeRuyter, who was the defensive coordinator at Texas A&M when Wells Childress, Ford's oldest brother, was a defensive lineman.
Childress is a backup and was 0 for 2 with an interception late in a 73-21 loss to Ole Miss, which is now ranked No. 3 after last week's win at Alabama.
"The result didn't feel good, but it was great to get back out there again and try to move the ball a little," he said.
The Mountaineers (2-0) are better, too, and Saturday's 3 p.m. game against the Terrapins (2-1) can serve as a bookend. The roster is stronger and sturdier. Holgorsen has four quarterbacks, each with skills and potential the head coach likes. Howard leads the nation in passer efficiency and hasn't thrown an interception in 161 career attempts. He is what Holgorsen was looking for on that forgettable day two years ago.
A year after the embarrassment, WVU went to College Park, Maryland, and again allowed 37 points and found a way to win with a field goal as time expired. This time, they're 17-point favorites at home.
"It motivated us, and I think we improved a whole bunch going into the game a year later," Holgorsen said. "We fixed a lot of those problems. There were snap issues. There were quarterback problems.
"Clint played really well against them last year. Offensively, we played really well against them last year. We played a lot faster. We played up-tempo. We took care of the ball. We made plays downfield. We ran the ball effectively. I think we are as good right now as we were back then."