MORGANTOWN - When folks look back on Saturday's Kansas-WVU football game, it will be remembered for following the pregame script.
(OK, so no one will ever, ever, ever look back on the game, but work with me please as a late-night deadline approaches.)
The Mountaineers rebounded from their first loss of the season like all knew they would. They pushed around the Jayhawks like all knew they would.
All you had to do was look at the stats heading into the game. KU's rush defense was No. 101 nationally and ended up giving up 341 ground yards to WVU, including 129 to Justin Crawford and 127 to Kennedy McKoy. The Jayhawks' rush offense was ranked No. 124 of 128 and had around 100 ground yards until garbage time. The only surprise from the visitors was the play of redshirt freshman quarterback Carter Stanley - or, rather, after seeing him, why KU coach David Beaty hasn't been playing him all along.
For most of the game, Kansas did Kansas things (taunted on opening kickoff, dropped a snap, held, had a false start, dropped passes, etc.). West Virginia, meanwhile, effectively ran the ball, even without usual starter Rushel Shell. The Mountaineers rediscovered the big play. At halftime, WVU was averaging 8.6 yards per play to KU's 3.8 and leading 31-0.
WVU season ticket holders had to know, though. That Kansas team was worse than the Youngstown State team that visited Milan Puskar Stadium earlier in the year. (The Penguins, by the way, fell but 24-3 in a Missouri Valley showdown with North Dakota State on Saturday.)
The only mystery was if WVU would impress poll and CFP voters, regain swagger and fix some of its ills.
The take from here is it might have regained some swagger. The Jayhawks were thoroughly whipped. West Virginia finished with 605 total yards. Also, as mentioned, there were the big plays coach Dana Holgorsen had hoped for.
But, as my daughter would say, meh. A 48-21 score isn't going to impress folks. Oklahoma just crushed Kansas 56-3. Baylor, which was demolished by TCU on Saturday, beat the Jayhawks 49-7.
Even Holgorsen was less than overwhelmed.
"It wasn't the cleanest game," he said.
It was just a game. One leading up to WVU's real tests at Texas and home against Oklahoma and Baylor.
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With Kansas in town, the number of NFL scouts in the press box totaled zero. But there also were no WVU basketball recruits to be found.
With good reason.
First, Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins, staff and team were spending Saturday night in Columbus, Ohio, in preparation of Sunday's 10 a.m. closed scrimmage against No. 15 Purdue at Ohio Dominican University's Alumni Hall.
It should be a good test for No. 20 West Virginia. The Boilermakers lost A.J. Hammons to the Dallas Mavericks, but return three starters and eight letter winners from last season's 26-9 team. Standout Caleb Swanigan is back.
Also, there were no recruits because Huggins now has filled his roster for 2017. Wesley Harris, a seemingly terrific get from Lawson State, finally gave his word after visiting Morgantown. Harris, 6-foot-8, averaged 18.2 points and 8.4 rebounds last season at Northeast Mississippi Community College before transferring.
WVU now has five 2017 recruits committed in Harris, Brandon Knapper, D'Angelo Hunter, Derek Culver and Teddy Allen.
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One who was in the press box Saturday, of course, was WVU's Shane Lyons. He was asked about the ongoing renovations at the Coliseum with the first game fast approaching.
"It's all coming together," Lyons said. "Obviously, next Friday is our deadline date. I say that, but we knew [all the renovations] weren't going to be completed. It will be operable for the first game.
"The Blue gate, the Gold gate, the entire concourse will be open. Just some of the restrooms and concessions won't be open, as we expected. That will take another 30 days or so until the middle of December.
"I was there last week. A lot of paint, colors, graphics. ... They're finishing the floor. They're working hard over the weekend. It's coming together and looking great."
Contact Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827 or mitchvingle@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MitchVingle.