College Football
BOXSCORE | RECAP
West Virginia 38, Youngstown State 21
When: 2:00 PM ET, Saturday, September 10, 2016
Where: Milan Puskar Stadium, Morgantown, West Virginia
Temperature: 91°
Head Official: Eddy Shelton
Attendance: 56261

Skyler Howard threw five touchdowns, riddling Youngstown State with deep passes, and West Virginia overcame an early scare to prevail 38-21 at home Saturday.

The Mountaineers (2-0) trailed 14-7 late in the first half but piled up 624 yards and improved to 17-0 all-time against FCS teams.

Howard finished with 389 yards on 20-of-33 passing. He threw first-half touchdowns of 53 yards to Ka'Raun White and 54 yards to Shelton Gibson. After putting West Virginia ahead 21-14 on an 11-yard touchdown to Daikiel Shorts, Howard found Gibson again for a 57-yard score.

Gibson made six catches for 171 yards.

Youngstown State (1-1), ranked 20th in this week's FCS poll, was hoping to duplicate its 2012 upset at Pitt. The prospect remained alive after Mountaineers kicker Mike Molina missed a 30-yard try on the final play of the half, keeping the score tied at 14-14.

But the Penguins punted on six straight series as West Virginia ran off 24 unanswered points.

Youngstown State struck for Martin Ruiz's 1-yard touchdown and Alvin Bailey's 74-yard bomb from Ricky Davis in the second quarter. The underdogs didn't score again until Trent Hosick's 15-yard scramble in the fourth quarter, which WVU answered on Howard's 21 pass to Kennedy McKoy.
Top Game Performances
Rushing
Youngstown State   West Virginia
Ricky Davis Player Rushel Shell
13 Attempts 16
62 Yards 84
4.8 Avg Yards 5.2
0 Touchdowns 0
0 Long 0
Receiving
Youngstown State   West Virginia
Alvin Bailey Player Shelton Gibson
3 Receptions 6
92 Yards 171
30.7 Avg Yards 28.5
1 Touchdowns 2
0 Long 0
Team Stats Summary
 
  Yards Scoring Defense
Team Tot Rus Pas TD FG INT Sck FF
Youngstown State 405 185 220 3 0 0 0 0
West Virginia 624 235 389 5 1 1 0.0 0