West Virginia football lives up to hype in win over Tennessee
By Phil Poling
West Virginia football opened its 2018 season in style with a 40-14 victory over the Tennessee Volunteers in the Belk College Kickoff.
Playing the Tennesse Volunteers to open the season was a great measuring stick for Dana Holgorsen and the Mountaineers. It’ll certainly help the Volunteers rebuilding process, too. But after scoring and defending well early, things for West Virginia sputtered into the half where both teams stayed longer than usual; lightning had struck in Charlotte.
Once finally getting back on the field, the Mountaineers offense carried on that electricity, scoring on back-to-back possessions to open the second half.
All sorts of pre-game chatter from Tennessee fans and Kirk Herbstreit pegged the Vols as upset candidates, but it was the Tennessee fans who walked away disappointed. For being a big, bad SEC-team, the Mountaineers sure did dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.
What did we learn from the season-opener at Bank of America Stadium? Is the WVU defense for real? Should we expect less from Tennessee? Follow along to see our reactions.