MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Redshirt freshman Hudson Clement caught three of Garrett Greene's career-high four touchdown passes in his first college game and West Virginia withstood a nearly two-hour weather delay and its own early mistakes to beat Duquesne 56-17 Saturday night.
West Virginia (1-1) bounced back from a blowout loss at Penn State with multiple long offensive plays that were lacking in the opener.
In 2021, Clement set a West Virginia high school record at Martinsburg High when he scored eight touchdowns in the state title game. He never saw the field at West Virginia in 2022.
On Saturday, Clement caught his first career pass, a 14-yard TD in the first quarter, and his 39-yard grab later in the period set up Jaylen Anderson’s 8-yard scoring run.
The game was delayed nearly two hours early in the second quarter because of storms and lightning in the area. Due to the delay, there was no halftime. Only a fraction of the announced crowd of 50,037 stuck around for the second half.
When play resumed, Clements went off.
Greene threw 30 yards over a defender to Clement, who raced the rest of the way for a 70-yard score. On West Virginia’s next possession, Clement was alone down the right sideline in blown coverage when Greene found him for an easy, 46-yard scoring play and a 28-10 lead.
Clements finished with five catches for 177 yards, all in the first half. In his fourth career start, Greene went 10 of 18 for a career-best 240 yards. Backup Nicco Marchiol took over in the second half. West Virginia finished with 619 total yards, including 304 on the ground. Backup freshman running back Jahiem White ran for 110 yards and a score, all in the second half.
West Virginia still has some coverage problems in its secondary to figure out.
In the teams’ first meeting since 1935, Duquesne (1-1) took advantage after West Virginia’s Jacolby Spells let a bouncing punt touch him. The Dukes recovered at the West Virginia 46, and four plays later Darius Perrantes threw a 38-yard scoring pass to DJ Powell.
Powell also was wide open but fell on another long pass that was incomplete in the second quarter. On the next play, Powell made a 34-yard catch to the West Virginia 27, setting up a field goal just before the weather delay.
Perrantes finished 14 of 31 for 220 yards with two TDs and two interceptions.
THE TAKEAWAY
Duquesne: The Dukes were limited to three rushing yards after running for 234 last week against Division II Edinboro. Duquesne fell to 1-7 all-time against Bowl Subdivision opponents.
West Virginia: The Mountaineers may have found another deep receiving threat to complement Devin Carter, who did not play Saturday. Only time will tell if Clement can come close to the same magic against tougher competition in the weeks ahead. West Virginia played the first of three straight home games, which will be its best chance to build momentum in a critical year for embattled coach Neal Brown.
UP NEXT
Duquesne plays at Coastal Carolina next Saturday.
West Virginia hosts Pittsburgh next Saturday.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
