Published: November 08, 2009 04:40 am      

Mountaineers battling injury bug

Devine, Neild among those hurt

MORGANTOWN — West Virginia has a short week and long odds as it readies itself to play against Cincinnati, considered the best team in the Big East, on Friday in Cincinnati.

They go in banged up.

“We got a lot of players banged up, beat up, don’t know if they are going to play, don’t know when they are going to play. I don’t need any questions on injuries right now,” Coach Bill Stewart said.

Running back Noel Divine missed virtually the entire second half against Louisville with an ankle sprain.

Trainer Dave Kerns said he is day-to-day.

“The kid’s been playing hard,” Stewart said of Devine, who finished with just 56 yards on 13 carries. “He’s been hurt for two weeks. I did not want to say anything after South Florida because everyone would say I was whining. The guy got the heck beat out of him today.”

Stewart did not want to be second-guessed on the way he has been using Devine.

“I know what I‘m doing. I’ve coached some of the greatest tailbacks in the country. I’m not an ‘I’ guy. You know me better than that. I’ve always been ‘we’ and ‘us.’ I’ve been on the field with Kelvin Bryant, Famous Amos Lawrence, Nappy McCallum at Navy and Tommy Haskins, the 1-AA rusher of all time.

“You cannot run a 5-foot-8, 175 pound man 30 and 35 times a game. Cannot! Sooner or later, he’s going to get hurt. That’s why I’ve been running him like I have.”

And he’s hurt.

Quarterback Jarrett Brown, who has not been the same since suffering a concussion three weeks ago, missed one play in this game with an ankle sprain, but did return and is expected to play next week.

Brown passed for only 100 yards during the game.

There are some defensive injuries to worry about.

Nose guard Chris Neild missed most of the game with a shoulder problem and defensive tackle Josh Taylor had back spasms. Scooter Berry, back from a suspension, played but also was banged up on his left knee and right shoulder.

Safety Sidney Glover also is suffering from a shoulder injury.



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Despite the injury, Devine surpassed 1,000 yards rushing for the second straight season. He now has 1,010 yards on 167 carries.

Other milestones:

• Quarterback Jarrett Brown ran for 43 yards and now has more than 1,000 rushing yards, the fourth quarterback in school history to surpass that mark. Patrick White leads, followed by Major Harris and Rasheed Marshall.

• Devine is the fifth Mountaineer to have 4,000 career all-purpose running yards, passing Arthur Ownes. Avon Cobourne is the all-time leader with 5,623 yards,

• Julian Miller’s 3 sacks give him 8.5 for the year and 12 for his career.

• Jock Sanders 63 rushing yards was a career high for him, breaking his mark of 58 against UConn in 2007.

• Defensive end Larry Ford made his first start, but wound up spending most of the day filling in at nose guard for Neild.

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It had been a long time coming, but Louisville finally intercepted a pass against WVU. The Cardinals had last intercepted one thrown by Major Harris in 1989. WVU had thrown 226 consecutive passes against the Cardinals without an interception.

E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.