MORGANTOWN —
It was West Virginia University’s Sports Hall of Fame induction day and the first inductee, football’s Bo Orlando, saw something ironic in its timing, seeing as the Mountaineers were playing Maryland later that afternoon.
“I was interested in Syracuse but they were not interested in recruiting me. One of their coaches told me I was not big enough, not fast enough to play college football,” Orlando recalled.
And what was the irony he saw in that.
“The coach who told me that was Randy Edsall, Maryland’s coach,” he said.
The seven inducted into the Hall of Fame were former athletic director Ed Pastilong, former football players Orlando and Ben Dunkerley, former women’s soccer player Katie Barnes, former swimmer Dan Cavanaugh, and former basketball players Lee Patrone from the Jerry West era and Mo Robinson from 1975-78.
Barnes was the first women’s soccer player to make it to the Hall of Fame and Cavanaugh the first male swimmer.
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WVU basketball coach Bob Huggins enjoyed celebrating his 59th birthday at the game.
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Running back Shawne Alston, WVU’s leading rusher, missed the game with a thigh bruise.
Coincidence or not, WVU rushed for only 25 yards, the lowest rushing total by a WVU team since finishing with 10 rushing yards against Syracuse in 1996.
While Alston missed the game, last year’s leading rusher Dustin Garrison, coming back from ACL surgery, made his first appearance and carried twice for one yard.
“We just wanted him to get his feet wet,” said running backs coach Robert Gillespie. “The game plan had him in there for 10 or 15 snaps but I don’t know if we got that many because the game didn’t dictate it.”
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Maryland held WVU scoreless in the third quarter, gaining just 44 yards. It was the first scoreless quarter for the Mountaineers since the first quarter of last year’s regular-season finale at South Florida.
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WVU debuted their grey uniforms.
Enough said about that.
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Punter Corey Smith came into the game ranked last in the nation in punting but had a decent day, averaging 44.6 yards per punt with one of 54 yards and two inside the 20.
Email Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter @bhertzel.
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Orlando among HOF inductees
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