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Now No. 10

Battle’s ejection has WVU’s Holgorsen questioning rule

MORGANTOWN — West Virginia University head football coach Dana Holgorsen understands the importance of safety in the game of football. But, for the second game in a row, his Mountaineers lost a player to the targeting rule.

“No. Did you?” quipped the sixth-year head coach when asked if he had received an explanation junior cornerback Elijah Battle’s ejection. “It’s two weeks in a row. You can probably slow mo every single tackle, there’s probably some sort of contact with the head. I get the rule and I support it.

“We teach hard on getting the head up and getting the head to the side. But there are things that happen so quick, it’s unavoidable. I don’t know where it goes.”

Earlier in the week the Old Gold and Blue’s head man was asked about senior Maurice Fleming’s ejection in WVU’s 48-17 victory at Texas Tech. More importantly, the former-offensive coordinator was asked if he would like to see college football move toward the NBA’s Flagrant 1/Flagrant 2 rule or the NFL’s policy that doesn’t eject a player until he has committed two unsportsmanlike penalties.

“I hadn’t thought of it that way, but it makes sense,” added the coach. “You can look at Maurice’s hit and you can tell there was no intention. But, by the letter of the rule, he is ejected and must sit out the first half against TCU.”

Fortunately, the loss of the University of Iowa transfer did not hurt as junior college transfers Rasul Douglas and Antonio Crawford – along with Battle – proved to be too much for the Horned Frogs’ receivers as now-No. 10 (AP) WVU improved to 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big 12.

Since Battle’s ejection occurred during the 30 minutes of play, the junior college transfer will not miss any of next week’s contest against Oklahoma State in Stillwater.

In other news coming out of Morgantown:

¯ The victory was the 42nd for Dana Holgorsen at WVU tying him with Bobby Bowden for fifth place in career coaching victories with the Mountaineers.

¯ WVU’s 6-0 start is its best since the 2006 team started the season 7-0.

¯ West Virginia’s 3-0 advantage in turnover marked the 89th time the Old Gold and Blue have won the turnover battle against an opponent. WVU is 78-11 win winning that battle.

¯ With four touchdown passes, Skyler Howard moved into fourth place all-time in career touchdown passes at WVU. He moved past Chad Johnston (1993-96), Oliver Luck (1978-81) and Rasheed Marshall (2001-04). Howard now has 46 career touchdown passes. The Texas native is now tied with Steve Slaton for seventh place in touchdowns responsible for with 55, moving past Luck who had 54 during his career in Morgantown.

¯ Rasul Douglas’ interception in the first quarter was his team-leading third of the season and fourth of his career. WVU now has seven interceptions this season.

¯ Noble Nwachukwu recorded his 26th career tackle for loss, moving him into a tie for 18th place all-time on WVU’s career list. He is tied with Canute Curtis, David Grant and Renaldo Turnbull.

¯ Rushel Shell moved into 18th place in career rushing yards at WVU. Shell moved past A.B. Brown for 18th place and now has 1,961 career rushing yards. Shell finished with 117 yards rushing against TCU, his second 100-yard rushing game in as many weeks.

¯ Hurricane native Mike Molina’s 38-yard field goal in the third quarter was a career high for the redshirt junior.

¯ WVU’s noon contest at Oklahoma State will be televised by Fox.

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