MORGANTOWN - First-year Kansas University head football coach Charlie Weis has never been accused of being a 'man of few words.'
And the former-offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots had a few for West Virginia's Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey following the Mountaineers' 59-10 victory on Senior Day at Milan Puskar Stadium.
"I can't use my exact verbage that I used after the game," said Weis, who coached at Notre Dame from 2005-09. "I grabbed No. 1 (Austin) and No. 3 (Bailey) and told them to work harder than they ever had before because both of them have the talent to continue playing at the next level (NFL).
"I also told them that they were both a pain in the butt. Those weren't my exact words, but you (the media) can change it to whatever you want."
The Kansas coach wouldn't be alone in that thought.
Austin, one of 21 seniors playing his final home game as a Mountaineer, rushed for 77 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries and hauled in four Geno Smith passes for 110 yards while Bailey, who may elect to jump to the NFL following a junior season which saw the Miramar High School product become a semifinalist for the Bilentikoff Award, added 11 receptions for 159 yards and a pair of six-pointers.
"My concern all week wasn't West Virginia," said Weis. "It was us. They (WVU) have a great quarterback (Geno Smith) and some dynamic players on offense that exposed us today."
Smith closed out his four-year stay in Morgantown by completing 23-of-24 attempts for 407 yards and three scores. His only incompletion was interception by the Jayhawks' Tyler Patmon.
"The way I see it, he (Smith) completed every pass today," continued Weis. "Twenty-three to them (WVU) and one to us.
"I've been telling people all week long that wanted to criticize Geno that they wouldn't be doing that if they (the Mountaineers) hadn't lost five games."
A feeling echoed by Mountaineers' head coach Dana Holgorsen.
"Geno's going to be playing for a long, long time," said Holgorsen when asked if his senior signal-caller could be the first overall pick in the upcoming NFL draft. "He has all of the skills needed to play in any offense. He will be playing for a very long time."
It took Smith and company eight plays and less than three minutes to take the lead for good. A 45-yard completion to Bailey on the game's opening play put the football at the KU 32 and six running plays, and an 8-yard completion to J.D. Woods later and the old gold and blue crossed the goal line on a 2-yard plunge by sophomore Andrew Buie.
Senior Tyler Bitancurt, who would add a 30-yard field goal in the third quarter, connected on the PAT and WVU led 7-0.
A lead that doubled 10 minutes later when senior Shawne Alston culminated a 9-play, 77-yard drive with a 2-yard dive with 2:08 remaining in the opening quarter.
Kansas, which dropped to 1-11 (0-9 Big 12), showed some signs of life, offensively, on its next possession as red shirt freshman Michael Cummings led the visitors on a 9-play, 80-yard drive that ended with a 1-yard scoring run by Big 12 rushing leader James Sims.
That, however, would be the only highlight for the junior, who entered KU's final game of the season needing only 44 yards to eclipse the 1,000-yard plateau, as WVU's defense limited him to 57 total yards on 18 carries.
Kansas came into the game averaging 216.6 yards per game on the ground, but was held to a mere 157 yards on 45 carries by a Mountaineer defense that has played well against the run for most of WVU's inaugural season in the Big 12, drawing praise from their second-year head coach.
"We're (the defense) getting better," said Holgorsen. "They have been improving. They are getting better at it. Since that bye week, I think we've gotten better against some very good offensive teams.
"They have put up some points, and I understand all that. But, they never gave up. They came to work each week looking to get better."
Now, West Virginia (7-5, 4-5 Big 12) will look to get rested as it waits to see just where, and when, they will be playing in the upcoming bowl season.
