MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Karl Joseph picked off three passes, and Skyler Howard threw for 359 yards and a pair of touchdowns to lead West Virginia to a 44-0 victory over Georgia Southern before 55,182 fans Saturday night at Milan Puskar Stadium.

It was Georgia Southern's first meeting against West Virginia on the gridiron and first game against a Big 12 opponent. 

Matt Breida led Georgia Southern with 70 rushing yards on 17 carries, and Favian Upshaw gained 64 yards on 16 carries.

Howard completed 16-of-25 passes, and two Mountaineers had over 100 receiving yards. Shelton Gibson caught three passes for 130 yards and a touchdown, and Javon Durante had three receptions for 121 yards and a score. Wendell Smallwood finished with 11 carries for 96 yards and a touchdown, and Joseph tallied with eight tackles.

Five turnovers and chunk plays over the top doomed the Eagles. The Mountaineers had four pass plays over 40 yards, including a 57-yard completion to Durante and a 57-yard reception by Gibson. Four interceptions and a fumble put the Eagle defense on its heels most of the night – Georgia Southern's average field position was its own 20-yard line while West Virginia's was its 37.  

"They did a good job – it was obvious they have been working on our offense for quite some time," said Georgia Southern coach Willie Fritz. "They did a great job of just shutting us down - dive, quarterback and pitch. We did some good things defensively, but we put ourselves in bad positions. Guys got behind us, and we didn't make plays on balls."

Despite giving up some big pass plays, the Eagle defense held strong for the first 32 minutes of the contest before wearing down. West Virginia moved the ball inside the Eagle 20-yard line four times in the first half and came away with just nine points. In addition, the Mountaineers took over inside the Eagle 45-yard line twice and were forced to punt. Matt Dobson, Antwione Williams and Deshawntee Gallon all posted eight tackles on the night, and Bernard Dawson collected 1.5 sacks.

Trailing 16-0 at halftime, the Eagles turned it over on their first two possessions of the second half, and West Virginia made Georgia Southern pay on the second. After Joseph picked off an Upshaw pass at the West Virginia 28-yard line, Howard hit Daikiel Shorts for a 19-yard completing to set up a 6-yard TD run by Rushel Shell and a 23-0 lead.

After the Eagles turned it over on downs at the Mountaineer 30-yard-line, West Virginia went the distance in four plays to open an insurmountable 30-0 cushion with 4:19 to go in the third quarter. Howard hit Durante with a 23-yard pass to start the drive and capped it with a 26-yard strike to Gibson in the corner of the end zone. A 19-yard run by Smallwood 1:37 into the fourth quarter put the game away.

It was the first time the Eagles were kept off the scoreboard since a 45-0 loss at Montana in the 1995 I-AA playoffs, a streak of 242 games. The Eagles did not move the ball into West Virginia territory until their third possession of the second half.

"We gotta bounce back," said Fritz. "We're playing with the big boys now so every week we have to be ready and give it our best shot."

The Eagles meet Western Michigan in their home opener next Saturday at Paulson Stadium, and kickoff is set for 6 p.m. Georgia Southern has won eight straight home openers, and it will be the Eagles' first non-conference contest against an FBS opponent in Paulson Stadium.

A bevy of activities are going on next week, starting with Paint the Town Blue. Other promotions for the opener are Night of Champions, GATA Club All-Sports Reunion, Football National Championship Anniversaries, a pre-game ceremony to hoist the 2014 Sun Belt Championship flag and Band Day.

Fans can purchase tickets and select their seats online, by calling 1-800-GSU-WINS or by visiting the ticket office in the Cowart Building adjacent to Paulson Stadium (203 Lanier Drive). Ticket office hours are Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Season tickets prices start as low as $75 for all six games.

Georgia Southern Athletics provides up-to-date information on all its sports through its official website, GSEagles.com, through social media channels facebook.com/GSAthletics, twitter.com/GSAthletics, iOS app Georgia Southern Eagles and Android app Eagles GATA. Fans can purchase tickets to Georgia Southern Athletics events by calling 1-800-GSU-WINS or by visiting GSEagles.com.

POST-GAME NOTES

• GAME CAPTAINS: #5 Darrius Jones, Jr., #54 Lennie Richardson, #63 Darien Foreman, #96 Jeff Ward

• Georgia Southern wore blue helmets, with white jerseys and white pants today. The Eagles are now 4-3 in this combination under head coach Willie Fritz.

• Georgia Southern won the toss and deferred to the second half.

• West Virginia scored on the opening possession of the game. Georgia Southern only allowed two opening drive touchdowns last season, at Georgia Tech and at Navy.

• Eleven position players made their first career start tonight: Tommy Boynton (OT), Chris DeLaRosa (LB), Deshawntee Gallon (LB), Derek Keaton (WR), Andy Kwon (C), Ryan Longoria (WR), Max Magaña (OT), Darrius Sapp (DT), Favian Upshaw (QB), Darrius White (CB) and Caleb Williams (CB). Additionally, one other made his first start at Georgia Southern as offensive guard Roscoe Byrd started 20 games for UAB.

• True freshmen to play in the game: Jeremiah Culbreth, Wesley Fields, Malik Henry, Logan Hunt and Curtis Rainey

• Georgia Southern opened the game with a rush by Matt Breida, marking the 13th straight game where he ran the ball on the opening play.

• The Eagles committed five turnovers in the game. GSU is now 1-3 under Fritz when losing the turnover battle.

• Shelton Gibson had 130 yards receiving for the Mountaineers while Jovon Duvonte had 121 yards. The last time two receivers each had over 100 yards receiving against GSU was in 2009 when Appalachian State's Tony Washington (129) and Andrew Peacock (127) did it.

• Josh Lambert kicked three field goals for WVU. The last opposing kicker to boot three field goals against GSU was Samford's Warren Handrahan in 2013.

• The last time an Eagle quarterback threw three or more interceptions was when Lee Chapple threw three against Samford in 2009. Favian Upshaw threw four interceptions Saturday night. The last time GSU threw four interceptions in a game was in 2009 at North Carolina.

• Georgia Southern had an active scoring streak of 242 games, dating back almost two decades. The last time the Eagles were shut out prior to tonight was on Dec. 2, 1995, a 45-0 loss to Montana in the Division I-AA Playoffs.