MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Yes, West Virginia. There was a victory for the Mountaineers Saturday night -- a 56-23 rout of East Carolina.

However, upon further review ...

"It was a frustrating game," coach Rich Rodriguez said. "I didn't think we played particularly well."

Where to start that list?

How about with the 14 penalties that cost the Mountaineers 141 yards?

"All the penalties were embarrassing, no question," Rodriguez said. "That's my fault. We showed a lack of discipline. We preached that all week and just before the game, too. They cost us a lot of yardage, field position and points."

A holding penalty on fourth-string quarterback Dwayne Thompson, in the game as a wide receiver, blunted the impact of an 11-yard gain by Charles Hales, a backup quarterback in the game as another wide receiver, on a play late in the second quarter.

Another holding penalty, this one on wideout Eddie Jackson, nullified an 81-yard run for a touchdown by quarterback Rasheed Marshall midway through the third quarter.

"The holding penalties killed us," Rodriguez said.

The Mountaineers did win by 33 points, but those penalties maybe did keep them from scoring another 14 or 21 points.

"You expect some penalties in the opening game," Rodriguez conceded, "but not by veterans. A lot of those were by veterans. Some were because of a lack of poise, a lack of discipline. Late hits are inexcusable."

Rodriguez will address the penalty thing with his troops -- and none too kindly.

"Pretty harshly," he said. "It was a point after the game. It was a point during the game. And it will be a major point [today] when we meet. A lot of the guys will be put under the gun. It won't be tolerated. Some penalties are what we call 'borderline.' Some are just plain stupid."

How will Rodriguez deal with the stupid penalty people?

"Coach them," he said. "And if they do them again, they don't play."

There were other areas in which West Virginia, which score-wise did look like the 10th-ranked team in Division I-A Saturday night, didn't perform like a No. 10 team.

Punting?

"Our punting was less than stellar," Rodriguez said. "And our kickoffs were worse than that."

Tackling?

"Shoddy," Rodriguez said. "And our coverage was worse."

Defensive pressure?

Rodriguez and his staff made that a point of emphasis throughout preseason practices with a team that last season was last in the Big East Conferecne in sacks and pass defense.

The results against East Carolina -- which attempted 51 passes -- were, again, less than stellar. The Mountaineers officially had no sacks and yielded 322 passing yards, although to be fair the Pirates amassed most of that total in the second half against the Mountaineers' second-line defense.

"We got a little pressure and some penetration on runs," Rodriguez said. "But they did a good job with quick passes and some screen sets to take away from some of our pressure. [But] as much as they passed the ball, we didn't get to their quarterback as much as we need to."

The Mountaineers also converted only 1 of 11 third-down opportunities.

"We've got to work hard on this," Rodriguez said. "Sometimes it was poor decisions by the quarterback. Some was poor execution where we ran short on [pass] routes. We have to get better because that's going to cost us."

All of the Mountaineer shortcomings Saturday night, though, were overcome by a superb running game highlighted by Kay-Jay Harris' record-setting 337 yards on 25 carries. Harris' total is a West Virginia and Big East single-game record.

"He made some really nice cuts and really nice reads out there," Rodriguez said. "But he missed some reads, too."

"Heck," Harris said, "I ran the wrong way on one play that I was supposed to get the ball."

"We saw [on film] another 100 or more yards we could have had had everything gone the right way," Rodriguez said. "And we think he can play even better, although I don't know how many other opportunities will be out there."

The 337 yards Harris did get made him the Walter Camp Foundation's Division I-A Offensive of the Player of the Week, announced yesterday.