West Virginia 41, Georgia State 7: Ford Childress passed for three touchdowns in his collegiate debut – two to Daikiel Shorts – as the host Mountaineers shook off a sluggish start to beat the Panthers.

West Virginia (2-1) led by just 10 points in the third quarter before pulling away. Childress, a redshirt freshman who got the start because of head coach Dana Holgorsen’s frustration with the passing game in the Mountaineers’ first two contests, completed 25-of-41 passes for 359 yards.

Travis Evans rushed for 118 yards for Georgia State (0-3), which pulled within 17-7 on Evans’ 65-yard touchdown run with 11:37 left in the third quarter. But the Mountaineers scored two touchdowns in the first 3:18 of the fourth quarter to dash the Panthers’ upset hopes.

Childress’ 21-yard touchdown pass to Shorts with 4:11 left in the first quarter gave the Mountaineers a 10-0 advantage. Childress hit Ivan McCartney on a 45-yard touchdown with 2:50 to go in the first half, giving West Virginia a 17-0 halftime lead.

Josh Lambert’s 23-yard field goal with 4:36 left in the third quarter pushed the West Virginia advantage to 20-7. Charles Sims scored on a 32-yard touchdown run on the opening play of the fourth to make it 27-7, and three plays after Nick Kwiatkoski recovered a Georgia State fumble, Childress found Shorts for a 23-yard touchdown to push the lead to 34-7 with 11:42 remaining.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Mountaineers finished with 604 yards of total offense. … Evans’ 65-yard touchdown run is the longest in Georgia State’s history and the fourth-longest play from scrimmage. … West Virginia finished 8-for-17 on third-down conversions.