10-22-2017, 05:15 AM
WACO, Texas - Last week, West Virginia came back from 18 points down to defeat Texas Tech. Tonight, the heart-stopping Mountaineers nearly blew a 25-point third quarter lead before holding on to defeat winless Baylor, 38-36, in a game that oftentimes defied logic.
For three quarters, 23rd-ranked WVU looked like it was going to cruise to its fifth victory of the season, but then true freshman quarterback Charlie Brewer came into the game and turned things upside down.
The scrambling Brewer completed 8-of-13 passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns, while also running 10 times for 46 yards.
His nine-yard touchdown pass to Trestan Ebner with 17 seconds left in regulation nearly completed a 25-point comeback, but he was sacked by Xavier Preston while attempting his two-point conversion pass to tie the game.
Baylor's second attempt at an onside kick was recovered on the near sideline by Hakeem Bailey at the 46 where West Virginia ran out the clock.
For three quarters, it appeared to be another Baylor-West Virginia blowout at McLane Stadium, only this time the Mountaineers were the ones doing the blowing out.
Junior Will Grier threw five touchdown passes for a second consecutive week, and topped 300 yards passing (375) for the sixth time this season as WVU built its lead to 38-13 with 1:43 left in the third quarter.
Three of Grier's five touchdown passes went to David Sills V, the nation's No. 1 TD man with 12 scoring catches coming into tonight's game. Sills finished with seven catches for 136 yards, while Gary Jennings added a team-high eight catches which translated into 116 yards.
"I thought Will Grier and David Sills were sensational, so I take my hat off to them," said Baylor coach Matt Rhule.
For a third straight week, the WVU run game struggled to gain any traction and that was a contributing factor in Baylor's comeback. Six different ball carriers were credited with 118 yards on 29 carries, and the Mountaineers opted to use senior fullback Elijah Wellman on their final possession to try and salt away the victory.
He got one first down, but the offense came up empty after that when two Grier passes fell incomplete, which gave the Bears more than enough time to try and tie the game.
The first half began with both teams unsuccessfully attempting to establish its running games. After stopping Baylor on fourth and four at West Virginia's 33, the Mountaineers marched 57 yards in nine plays before stalling at the Bear 10. Here, Mike Molina punched in his fifth field goal of the season to give West Virginia a 3-0 lead.
Following another unsuccessful Bear fourth-down conversion play at the WVU 34, West Virginia second possession of the game ended up in the end zone.
Grier hit Gary Jennings for nine yards on third and nine for a first down at the 44. Three straight Crawford runs netted 11 yards and another first down, then a pass interference penalty called on safety Verkedric Vaughns while defending Ka'Raun White gave the Mountaineers another first down at the 35. On the next play, Grier hooked up with Sills down the near sideline for a leaping 35-yard touchdown catch.
Twice, Baylor (0-7, 0-4) answered with two Connor Martin field goals of 23 and 42 yards, before the Grier-Sills combination struck again right before the end of the first half.
The defense forced Baylor to punt for the first time tonight with 1:29 remaining in the half and Connor Martin's 54-yard punt bounced into the end zone, giving a first and 10 at the 20.
McKoy's 11-yard run on second and 10 gave Grier room to operate at the 31, and he responded with a 22-yard bullet over the middle to Ka'Raun White to the Baylor 47. Another Grier pass to Marcus Simms to the far side of the field netted 14 yards to the Bear 27. Two McKoy runs gained 11 yards in between West Virginia timeouts to give West Virginia a first and 10 at the 16 with seven second left in the half.
Following a final timeout, Grier fired another bullet to Sills streaking down the middle of the field for a 16-yard touchdown with just one second showing on the clock.
The two teams traded touchdowns at the beginning of the third quarter, West Virginia's coming on the opening play of the period after Marcus Simms' 45-yard kickoff return gave the Mountaineers great field position at the 47.
Grier found Sills wide open over the middle and he outran the Baylor secondary for a 53-yard touchdown. Molina's conversion kick gave WVU a 24-6 lead.
Baylor answered two possessions later, following a Billy Kinney punt, when Smith hit Gavin Holmes in stride and he raced 56 yards to the WVU two before being knocked out of bounds by Elijah Battle.
A false start penalty moved the ball back to the seven where John Lovett ran in untouched.
Baylor, sensing a momentum change, had West Virginia behind the sticks with a third-and-15 at the 18. But Grier located Simms for 17 yards to the 38. Then Tevin Bush got 16 on a reverse and a Grier-to-Jennings pass gained seven yards to set up another big pass play.
Grier's quick pass to a streaking Simms was tipped at the line of scrimmage, but he hauled it in on a dead run at the 30, hit the circle button at the 25, and outran the defense for an impressive 40-yard touchdown.
Grier's fifth touchdown pass of the evening came just moments later to Ka'Raun White for six yards - the scoring play set up by Grier's 51-yard pass down the near sideline to Jennings.
A blown coverage gave Baylor its second touchdown of the evening, this coming only 29 seconds into the fourth quarter when backup Charlie Brewer hit Trestan Ebner in stride down the near sideline and he ran 52 yards to pay dirt. Martin's conversion kick made it 38-20, West Virginia.
Here, things got interesting. Gavin Holmes recovered an onside kick at the WVU 49, and two plays later the Bears were right back into the end zone when Ebner broke free and raced 40 yards for a touchdown.
In a matter of just 1:20, the Bears shaved 14 points off of West Virginia's 25-point lead, making the score now 38-27.
Baylor kept the pressure on by forcing a quick punt, and then marching from its 25 to the WVU six, converting a fourth and four at midfield, to set up Connor Martin's 23-yard field goal with 6:07 left. That made it 38-30, West Virginia.
Mims and Ebner both topped 100 yards receiving for Baylor, Mims with 132 on seven catches and Ebner with 109 yards on five receptions, as the Bears finished the game with 370 yards on 23 completions.
The Baylor ground game, which netted minus-5 yards in the first half, finished with 127 yards on 42 attempts.
The Mountaineers were heavily penalized tonight, drawing a season-high 11 flags for 134 yards.
West Virginia (5-2, 3-1) has won for the second time this year on the road to set up a big game against Oklahoma State next Saturday in Morgantown at noon on ABC. The Cowboys held off Texas in overtime, 13-10, to improve to 6-1, 3-1.
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For three quarters, 23rd-ranked WVU looked like it was going to cruise to its fifth victory of the season, but then true freshman quarterback Charlie Brewer came into the game and turned things upside down.
The scrambling Brewer completed 8-of-13 passes for 109 yards and two touchdowns, while also running 10 times for 46 yards.
His nine-yard touchdown pass to Trestan Ebner with 17 seconds left in regulation nearly completed a 25-point comeback, but he was sacked by Xavier Preston while attempting his two-point conversion pass to tie the game.
Baylor's second attempt at an onside kick was recovered on the near sideline by Hakeem Bailey at the 46 where West Virginia ran out the clock.
For three quarters, it appeared to be another Baylor-West Virginia blowout at McLane Stadium, only this time the Mountaineers were the ones doing the blowing out.
Junior Will Grier threw five touchdown passes for a second consecutive week, and topped 300 yards passing (375) for the sixth time this season as WVU built its lead to 38-13 with 1:43 left in the third quarter.
Three of Grier's five touchdown passes went to David Sills V, the nation's No. 1 TD man with 12 scoring catches coming into tonight's game. Sills finished with seven catches for 136 yards, while Gary Jennings added a team-high eight catches which translated into 116 yards.
"I thought Will Grier and David Sills were sensational, so I take my hat off to them," said Baylor coach Matt Rhule.
For a third straight week, the WVU run game struggled to gain any traction and that was a contributing factor in Baylor's comeback. Six different ball carriers were credited with 118 yards on 29 carries, and the Mountaineers opted to use senior fullback Elijah Wellman on their final possession to try and salt away the victory.
He got one first down, but the offense came up empty after that when two Grier passes fell incomplete, which gave the Bears more than enough time to try and tie the game.
The first half began with both teams unsuccessfully attempting to establish its running games. After stopping Baylor on fourth and four at West Virginia's 33, the Mountaineers marched 57 yards in nine plays before stalling at the Bear 10. Here, Mike Molina punched in his fifth field goal of the season to give West Virginia a 3-0 lead.
Following another unsuccessful Bear fourth-down conversion play at the WVU 34, West Virginia second possession of the game ended up in the end zone.
Grier hit Gary Jennings for nine yards on third and nine for a first down at the 44. Three straight Crawford runs netted 11 yards and another first down, then a pass interference penalty called on safety Verkedric Vaughns while defending Ka'Raun White gave the Mountaineers another first down at the 35. On the next play, Grier hooked up with Sills down the near sideline for a leaping 35-yard touchdown catch.
Twice, Baylor (0-7, 0-4) answered with two Connor Martin field goals of 23 and 42 yards, before the Grier-Sills combination struck again right before the end of the first half.
The defense forced Baylor to punt for the first time tonight with 1:29 remaining in the half and Connor Martin's 54-yard punt bounced into the end zone, giving a first and 10 at the 20.
McKoy's 11-yard run on second and 10 gave Grier room to operate at the 31, and he responded with a 22-yard bullet over the middle to Ka'Raun White to the Baylor 47. Another Grier pass to Marcus Simms to the far side of the field netted 14 yards to the Bear 27. Two McKoy runs gained 11 yards in between West Virginia timeouts to give West Virginia a first and 10 at the 16 with seven second left in the half.
Following a final timeout, Grier fired another bullet to Sills streaking down the middle of the field for a 16-yard touchdown with just one second showing on the clock.
The two teams traded touchdowns at the beginning of the third quarter, West Virginia's coming on the opening play of the period after Marcus Simms' 45-yard kickoff return gave the Mountaineers great field position at the 47.
Grier found Sills wide open over the middle and he outran the Baylor secondary for a 53-yard touchdown. Molina's conversion kick gave WVU a 24-6 lead.
Baylor answered two possessions later, following a Billy Kinney punt, when Smith hit Gavin Holmes in stride and he raced 56 yards to the WVU two before being knocked out of bounds by Elijah Battle.
A false start penalty moved the ball back to the seven where John Lovett ran in untouched.
Baylor, sensing a momentum change, had West Virginia behind the sticks with a third-and-15 at the 18. But Grier located Simms for 17 yards to the 38. Then Tevin Bush got 16 on a reverse and a Grier-to-Jennings pass gained seven yards to set up another big pass play.
Grier's quick pass to a streaking Simms was tipped at the line of scrimmage, but he hauled it in on a dead run at the 30, hit the circle button at the 25, and outran the defense for an impressive 40-yard touchdown.
Grier's fifth touchdown pass of the evening came just moments later to Ka'Raun White for six yards - the scoring play set up by Grier's 51-yard pass down the near sideline to Jennings.
A blown coverage gave Baylor its second touchdown of the evening, this coming only 29 seconds into the fourth quarter when backup Charlie Brewer hit Trestan Ebner in stride down the near sideline and he ran 52 yards to pay dirt. Martin's conversion kick made it 38-20, West Virginia.
Here, things got interesting. Gavin Holmes recovered an onside kick at the WVU 49, and two plays later the Bears were right back into the end zone when Ebner broke free and raced 40 yards for a touchdown.
In a matter of just 1:20, the Bears shaved 14 points off of West Virginia's 25-point lead, making the score now 38-27.
Baylor kept the pressure on by forcing a quick punt, and then marching from its 25 to the WVU six, converting a fourth and four at midfield, to set up Connor Martin's 23-yard field goal with 6:07 left. That made it 38-30, West Virginia.
Mims and Ebner both topped 100 yards receiving for Baylor, Mims with 132 on seven catches and Ebner with 109 yards on five receptions, as the Bears finished the game with 370 yards on 23 completions.
The Baylor ground game, which netted minus-5 yards in the first half, finished with 127 yards on 42 attempts.
The Mountaineers were heavily penalized tonight, drawing a season-high 11 flags for 134 yards.
West Virginia (5-2, 3-1) has won for the second time this year on the road to set up a big game against Oklahoma State next Saturday in Morgantown at noon on ABC. The Cowboys held off Texas in overtime, 13-10, to improve to 6-1, 3-1.
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