It's not like we weren't warned about Baylor. The Bears came into this season with three preseason All-Big XII players (leading the conference) with RB Lache Seastrunk and G Cyril Richardson both named ESPN Preseason All-Americans. In their first three games, Baylor had outscored their opponents 209-23. Given, all three of these opponents were not looked at as "real teams", but it's not like we were killing our powderpuffs early in the season. Now, this whole week, the Mountaineers will be scrutinized by national media on whether they are, indeed, a real team.
RECAP:
FIRST QUARTER
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>This is Bear Country. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23WVU&src=hash">#WVU</a> vs. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Baylor&src=hash">#Baylor</a> tonight from Waco. <a href="http://t.co/gPxTPBIlNF">pic.twitter.com/gPxTPBIlNF</a></p>— Geoff Coyle (@GFCoyle) <a href="https://twitter.com/GFCoyle/statuses/386612488122277888">October 5, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Freshmen "running of the Bears" before Baylor game. <a href="http://t.co/zU66yxj2nq">pic.twitter.com/zU66yxj2nq</a></p>— Allan Taylor (@AllanTaylorWVU) <a href="https://twitter.com/AllanTaylorWVU/statuses/386642123170119681">October 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
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The Bears started off receiving the ball in the first half. First play is a 12 yard pass from Baylor QB Bryce Petty to WR Tevin Reese for a first down. After a short run, Baylor does what Baylor does.
That's a mere 61 yard pass to WR Antwan Goodley to make it 7-0. After three plays over the duration of 40 seconds, the Mountaineers are down. Not a great start. The good news was that the BU kickoff went out of bounds hence WVU starting off at the 35. More good news was WVU QB Clint Trickett found WR Kevin White for 18 yards to set up first down in Bear territory. The drive stalled, but even MORE good news came out of this drive.
7-7. Don't care if it was a muffed punt. I'm going to give all the credit to KJ8.
The bounces from the Oklahoma State game have returned to go WVU's way. That wouldn't be enough. BU marches down the field and methodically down the field to take the lead on a QB Bryce Petty two-yard punch in. 14-7.
Okay, fine. We've been in shootouts before, right? Hell, the last true shootout we were in WAS against Baylor. Put up that big ol' 70. Plus, WVU RB Wendell Smallwood puts the Mountaineers in great field position off the kickoff. On third down, QB Trickett hits WR Kevin White for 8 yards. Holgo goes for it on 4th and 2. No go. Turnover on downs. Next play....
21-7. Okay, so it's time for the offense to start clicking. QB Trickett hits WR Kevin White for a 37 yard gain and to put the Eers in the BU 41. A holding penalty stalls that drive. WVU P O'Toole punts the Bears back to their 20. Next play...
28-7. This isn't good. The Mountaineers have to do something here to at least save some face. WVU gets a PI penalty in their favor, but the drive stalls again. The quarter ends with the Bears driving, again, and looking to score... again.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Baylor: 369 yards in the first quarter... that's the most by any team in a single quarter over the last 10 seasons.</p>— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/statuses/386659096968962048">October 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Baylor mercifully avoids scoring 35 in the first quarter. Bears let clock run out after Seastrunk gets BU down to the 3.</p>— Max Olson (@max_olson) <a href="https://twitter.com/max_olson/statuses/386657195988758529">October 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
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SECOND QUARTER
Baylor RB Glasco Martin punches it in. 35-7. Again, at 14:40 of the 2nd Quarter, it is 35-7. The Mountaineers get nothing going on offense, but WVU S Daryl Worley gets an interception on the WVU 10 to keep the Bears from scoring again. Worley's return puts the offense in great position at the WVU 47 to make a dent in this deficit. Nope. WVU punts and the Bears score again. 42-7.
West Virginia finally wakes up and gets a few good plays in. QB Trickett finds WR Ronald Carswell for 15 yards and then WR Kevin White for a 39 yard TD. 42-14.
Double digits feel good. Not for long. BU hits a long pass and Darwin Cook gets a 15 yard personal foul to set up a 19 yard TD run by Seastrunk.
QB Trickett gets a couple completions next drive but nothing to write home about. Eers punt and set up another Bears TD. 56-14. At that point, the Baylor twitter was feeling it.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Baylor 1stH Drives (en route to 617yds + 56pts): 75yds TD 75yds TD 47yds TD 80yds TD 80yds TD interception 77yds TD 77yds TD 74yds TD EOH</p>— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) <a href="https://twitter.com/BUFootball/statuses/386677212327313408">October 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23AmericasTopOffense&src=hash">#AmericasTopOffense</a> is at it again. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SicWVU&src=hash">#SicWVU</a> <a href="http://t.co/bkhUxM8WnU">pic.twitter.com/bkhUxM8WnU</a></p>— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) <a href="https://twitter.com/BUFootball/statuses/386677696614252545">October 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Hey look at that. Everything is on fire, and Baylor is holding a blowtorch <a href="http://t.co/4YEMQkcox0">pic.twitter.com/4YEMQkcox0</a></p>— Brian Floyd (@BrianMFloyd) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianMFloyd/statuses/386673147975442433">October 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
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A few billion records were set on the backs of the Mountaineers that half.
THIRD QUARTER
One decent thing to take out of this game was that WVU kept fighting. QB Trickett found WR Kevin White for 25 yards to put the Mountaineers into scoring range and RB Charles Sims finished off the drive with a 39 yard TD. 56-21.
Baylor had decided to sit Seastrunk, but that didn't matter too much. BU RB Shock Linwood (great names on this team) was able to put together a healthy dose of running game against the Mountaineers and Devin Chafin punched it in from the 1. 63-21. That pretty much summed up the rest of the quarter with nothing going on for WVU's offense. The defense, however, were able to keep the Bears to a field goal for the rest of the quarter making it 66-21 going into the 4th.
FOURTH QUARTER
Subs were made to finish off the game including WVU QB Millard coming in for Trickett and BU QB Seth Russell replacing Bryce Petty. Almost all of BU's offense was rushing at this point which didn't do them too badly. They started off the quarter getting into striking distance but missed a FG. WVU's Millard, facing what could have been the fourth string Bears defense, puts together a few long passes including a 43 yard TD toss to WR Ronald Carswell. 66-28. After Darwin Cook gets an interception, WVU engineers another scoring drive to make the score 66-35. This is all garbage time scoring, but maybe people won't realize how awful this game was if we have a decent amount of points as well?
Well, BU puts another TD on the board for good measure (73-35) including handing us one in a pick six (73-42.) Something something something onside kick. Doesn't matter. Game over.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Baylor and everybody else <a href="https://t.co/AI56G0wbgJ">https://t.co/AI56G0wbgJ</a> <a href="http://t.co/NJoVGAFsS1">pic.twitter.com/NJoVGAFsS1</a></p>— Luke Zimmermann (@lukezim) <a href="https://twitter.com/lukezim/statuses/386877628105641984">October 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Baylor's totals vs. WVU: • 73 points • 872 yards of total offense • 38 first downs Just another game for the Bears.</p>— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href="https://twitter.com/SportsCenter/statuses/386702280763772928">October 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Baylor had 864 yards of total offense, breaking the Big 12 single-game record. Previous record was 807 by West Virginia in 2012 vs Baylor.</p>— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) <a href="https://twitter.com/ESPNStatsInfo/statuses/386704703498625024">October 6, 2013</a></blockquote>
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MISCELLANEOUS:
- Adam Pankey is suspended for the first half against Texas Tech for targetting. Seriously.
- Baylor has one of the best teams in the country. Easily the best team performance we will see all year. In the words of EDSBS:
- We got beat by gold fedora wearers. God dammit.
- Send in your Gameday pictures to the Facebook page or Twitter. I'll throw on here the best ones.
- Podcast Mailbag is open for business. Send your questions or comments here, the Facebook page, or to @SmokingMusket or @SmithFire13 on Twitter.