West Virginia Starts Out Flat, Baylor Runs Roughshod

For the second time in two weeks, the West Virginia Mountaineers showed up flat to a Big 12 Conference game and it ultimately cost them. The Baylor Bears didn’t waste much time getting into a offensive groove as quarterback Gerry Bohanon threw a short pass to Tyquan Thorton who raced 75 yards for the first of six touchdowns for the home team. The Mountaineer offense would answer with a six-play, 75 yard drive. The drive didn’t start out too hot as the Mountaineers burned their first timeout of the first half following the kickoff before the first play of the drive. The drive was buoyed by a Sam James 53-yard catch and run.

Tied at 7, the Bears would answer following a script that worked throughout the day. Short runs and short passes kept the Bears ahead of the chains and then when the Mountaineers needed to make a stop and bring extra men up to the line of scrimmage, Bohanon would throw deep. Bohanon would find Ben Sims for the first of his two touchdowns to give the Bears a 14-7 lead.

This is where the Mountaineers day fell apart and became a no-good, very-bad day. With the Mountaineers driving, on a 3rd and 6, a tipped pass from quarterback Jarret Doege resulted in a turnover. That turnover lead to the Bears third touchdown, increasing the lead to 21-7. By the time the first quarter ended, Baylor had scored three straight touchdowns and had totaled over 200 yards of offense, in one quarter.

After trading punts, the Bears would score their fourth touchdown when Bohanon connected with Thorton for his second touchdown, pushing the lead to 28-7. West Virginia would answer with a 11-play field goal drive to cut the lead to 28-10.

West Virginia would open the third quarter with a 12-play field goal drive, cutting the lead to 28-13. This is as close as West Virginia would get as Baylor then scored 17 straight points to ice the game away at 45-13. Garret Greene would play the remaining possessions and aided by an offsides penalty on 4th down that extended a drive along with a phantom facemask penalty, the Mountaineers second string quarterback would eventually race in for a 13-yard touchdown, his fourth rushing score of the season.

Notes and Ponders

• Late in the second quarter, West Virginia stopped Baylor on a 3rd-and 6 with a minute left. Neal Brown elected to not call a timeout and instead allowed Baylor to run the clock down to 20 seconds before calling a timeout to punt. The non-decision signaled a surrender.
• Greene had a great deep throw to Sean Ryan in his first action of the game but Ryan did not adjust to the ball at all. It appeared he lost it in the sun.
• VanDarius Cowan got away with a nasty targeting hit to the Baylor quarterback on one of their touchdowns. The play was completely dirty.
• Greene had a nice scramble to his left and he flipped a great throw to Winston Wright for 25 yards.
• West Virginia gave up 525 yards of offense, a season high. The previous high was 496 to Maryland in the season opener.
• West Virginia gave up 354 yards passing, the second time they’ve allowed a 300 yard passer this season. They had held the previous three quarterbacks under 300 yards.
• Garret Greene was the leading rusher with 55 yards.
• Leddie Brown finishes with 44 yards, the fifth time he’s been held under 100 yards this season.
• Neal Brown is now 5-26 when trailing at halftime.