A question was brought up to me during the game on Thursday. It was “Do you think that it is cheaper to buy out Neal Brown? Or continue the season with the declining attendance?” I didn’t think too much into it at the time, but on the way home it dawned on me of how great of a question that would have been if WVU would have lost to Baylor Thursday night. The attendance was announced at 45K+. Some may see this as concerning, given that it was a primetime-ish game on a Thursday night in Morgantown that was nationally televised.
The opponent was top notch, and it was an important game equally for both schools. Has faith in Neal Brown declined that much that it has affected attendance when trying to stripe the stadium? A lot of questions to be answered sure…It’s early, but regardless of how you look at it. This team got a huge win with a couple stars out, overcoming an embarrassing first half on defense, and overall never giving up. Not to mention, Neal Browns’ seat was scorching in the first half, but he has in fact lived to fight another day at the helm.
WVU would start the game off with a rushing TD of 7 yards by Tony Mathis. Mathis would show beautiful hesitation and vision on this run alone, which would set the tone for the night that he had. On the ensuing possession for Baylor, they would connect on a 24 yard pass play on 3rd and 3 to get the ball to the 37 yard line. The drive would end on a 40 yard FG to make it a 7-3 game with 4:23 left in the 1st quarter; A drive that would take 6:23 off of the clock for Baylor. On the next drive WVU would try and implement Garrett Greene by throwing him the ball for a gain of 7 yards.
He would run the ball on the next play and only gain 1. WVU would be forced to punt the ball, and Baylor would start on the 15 yard.
In the 2nd quarter Baylor would drive down the field for 85 yards on only 5 plays, Highlighted by a Gavin Holmes 56 yard catch that would lead to a Ben Sims 1 yard TD to put Baylor up 10-7. This was only the start for the half that the QB/WR connection for Baylor would have in the 1st half. WVU would end up punting again on the next drive with 12:26 left in the 2nd quarter.
Blake Shapen would hit again on a 35 yard TD to Holmes to put Baylor up 17-7 with 10:52 left in the 1st half. At this point the crowd was deflated, and all momentum was sucked out of Milan Puskar Stadium. The momentum and life would be regained by a Reese Smith tough catch for a 30 yard gain, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to get in the end zone. WVU would settle for a Casey Legg FG to make the score 17-10 with Baylor on top after being charged with a false start penalty at the 1 yard line. That would cap a 13 play 69 yard drive with 4:22 left in the 2nd quarter.
On Baylor’s next drive the ball would bounce WVU’s way on a fumble recovery for Jazir Cox scooping it up for a 65 yard WVU TD to knot the game at 17-17 with 2:41 left in the 1st half. With 1:27 left to go in the half the Baylor Bears would again deflate WVU with a quick scoring drive of 5 plays for 75 yards ending with another TD pass by Shapen to Williams for 39 yards. The score was 24-17 in favor of Baylor at the half.
The old saying “Bend don’t break” didn’t necessarily apply for WVU in the first half. Baylor QB Blake Shapen would have 12 completions for 294 yards. Gavin Holmes had a 157 of those yards at the WR position. The team knew that this game (Like most in the BIGXII) would be a shootout, and they would have to score as many points as possible to stay afloat. In the 3rd quarter Kaden Prather would make his presence known with a 24 yard TD from JT Daniels to tie the game back up at 24 a piece.
Baylor would go back on top with 5:21 left in the 3rd quarter by a Hal Presley 2 yard TD. The pass was thrown by Baylor backup QB Kyron Drones, who would enter the game after Shapen would exit with an injury, and not be able to return for the rest of the game. With 1:42 left in the 3rd backup RB Justin Johnson would scamper for a 19 yard TD run, and WVU would enter the 4th quarter knotted up again a 31 a piece.
With 13:39 left in the 4th quarter, Baylor would score on a rushing TD to put them up 37-31. The extra point attempt would be blocked, and Jacoby Spells would return it all the way back to give WVU 2 points to make it 37-33. Tony Mathis would continue his huge night with a 34 yard TD run to put WVU up by 3 for a score pf 40-37. After a rare turnover by JT Daniels, Baylor would get the ball back with a chance to tie, or take the lead with 3:12 left in the 4th quarter.
On a 4th and 10 at the WVU 26 yard line Baylor would kick a FG that just snuck threw to tie the game at 40-40 with 1:40 left in the 4th quarter. WVU would then drive down the field and attempt a game winning FG by Casey Legg, which was good from 22 yards to make the score 43-40 with 0:33 seconds left in the game. Baylor was unable to make anything happen, and the game would end with WVU beating Baylor 43-40.
(Conclusion) WVU should be proud of this win. Survive and advance is the key. The team battled through adversity, emotional swings, turnovers, etc… After the game Neal Brown would say “It was time for the ball to bounce WVU’s way this season, we feel like we are due for a break.” He would also say that “People tend to forget that we have won 3 out of 4 ballgames.” When Casey Legg was asked about emotions going out there for the game winning FG he said “I was just wondering what my mom was doing in the moment.
Most of the time she doesn’t even watch!” Neal Brown would go on to praise players like Kaden Prather and Tony Mathis saying that it was “Next man up mentality.” WVU will enjoy this win for a couple days, then head to Texas Tech this weekend on Saturday, before returning to another huge home game against TCU.
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