West Virginia Upsets Baylor
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson called the Mountaineers’ 31-point loss to Baylor last year “the most embarrassing game I’ve ever been a part of.”
West Virginia’s defense redeemed itself in a mighty way Saturday.
The Mountaineers slammed the brakes on Baylor’s nation-leading offense and showed some finishing power of their own. Quarterback Clint Trickett tossed three touchdown passes, including two in the fourth quarter, to spur the unranked Mountaineers to a 41-27 upset win over No. 4 Baylor before a crowd of 60,758 Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium.
“Holding Baylor to 318 yards and 80 plays is something,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. “We made a decision on Sunday of last week, and coach Gibson did a great job of executing the defense. We weren’t just going to let (Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty) sit back there in the pocket and let him throw into open space. We did a great job of affecting him.”
Indeed, Petty completed just 16 of 36 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns, and the Mountaineers sacked the senior four times. Baylor’s 318 yards marked its lowest output since the Bears amassed just 263 in a 45-10 loss to TCU in 2010.
“Credit goes to West Virginia,” Baylor coach Art Briles said. “They played with a lot of energy and a lot of emotion. We knew the crowd would be engaging, which they obviously were.”
West Virginia (5-2, 3-1 Big 12) had played Alabama and Oklahoma tight earlier in the
season before eventually losing. This time, the Mountaineers put together a complete, four-quarter performance against a dangerous Baylor team that had rallied from 21 points down in the fourth quarter to beat TCU last week.
Baylor (6-1, 3-1), the reigning Big 12 champions, came into the game averaging an FBS-leading 622.5 yards per game and had scored 63 and 73 points in its past two meetings with the Mountaineers.
But the Bears sputtered against a stingy West Virginia front seven, averaging just 2.3 yards per carry. Running back Shock Linwood finished with just 69 rushing yards — 109 fewer than he had last week against TCU.
“They had a pretty good game plan,” Petty said. “They loaded the box on us. They pressured a lot. At the end of the day, I have the ball in my hands. I’ve got to make sure what I’m doing production-wise is helping this team be successful. I was off today, and I have to get back to work.”
The game was sloppy in more ways than one. Baylor was penalized 18 times for a school-record and Big 12-record 215 yards, including eight pass interference flags. West Virginia racked up 14 penalties for 138 yards.
“I’ve never been involved with anything like that,” Briles said. “You could check the last however many games we’ve had, and I don’t think we’ve ever had that many penalties in a game.”
“The flags were crucial,” Baylor linebacker Taylor Young said. “It was a very big part of the game, but as a team we’re supposed to overcome it. We’re still supposed to get the W.”
West Virginia was positioned for the upset, up 27-20 in the third quarter, but Baylor knotted things up on Linwood’s second-effort, 1-yard touchdown run with 3:51 left in the quarter.
West Virginia reclaimed the lead behind the nation’s leading receiver, Kevin White. The senior’s one-handed, 12-yard touchdown snatch with 11:36 to play propelled the Mountaineers to a 34-27 advantage.
White finished with eight catches for 132 yards and two TDs, extending his nation-best string of 100-yard games to seven.
“He keeps getting better,” Holgorsen said. “I think his best football is ahead of him.”
Trickett racked up 322 passing yards and three TDs, including a 39-yard strike to senior receiver Mario Alford with 7:35 to go that was the cherry on top.
Unlike last week in Waco, that deficit was too much to overcome for Baylor.
Baylor needed less than a minute to grab the lead at the start of the game. On West Virginia’s third play, defensive tackle Andrew Billings punched the ball free from Trickett and the Bears recovered at the 7-yard line.
One play later, sophomore running back Corey Coleman was standing in the end zone, the recipient of a quick strike from Petty.
But Trickett found White on a 36-yard scoring connection two minutes later.
Baylor’s longest play of the game was also one of the wildest. Trailing 14-13 in the second quarter, Petty launched a deep ball down the sideline for senior receiver Antwan Goodley, who scored an apparent 63-yard touchdown.
He benefited from a hard block from Coleman on cornerback Terrell Chestnut — a play that initially resulted in a targeting penalty for Coleman and a nullification of the score. But the replay official turned over that flag, ruling that Coleman had led with his shoulder. Chestnut was slow to get up and didn’t return to the game.
West Virginia regained the lead with 4:21 left in the half, as running back Dreamius Smith trotted in untouched for a 9-yard TD. Josh Lambert’s 54-yard field goal with no time left extended West Virginia’s lead to 24-20 at halftime.
