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Countdown to Kickoff
October 17, 2015 07:41 AM | Football
WACO, Texas - It’s an early start for today’s West Virginia-Baylor game taking place at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas.
The two teams will get at it at 11 a.m. local time (Noon eastern) for the fourth time since West Virginia joined the Big 12 in 2012.
The prior three games have featured lots of points and lots of yards and that figures to be the case once again today.
The question is will West Virginia be able to keep up with the super-charged Bears, currently leading the country in scoring and total yardage?
Last year, the Mountaineers stunned fourth-ranked Baylor 41-27 in Morgantown, and that loss ultimately cost the Bears an opportunity to play in college football’s inaugural playoff.
Therefore, payback is certainly on the minds of Baylor this afternoon.
You can follow all of today’s action on the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG, beginning with Jeff Culhane and the Mountaineer Tailgate Show at 8:30 a.m. leading into the game coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning at 11 a.m.
Jeff will be back on the air afterwards to put a wrap on today’s happenings.
In the meantime, here is today’s Countdown to Kickoff, presented by the Friends of Coal:
10 – Nine of West Virginia’s TEN longest plays from scrimmage have been passes, including Skyler Howard’s 57-yard hookup to Shelton Gibson in the season opener against Georgia Southern. West Virginia’s only running play longer than 34 yards was Howard’s 50-yard touchdown run at Oklahoma on Saturday, October 3.
9 – The Mountaineer defense had a season-high NINE tackles for losses against Maryland back on September 26. West Virginia’s defense has now produced 36 negative yardage plays so far in 2015, amounting to 122 yards in losses.
8 – With three picks against Oklahoma State, West Virginia became just the EIGHTH college football team since 2000 to have 13 or more interceptions through the first five games of the season. The Mountaineers have already exceeded last year’s INT total of 12.
7 – West Virginia has had SEVEN games with 91 plays or more under coach Dana Holgorsen since 2012, including a school-record 108 plays against Maryland in 2014. Last weekend, the Mountaineers ran 98 plays against Oklahoma State and had 96 plays against the Terps in week three.
6 – Backup quarterback William Crest Jr. completed all SIX of his pass attempts against Liberty, including a season-long, 23-yard completion. Crest has also carried the ball 15 times for 51 yards so far this season.
5 – FIVE defensive players had 80 or more snaps in last Saturday’s loss to Oklahoma State and eight players were in on 70 snaps or more.
4 – West Virginia is ranked FOURTH in the nation in fourth-down defense entering this weekend, permitting opponents to convert just one of their nine fourth-down attempts so far this season.
3 – In West Virginia’s THREE victories this season, the Mountaineers have turned the football over just two times. WVU has had nine turnovers in its two losses to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
2 – In West Virginia’s TWO victories over Baylor in 2012 and 2014 in Morgantown, the Mountaineers averaged 142.5 yards per game rushing. West Virginia enters today’s game averaging 222.4 yards per game on the ground.
1 – Baylor is currently ranked FIRST in the country in scoring (64.2 ppg.) and total yardage (725 ypg.).
Enjoy today’s game and be sure to stop back afterward for complete postgame coverage.
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