WACO, Texas – It took Baylor’s offense just 58 seconds to score its first touchdown and the Bears tacked on two more, plus a pair of Chris Callahan field goals, to take a 27-17 halftime lead over West Virginia.
The three-touchdown-underdog Mountaineers needed to keep up with Baylor’s No. 1-ranked offense and for the most part they did; however, a couple of miscues kept West Virginia from being a little bit closer.
The first came from the Baylor 44 when Skyler Howard tried a downfield pass to Shelton Gibson that was picked off by Ryan Reid in the end zone.
The second happened right before the end of the first half when Josh Lambert’s 45-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right with six seconds remaining.
The Mountaineers were sitting pretty at the 10 following a Wendell Smallwood 52-yard run – West Virginia’s longest of the season - but couldn't get any closer. WVU appeared to have another TD in the books when Jordan Thompson broke clear down the middle for a 47-yard reception, but he was forced to slow up and catch Howard’s underthrown pass at the three where he was downed.
The Mountaineers couldn’t punch it in from there and had to settle for a Lambert 35-yard field goal.
West Virginia got a 70-yard touchdown reception from Shelton Gibson on the Mountaineers’ opening possession of the game, and tacked on another score early in the second quarter when Howard located a wide-open Cody Clay in the back of the end zone.
Baylor’s three touchdowns happened quickly. The first on the game’s opening possession covered 80 yards in just four plays, culminating with Seth Russell’s 16-yard keeper.
The second happened on Baylor’s next possession when Russell completed a two-yard pass to Corey Coleman on a quick slant. The third first-half touchdown also was scored by Coleman when he burned backup corner Rasul Douglass on a double move for a 12-yard score.
Coleman had an impressive first half with seven catches for 127 yards and two touchdowns, both coming from Russell, who completed 13 of his 20 pass attempts for 196 yards.
Howard also had a pretty good first half throwing the ball, completing seven of his 12 attempts for 172 yards and two touchdowns. After early difficulties running the ball, WVU finished the first half with 119 yards on 27 carries – 81 of those coming from Smallwood.
The two teams combined for 630 total yards – on par with the three prior games that saw the two teams accumulate more than two miles of total yardage.
More details to come …
