FT. WORTH, Texas - West Virginia looks to stay in the hunt to reach this year's Big 12 Championship game when it faces winless Baylor at beautiful McLane Stadium Saturday night in Waco, Texas.
 
The Bears are celebrating homecoming this weekend and would like nothing better than to knock off the 4-2 Mountaineers, now 2-1 in conference play following last Saturday's come-from-behind 46-35 victory over Texas Tech.
 
West Virginia is currently in a five-team logjam for second place in the Big 12 standings behind conference leader TCU, which improved to 3-0 following last Saturday's win at Kansas State.
 
Baylor is rebuilding under first-year coach Matt Rhule, who rebuilt Temple's program before taking over in Waco. After winning just two games during his first year with the Owls, Rhule's last two seasons there saw his teams win 10 games both years to finish first in the American Conference East Division.
 
This year's Baylor team is off to an 0-6 start, but the Bears do show competitive losses to Liberty, UTSA, Duke, Oklahoma and Kansas State. Last Saturday, however, Baylor struggled mightily at Oklahoma State by dropping a 59-16 decision to the Cowboys.
 
"It's going to be a challenge for us," West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. "We're 0-2 in Waco, so that's a lot of motivation to be able to change that. I don't care what their record is, any time you have everything that is just so new there is going to be improvement. We have to be prepared for a wild homecoming atmosphere and a night game.
 
"The last time they played at night they should have beaten Oklahoma, so that will grab your attention," he added.
 
An 8 p.m. kickoff has been established for Saturday's game, with television coverage being on either FS2 or FS1 based on what happens with tonight's American League Championship Series game between the New York Yankees and the Houston Astros.
 
If the Yankees and the Astros go to a game seven, the West Virginia-Baylor game will move to FS2.
 
Statewide radio coverage remains the same, beginning with the Mountaineer Tailgate Show (Dan Zangrilli, Dale Wolfley and Jed Drenning) at 4:30 p.m. EST leading into regular network coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Drenning at 7 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia, online through WVUsports.com as well as the popular mobile app TuneIn.
 
Here is Saturday's Countdown to Kickoff:
 
10 - West Virginia's offensive line has allowed just 4.0 negative yardage plays per game to rank TENTH nationally and first in the Big 12 in that category.
 
9 - West Virginia's offense has had NINE scoring plays of at least 32 yards this year - eight of those coming from the arm of junior quarterback Will Grier.
 
8 - The Mountaineer defense has had EIGHT first-time starters so far this year - Hakeem Bailey, Mike Daniels, Reese Donahue, Lamonte McDougle, Xavier Pegues, Xavier Preston, Kenny Robinson and Dylan Tonkery.
 
7 - West Virginia's offense has had SEVEN scoring drives of 10 plays or more, and 21 scoring drives covering a distance of at least 70 yards.
 
6 - SIX defensive players saw action on at least 70 snaps during last Saturday's 46-35 win against Texas Tech.
 
5 - The Mountaineers rank FIFTH in the country in scoring offense this week averaging 44.2 points per game.
 
4 - West Virginia's defense has scored FOUR touchdowns in the last three years, including Mike Daniels' 25-yard interception return for a score at Kansas on Saturday, September 23.
 
3 - This week marks the THIRD time West Virginia has appeared in the national rankings after beginning the year ranked No. 22 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll to begin the season. WVU reemerged at No. 23 before falling at TCU two weeks ago.
 
2 - Senior Justin Crawford ranks SECOND in the Big 12 this week in rushing with an average of 101.5 yards per game.
 
1 - Will Grier is ranked Number ONE in the country this week in touchdown passes with 21. Teammate David Sills V is also FIRST in the nation in touchdown catches with 12.
 
Enjoy the game and be sure to stop back afterward for complete postgame coverage.