Countdown to Kickoff - Baylor
October 25, 2018 02:00 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Thirteenth-ranked West Virginia looks to get back on track tonight when it faces Baylor in a rare Thursday night game at Milan Puskar Stadium.
It's the first Thursday night contest for the Mountaineers in Morgantown since 2014 when West Virginia dropped a 26-20 decision to Kansas State.
"We're looking forward to (tonight)," West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. "This sets up to be a pretty good game for us, and we're excited about getting back out there and playing."
The Mountaineers (5-1, 3-1) are coming off a disappointing, 30-14 loss at Iowa State on Saturday, Oct. 13, when the Cyclones dominated nearly all phases of play. ISU held the WVU offense to just 152 total yards on 42 snaps, while generating 498 total yards, including a career-high 189 yards on the ground from senior David Montgomery.
Will Grier completed 11-of-15 passes for just 100 yards and one touchdown, and also was sacked seven times for losses totaling 60 yards. The bulk of West Virginia's rushing came from junior Kennedy McKoy, who gained 55 yards on nine attempts.
WVU's longest sustained drive was just five plays and its only offensive touchdown in the first quarter was aided by Dravon Askew-Henry's interception at the Iowa State 44-yard line.
"A lot of eyes will be on us to see how we respond to what happened at Iowa State," Holgorsen mentioned. "I'm looking forward to seeing us as well."
Baylor, meanwhile, was one play away from upsetting then-No. 9 Texas at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin earlier that day.
Trailing 23-17 after the Longhorns missed a field goal that would have given them a two-possession lead, the Bears saw quarterback Charlie Brewer engineer a 10-play march that took them to the Texas 17 where they had three cracks to win the game with 12 seconds remaining.
However, all three Brewer passes fell incomplete.
Brewer completed 20-of-39 for 240 yards and one touchdown. Baylor's defense knocked Texas starting quarterback Sam Ehlinger out of the game and limited the Longhorns to 389 total yards. Baylor went into that game having surrendered a combined 100 points in its last two games against Oklahoma and Kansas State, the latter a 37-34 Bear victory.
"Baylor is a good football team," Holgorsen said. "Offensively, their quarterback is playing well. Defensively, they play a lot of different guys and they are multiple with what they do as well. Special teams wise, there are guys we've seen, too. Their punter (Dustin Galitz), is probably the best punter we've seen all year."
Baylor's 4-3 overall record so far is a dramatic improvement from coach Matt Rhule's first season in Waco when the Bears won just once in 12 regular season games.
"You can see a lot of resemblances in what he accomplished at Temple," Holgorsen said of Rhule's progress in year two at Baylor.
The Bears are making their fourth trip to Morgantown where they have yet to win. Baylor lost 70-63 here in 2012, 41-27 in 2014 and 24-21 two years ago.
Overall, West Virginia owns a 4-2 record in the series and the Mountaineers snapped the home team's undefeated streak with last year's 36-34 victory in Waco.
Twenty one NFL scouts representing 13 different organizations will be in town to observe tonight's game, according to football sports information director Mike Montoro. Among the 21 are three executive vice presidents/general managers and four player personnel directors.
Tonight's game will kick off at 7 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on FS1 (Justin Kutcher, DeMarco Murray, Petros Papadakis and Jennifer Hale).
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's pregame coverage begins with the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show (Dan Zangrilli, Dale Wolfley and Jed Drenning) at 3:30 p.m. leading into regular game coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Drenning at 6 p.m. on affiliates throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the mobile app TuneIn.
Here is today's Countdown to Kickoff:
10 – West Virginia has won TEN out of its 11 regular season midweek night games at Milan Puskar Stadium since 1994.
9 – NINE defensive players logged more than 50 snaps in West Virginia's last game at Iowa State.
8 – Quarterback Will Grier is now EIGHTH in WVU history with 5,409 career passing yards.
7 – SEVEN of David Sills V's 22 career touchdown receptions have come this year, including three in West Virginia's 35-6 victory over Kansas State.
6 – The Mountaineers are one of just SIX Power 5 teams to rank in the top 30 in scoring offense (26th) and scoring defense (28th).
5 – West Virginia's 152 total yards at Iowa State were the Mountaineers' lowest regular season offensive output in FIVE years, dating back to the Maryland game in Baltimore in 2013.
4 – The Mountaineers have won FOUR and lost two in brief six-game series with Baylor. The Bears have lost all three prior games in Morgantown.
3 – West Virginia continues to rank THIRD nationally in team passing efficiency with a 181.7 rating.
2 – The Mountaineers' TWO non-offensive touchdowns scored this year represent the seventh time in eight seasons under coach Dana Holgorsen that has occurred, including a high of six non-offensive TDs during his first season in 2011.
1 – The Mountaineers continue to rank FIRST in the Big 12 in third-down conversions at 50 percent (34 of 68).
Enjoy today's game and be sure to stop back afterward for complete postgame coverage.
It's the first Thursday night contest for the Mountaineers in Morgantown since 2014 when West Virginia dropped a 26-20 decision to Kansas State.
"We're looking forward to (tonight)," West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. "This sets up to be a pretty good game for us, and we're excited about getting back out there and playing."
The Mountaineers (5-1, 3-1) are coming off a disappointing, 30-14 loss at Iowa State on Saturday, Oct. 13, when the Cyclones dominated nearly all phases of play. ISU held the WVU offense to just 152 total yards on 42 snaps, while generating 498 total yards, including a career-high 189 yards on the ground from senior David Montgomery.
Will Grier completed 11-of-15 passes for just 100 yards and one touchdown, and also was sacked seven times for losses totaling 60 yards. The bulk of West Virginia's rushing came from junior Kennedy McKoy, who gained 55 yards on nine attempts.
WVU's longest sustained drive was just five plays and its only offensive touchdown in the first quarter was aided by Dravon Askew-Henry's interception at the Iowa State 44-yard line.
"A lot of eyes will be on us to see how we respond to what happened at Iowa State," Holgorsen mentioned. "I'm looking forward to seeing us as well."
Baylor, meanwhile, was one play away from upsetting then-No. 9 Texas at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin earlier that day.
Trailing 23-17 after the Longhorns missed a field goal that would have given them a two-possession lead, the Bears saw quarterback Charlie Brewer engineer a 10-play march that took them to the Texas 17 where they had three cracks to win the game with 12 seconds remaining.
However, all three Brewer passes fell incomplete.
Brewer completed 20-of-39 for 240 yards and one touchdown. Baylor's defense knocked Texas starting quarterback Sam Ehlinger out of the game and limited the Longhorns to 389 total yards. Baylor went into that game having surrendered a combined 100 points in its last two games against Oklahoma and Kansas State, the latter a 37-34 Bear victory.
"Baylor is a good football team," Holgorsen said. "Offensively, their quarterback is playing well. Defensively, they play a lot of different guys and they are multiple with what they do as well. Special teams wise, there are guys we've seen, too. Their punter (Dustin Galitz), is probably the best punter we've seen all year."
Baylor's 4-3 overall record so far is a dramatic improvement from coach Matt Rhule's first season in Waco when the Bears won just once in 12 regular season games.
"You can see a lot of resemblances in what he accomplished at Temple," Holgorsen said of Rhule's progress in year two at Baylor.
The Bears are making their fourth trip to Morgantown where they have yet to win. Baylor lost 70-63 here in 2012, 41-27 in 2014 and 24-21 two years ago.
Overall, West Virginia owns a 4-2 record in the series and the Mountaineers snapped the home team's undefeated streak with last year's 36-34 victory in Waco.
Twenty one NFL scouts representing 13 different organizations will be in town to observe tonight's game, according to football sports information director Mike Montoro. Among the 21 are three executive vice presidents/general managers and four player personnel directors.
Tonight's game will kick off at 7 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on FS1 (Justin Kutcher, DeMarco Murray, Petros Papadakis and Jennifer Hale).
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's pregame coverage begins with the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show (Dan Zangrilli, Dale Wolfley and Jed Drenning) at 3:30 p.m. leading into regular game coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Drenning at 6 p.m. on affiliates throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the mobile app TuneIn.
Here is today's Countdown to Kickoff:
10 – West Virginia has won TEN out of its 11 regular season midweek night games at Milan Puskar Stadium since 1994.
9 – NINE defensive players logged more than 50 snaps in West Virginia's last game at Iowa State.
8 – Quarterback Will Grier is now EIGHTH in WVU history with 5,409 career passing yards.
7 – SEVEN of David Sills V's 22 career touchdown receptions have come this year, including three in West Virginia's 35-6 victory over Kansas State.
6 – The Mountaineers are one of just SIX Power 5 teams to rank in the top 30 in scoring offense (26th) and scoring defense (28th).
5 – West Virginia's 152 total yards at Iowa State were the Mountaineers' lowest regular season offensive output in FIVE years, dating back to the Maryland game in Baltimore in 2013.
4 – The Mountaineers have won FOUR and lost two in brief six-game series with Baylor. The Bears have lost all three prior games in Morgantown.
3 – West Virginia continues to rank THIRD nationally in team passing efficiency with a 181.7 rating.
2 – The Mountaineers' TWO non-offensive touchdowns scored this year represent the seventh time in eight seasons under coach Dana Holgorsen that has occurred, including a high of six non-offensive TDs during his first season in 2011.
1 – The Mountaineers continue to rank FIRST in the Big 12 in third-down conversions at 50 percent (34 of 68).
Enjoy today's game and be sure to stop back afterward for complete postgame coverage.
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