WVU Overcomes Pesky Kansas to Remain Unbeaten

Saturday, October 6

Morgantown, W.Va.

12:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

5-0 , 3-0

Kansas

2-4 , 0-3

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

Kansas

West Virginia

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

October 06, 2018 04:22 PM | Football

Box Score West Virginia-Kansas Postgame Notes West Virginia-Kansas Postgame Quotes Game Photos

By: John Antonik

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Will Grier recovered from a rocky first half to throw four touchdown passes in leading ninth-ranked West Virginia to an 38-22 homecoming victory over Kansas Saturday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium.

Grier's touchdown tosses were to running back Leddie Brown for 15 yards, to tight end Jovani Haskins for 14 yards, to running back Martell Pettaway for 12 yards and a late 17-yarder to David Sills V when the outcome was already decided.

In between, he threw three first-half red zone interceptions that took at least nine points off the scoreboard and potentially as many as 21 that would have turned the game into a blowout.

All three picks were thrown into tight coverage and were also the result of the Mountaineers' inability to control the line of scrimmage when they moved the football near the goal line.

"We probably made some bad decisions on play calls and we probably made some bad decisions on quarterback stuff," West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen, who moved into a tie with Art Lewis with his 58^thcareer victory at WVU, said afterward.

"They do a good job of mixing their fronts with not enough people to stop the run and that's one reason why you throw interceptions because you are throwing into a lot of coverage," Holgorsen said.

Two of Grier's three picks were made by safety Hasan Defense, one he returned out to the Kansas 28 and the other he took back 60 yards to the WVU 40 before a hustling Grier ran him out of bounds.

Grier's third red-zone pick came right before the end of the first half with the ball sitting on the KU 4-yard line and the clock stopped with 17 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

West Virginia was leading 21-7 and was looking to take a 21-point advantage into the locker room.

Here, Grier tried to fit another pass into tight coverage near the goal line that sophomore safety Davon Ferguson intercepted and returned to the 10.

"If we don't get better running the ball we're going to have a hard time winning ballgames," Holgorsen admitted.

Kansas (2-4, 0-2) opted to play off of West Virginia's receivers and use an extra man in coverage to take away the Mountaineers' quick stuff over the middle and RPO plays.

That opened up quick hitters in the run game and freshman Leddie Brown responded with 107 yards on 11 carries, one run going for 47 yards to set up the Mountaineers' second touchdown of the game.

"He doesn't play like a freshman or look like a freshman, so don't call him a freshman," Holgorsen said. "He's a good player and I'm glad we've got him."

Brown's first score was the result of Kansas gambling on fourth and 1 at its own 45 on its opening offensive possession of the game. Quarterback Carter Stanley couldn't handle the snap and fell on the ball at the WVU 35.

Grier took immediate advantage of the great field position by hitting Sills V for 26 yards to the KU 6. Two plays going in the wrong direction, one a Kennedy McKoy 4-yard loss and the other an illegal procedure penalty called on right guard Isaiah Hardy, moved the ball back to the 15. Here Kansas left Brown uncovered coming out of the backfield and he took Grier's pass to the near pylon for the game's first touchdown.

Brown's other TD came on West Virginia's next possession when he bounced in from the 1. Replay confirmed the touchdown call on the field, giving the Mountaineers a 14-0 lead.

Kansas scored its first touchdown near the end of the first quarter when Mavin Saunders beat Hakeem Bailey to the football for an 18-yard score. Bailey was starting in place of Josh Norwood, who was forced to sit out the first half after being removed from the Texas Tech game for targeting.

The Jayhawks reduced West Virginia's lead to 21-14 on its opening possession of the third quarter when it marched 75 yards in seven plays. Peyton Bender, who replaced Stanley in the second quarter, completed a 35-yard pass to Jeremiah Booker on a third-and-15 play to the WVU 45.

Two plays later, backup running back Khalil Herbert, who ran for 291 yards against West Virginia last year in Lawrence, broke free on a draw play to race 31 yards for a touchdown.

KU immediately got the football back when Grier was sacked for a 7-yard loss and his fumble was recovered by Kyron Johnson at the Kansas 44.

But the Mountaineer defense forced a punt and WVU re-took possession of the football at its 23. West Virginia once again found success with Brown running the football, the Philadelphia resident getting 32 yards on consecutive runs to move the ball to the Jayhawk 33.

Later, a Pettaway 13-yard run on third and 12 gave WVU a first down at the KU 8. Another first-down loss preceded Grier's third TD toss, this one to a wide-open Pettaway coming out of the backfield on the final play of the third quarter.

The defense came up with a key stop at its 44 when a blitzing Derrek Pitts Jr. broke free to sack Bender for a 15-yard loss, taking the football all the way back to the KU 41.

Kansas, which was unsuccessful on fourth down on its side of the field and also successfully converted a fake punt, would have likely gone for it there as well.

WVU couldn't move the sticks on its possession, but got the ball back when Kwamie Lassiter muffed Billy Kinney's punt at the WVU 38 and JoVanni Stewart came out of the pile with the football.

A Grier 21-yard pass to Gary Jennings Jr. gave WVU a first down at the Kansas 36 to eventually set up Evan Staley's career-long 49-yard field goal to give WVU a 31-14 lead with 5:05 left in the game.

Grier's fourth touchdown pass followed another defensive stop when he hit Sills V behind the Jayhawk defense for a 17-yard touchdown.

Kansas scored a meaningless touchdown on the final play of the game when Daylon Charlot hauled in an 18-yard touchdown pass with no time showing on the clock.

KU also converted the two-point conversion when Bender completed a pass over the middle to Lassiter.

Grier finished the game completing 28-of-41 for 332 yards, his 14^thcareer 300-yard passing performance and the fifth this season.

Sills V led all receivers with seven catches for 74 yards; 10 different players caught passes for West Virginia.

In addition to his three interceptions, Grier was sacked five times and the run game was thrown for five other losses totaling 48 yards.

"One of the things we benefited from was they had a bunch of poor snaps early," Kansas coach David Beaty said. "We challenged him and that defensive line to be able to put some pressure on Grier, I think they answered the bell pretty well."

The West Virginia defense also spent a lot of time in the Kansas backfield, producing eight tackles for losses, three sacks and three turnovers, two coming on interceptions – the first two interceptions thrown by KU quarterbacks this year.

WVU outgained Kansas 509 to 286.

"We gave up a couple of third-and-longs we're not happy with, but other than that the guys on defense keep doing a good job," Holgorsen said.

A crowd of 57,419 watched today's game under sunny skies and unseasonably warm temperatures approaching the high 80s on the field.

West Virginia (5-0, 3-0) advances its record under Holgorsen to 5-0 for the first time since 2016 and just the second time since joining the Big 12 in 2012 (the Mountaineers also began that season 5-0).

West Virginia plays at Iowa State next Saturday.