Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
WVU Overcomes Youthful Unpredictability
October 04, 2020 05:53 PM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Yesterday, I couldn't help but think of my daughter while watching Neal Brown's enthusiastic but youthful football team try and deal with Baylor, last year's Big 12 championship game and Sugar Bowl participant.
Earlier that morning, my usually responsible, thoughtful and dependable 20-year-old daughter had accidentally locked her keys in the trunk of her car and needed me to meet her in the hospital parking lot before the game to give her the extra set of keys.
I bring this up not to embarrass my daughter, but to illustrate what 20-year-olds sometimes do.
Occasionally, they do unpredictable things - and when you've got a team full of 20-, 19- and even 18-year-olds running around out there on the football field, the unpredictability multiplies.
Then, throw in 152 plays, which is how many it took to complete yesterday's two-overtime thriller at Milan Puskar Stadium, and things can get really interesting.
Which is exactly what happened in the waning minutes of regulation.
Baylor quarterback Charlie Brewer, who had a tough time seeing anything other than the fog of blue West Virginia jerseys for most of the afternoon, eventually discovered enough of a clearing to complete a game-tying 34-yard touchdown pass to Josh Fleeks with just 79 seconds remaining in the game.
It was a mere 36-second lapse from a WVU defense that was so good for most of the day.
In fact, the Bears' only other touchdown came after J.T. Woods' 28-yard interception return put the football at West Virginia's 30.
That's it.
That's all Baylor, with a senior quarterback who won 11 games last year, could accomplish against West Virginia's defense.
"In a contest where a lot of things went wrong, against a really well-coached team with a lot of returning players and a quarterback who has figured out how to win close games, West Virginia found a way to win today," Brown said afterward. "I hope that's the storyline because I'm proud of our team."
A show of hands – after West Virginia's opening drive, who didn't wonder how the Mountaineers were going to score any more points against an equally impressive Baylor defense?
Brown told us all week that linebacker Terrel Bernard and rover safety Jalen Pitre were really good, so it shouldn't come as a surprise when we saw some of the things they were doing out there.
That Bernard second-quarter interception was as good as any defensive play we've seen at Milan Puskar Stadium, and Pitre was making big-league plays all over the field as well.
Fortunately for West Virginia, so were Darius Stills and Tony Fields II. Stills might as well have huddled up with Baylor's offense to save time because he was in the Bears' backfield as much as Baylor's running backs were.
Like most people, I usually watch the football during games, but there were a couple of instances when even I could see Stills taking Baylor's 315-pound center Xavier Newman-Johnson right back into Brewer's face.
As a quarterback, there is nothing more demoralizing than seeing the guy lined up right in front of you getting manhandled like that!
And then there was Fields, who was like a blue blur running around and making plays all over the field. Sometimes it was in coverage, sometimes it was at the line of scrimmage and sometimes it was right in there with Mr. Stills, his younger brother, Dante, as well as some of those still-unpredictable youngsters we're still getting to know such as Akheem Mesidor and Jalen Thornton.
Yet, eventually, when given enough chances, the other guys can take advantage of small openings or brief lapses, which is precisely what Baylor did at the end of the game.
But to the Mountaineers' credit, they didn't quit. Nor did they quit fighting.
The Mountaineers had to dig really deep into their playbook to generate a touchdown in the first overtime, even throwing a fourth-down pass to tight end Mike O'Laughlin to keep their hopes alive.
Brown said afterward that was a suggestion made by quarterback Jarret Doege, who experienced some difficulties of his own throwing a couple of interceptions and fumbling once.
This was the same Mike O'Laughlin who didn't catch a single pass in West Virginia's first two games this season and showed a mere six catches for 24 yards during his college career, hardly much of a sample size for such an important play.
Then there was sophomore Bryce Ford-Wheaton's back-shoulder touchdown grab to give West Virginia the lead.
In the fourth quarter it was Ford-Wheaton who ran into teammate Alec Sinkfield while he was trying to fair catch a punt with such force that it caused a critical fumble when West Virginia was trying to run out the clock to preserve a 14-7 lead.
Again, the unpredictable things young people sometimes do.
But to Ford-Wheaton's credit – and to the credit of his coaches for sticking with him – Bryce didn't get down on himself. He kept his head in the game and when he got another opportunity, he made the most of it.
Then, yet more unpredictability.
Baylor finally caught West Virginia's defense napping on its 70th play when tight end Ben Sims was left wide open down the left hash to catch a 25-yard, game-tying touchdown.
Brewer's next pass to begin the second overtime was picked off by sophomore Tykee Smith in the back of the end zone. Smith didn't quit either, nor did Leddie Brown, who four plays afterward plowed into the end zone from the 3 to win the game.
A lot is going to happen over the course of a 152-play football game – some good and some not-so-good.
The big takeaway from this one was a young and inexperienced West Virginia football team overcame all of the not-so-good to beat a pretty good Baylor football team.
"On a day where a lot of things go wrong, we found a way to win," Brown said.
Indeed, they did.
Perhaps this one can be filed away for later.
"My hope is we can point back at this game and this second half and us finding a way to win and not lose, which is what I was talking about after the game at Oklahoma State," Brown explained. "We found a way to lose that game. Here at home, we found a way to win, and I hope we can point back to this, get this thing rolling and say that this is the game that we kind of figured it out."
Earlier that morning, my usually responsible, thoughtful and dependable 20-year-old daughter had accidentally locked her keys in the trunk of her car and needed me to meet her in the hospital parking lot before the game to give her the extra set of keys.
I bring this up not to embarrass my daughter, but to illustrate what 20-year-olds sometimes do.
Occasionally, they do unpredictable things - and when you've got a team full of 20-, 19- and even 18-year-olds running around out there on the football field, the unpredictability multiplies.
Then, throw in 152 plays, which is how many it took to complete yesterday's two-overtime thriller at Milan Puskar Stadium, and things can get really interesting.
Which is exactly what happened in the waning minutes of regulation.
Baylor quarterback Charlie Brewer, who had a tough time seeing anything other than the fog of blue West Virginia jerseys for most of the afternoon, eventually discovered enough of a clearing to complete a game-tying 34-yard touchdown pass to Josh Fleeks with just 79 seconds remaining in the game.
It was a mere 36-second lapse from a WVU defense that was so good for most of the day.
In fact, the Bears' only other touchdown came after J.T. Woods' 28-yard interception return put the football at West Virginia's 30.
That's it.
That's all Baylor, with a senior quarterback who won 11 games last year, could accomplish against West Virginia's defense.
"In a contest where a lot of things went wrong, against a really well-coached team with a lot of returning players and a quarterback who has figured out how to win close games, West Virginia found a way to win today," Brown said afterward. "I hope that's the storyline because I'm proud of our team."
A show of hands – after West Virginia's opening drive, who didn't wonder how the Mountaineers were going to score any more points against an equally impressive Baylor defense?
Brown told us all week that linebacker Terrel Bernard and rover safety Jalen Pitre were really good, so it shouldn't come as a surprise when we saw some of the things they were doing out there.
That Bernard second-quarter interception was as good as any defensive play we've seen at Milan Puskar Stadium, and Pitre was making big-league plays all over the field as well.
Fortunately for West Virginia, so were Darius Stills and Tony Fields II. Stills might as well have huddled up with Baylor's offense to save time because he was in the Bears' backfield as much as Baylor's running backs were.
Like most people, I usually watch the football during games, but there were a couple of instances when even I could see Stills taking Baylor's 315-pound center Xavier Newman-Johnson right back into Brewer's face.
As a quarterback, there is nothing more demoralizing than seeing the guy lined up right in front of you getting manhandled like that!
And then there was Fields, who was like a blue blur running around and making plays all over the field. Sometimes it was in coverage, sometimes it was at the line of scrimmage and sometimes it was right in there with Mr. Stills, his younger brother, Dante, as well as some of those still-unpredictable youngsters we're still getting to know such as Akheem Mesidor and Jalen Thornton.
Yet, eventually, when given enough chances, the other guys can take advantage of small openings or brief lapses, which is precisely what Baylor did at the end of the game.
But to the Mountaineers' credit, they didn't quit. Nor did they quit fighting.
The Mountaineers had to dig really deep into their playbook to generate a touchdown in the first overtime, even throwing a fourth-down pass to tight end Mike O'Laughlin to keep their hopes alive.
Brown said afterward that was a suggestion made by quarterback Jarret Doege, who experienced some difficulties of his own throwing a couple of interceptions and fumbling once.
This was the same Mike O'Laughlin who didn't catch a single pass in West Virginia's first two games this season and showed a mere six catches for 24 yards during his college career, hardly much of a sample size for such an important play.
Then there was sophomore Bryce Ford-Wheaton's back-shoulder touchdown grab to give West Virginia the lead.
In the fourth quarter it was Ford-Wheaton who ran into teammate Alec Sinkfield while he was trying to fair catch a punt with such force that it caused a critical fumble when West Virginia was trying to run out the clock to preserve a 14-7 lead.
Again, the unpredictable things young people sometimes do.
But to Ford-Wheaton's credit – and to the credit of his coaches for sticking with him – Bryce didn't get down on himself. He kept his head in the game and when he got another opportunity, he made the most of it.
Then, yet more unpredictability.
Baylor finally caught West Virginia's defense napping on its 70th play when tight end Ben Sims was left wide open down the left hash to catch a 25-yard, game-tying touchdown.
Brewer's next pass to begin the second overtime was picked off by sophomore Tykee Smith in the back of the end zone. Smith didn't quit either, nor did Leddie Brown, who four plays afterward plowed into the end zone from the 3 to win the game.
A lot is going to happen over the course of a 152-play football game – some good and some not-so-good.
The big takeaway from this one was a young and inexperienced West Virginia football team overcame all of the not-so-good to beat a pretty good Baylor football team.
"On a day where a lot of things go wrong, we found a way to win," Brown said.
Indeed, they did.
Perhaps this one can be filed away for later.
"My hope is we can point back at this game and this second half and us finding a way to win and not lose, which is what I was talking about after the game at Oklahoma State," Brown explained. "We found a way to lose that game. Here at home, we found a way to win, and I hope we can point back to this, get this thing rolling and say that this is the game that we kind of figured it out."
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