MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia gets its crack at defending Big 12 champion Baylor tonight in a special Thursday night game to be televised nationally on FS1.
 
Baylor brings a 3-2 overall record into the game with victories over Albany (69-10), Texas State (42-10) and Iowa State (31-24) and losses to BYU (26-20) and Oklahoma State (36-25).
 
"They're the Big 12 champions until someone knocks them off," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "They won the championship in Dallas, and we've got an opportunity (tonight) in front of our home crowd. And we want it to be raucous crowd."
 
Sophomore quarterback Blake Shapen is coming off a season-high 345 yards passing in the Oklahoma State loss, with seven of those passes going to sophomore speedster Monaray Baldwin for 174 yards and two touchdowns.
 
Baldwin is a 10.6 sprinter in the 100-meter dash.
 
Freshman running back Richard Reese is another burner who has taken over the running chores from junior Taye McWilliams, who has been sidelined for the last three games after suffering a concussion in the BYU loss.
 
Reese, running behind a veteran offensive line that features All-American candidates Connor Galvin and Jacob Gall, leads all freshman ball carriers with seven rushing touchdowns. The Bellville, Texas, resident has also accumulated 400 yards on the ground.
 
Defensively, massive 6-foot-4, 358-pound nose tackle Siaki Ika anchors a Bear defense that ranks 18^th in the country against the run, allowing just 96.8 yards per game. The Bears had their streak of 18 straight games allowing fewer than 30 points broken by Oklahoma State on Oct. 1, as well as its four-game streak of permitting fewer than 100 yards on the ground when the Cowboys rushed for 166.
 
"They're really good offensively, defensively and special teams – a well-rounded team," Brown said.
 
West Virginia, 2-3 following a 38-20 loss at Texas on Oct. 1, is looking to get back into the win column against the Bears. The Mountaineers started the season with back-to-back losses to Pitt (38-31) and Kansas (55-42) before recovering to claim two straight against Towson (65-7) and Virginia Tech (33-10).
 
Junior quarterback JT Daniels leads a West Virginia offensive attack that ranks 23^rd in the country this week, averaging 38.2 points per game.
 
Daniels is completing 63.5% of his 197 pass attempts for 1,209 yards and eight touchdowns. Bryce Ford-Wheaton has been Daniels' top target, catching 35 passes for 412 yards and four touchdowns.
 
Outstanding freshman running back CJ Donaldson has been ruled out for tonight's contest while he still recovers from a concussion he sustained in the Texas loss, leaving the running chores to sophomore Tony Mathis Jr. and sophomore Justin Johnson Jr.
 
Mathis ran for a season-high 104 yards in the Towson win while Johnson had an 83-yard effort in the Virginia Tech victory.
 
Defensively, West Virginia has been strong against the run, allowing just 100.6 yards per game, which ranks 21^st nationally this week.
 
Baylor is still seeking its first-ever victory in Morgantown. The Bears have dropped five straight here since West Virginia joined the Big 12 in 2012, including a 27-21 overtime loss in 2020.
 
Here is tonight's Countdown to Kickoff:
 
10 – The Mountaineers have now had TEN 300-yard passing performances under Neal Brown, including two in 2022.
 
9 – A successful field goal on his first attempt will make it NINE straight for junior Casey Legg, who is eight-for-eight this season and has made 34-of-42 for his career.
 
8 – The Mountaineer defense has picked off at least one pass in EIGHT of their last 15 games dating back to last season.
 
7 – The WVU defense has produced multiple interception games SEVEN times since Neal Brown took over the coaching duties in 2019.
 
6 – West Virginia has played SIX Oct. 13 games at home all-time, winning five of them.
 
5 – In FIVE prior meetings against Baylor in Morgantown, West Virginia has tallied at least 40 points three times.
 
4 – Bryce Ford-Wheaton is one of just six Big 12 receivers with at least FOUR touchdown receptions so far this season.
 
3 – The Mountaineers rank 15^th nationally in THIRD-down conversions with a 49.4% success rate.
 
2 – Ford-Wheaton's 20 catches in West Virginia's first TWO games were the most to start a season since Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey did it to begin the 2012 season.
 
1 – West Virginia ranks FIRST in the Big 12 in time of possession (33:22).
 
Tonight's contest is a Stripe the Stadium game with fans encouraged to wear either gold or blue based on your seat locations. People sitting in even numbered sections are encouraged to wear gold while those in odd sections should wear blue.
 
FS1's coverage begins at 7 p.m. with Noah Eagle and Mark Helfrich on the call.
 
Mountaineer Sports Network coverage begins at 4 p.m. with the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show leading into regular network coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning at 6 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular apps WVU Gameday and The Varsity Network.
 
You can follow real-time livestats coverage while you listen to the MSN broadcast.
 
Be sure to stop back afterward for complete postgame coverage.