 squeaked out the win in a game where offensive consistency was rare and mistakes were plentiful. Baylor (1-1, 1-1) surpassed 200 rushing yards a week ago against Kansas but managed 256 yards overall against West Virginia. West Virginia's defense chased down Baylor's Charlie Brewer all day. They sacked him six times, had 11 tackles for loss and forced two interceptions. Brewer threw three touchdown passes, but his interception in the second overtime proved costly. West Virginia's Tykee Smith made an over-the-shoulder catch on a pass intended for Trestan Ebner along the line in the back of the end zone. The call was upheld upon review. The Mountaineers needed five plays to score on their second-overtime possession with Brown covering the final 12 yards on three rushes. Brown finished with 93 yards, falling short in his bid for three straight 100-yard efforts to start the season. Baylor forced overtime with the score tied at 14-14 when Brewer found Josh Fleeks with a 34-yard touchdown pass with 1:19 left in the fourth quarter. The teams traded touchdown passes in the first overtime, with West Virginia's Jarret Doege finding Bryce Ford-Wheaton from 6 yards out, and Brewer hitting tight end Ben Sims for a 25-yard score on the first play of Baylor's possession. On the game's opening drive, Doege took the Mountaineers downfield in 15 plays for his own short touchdown run. Things unraveled quickly after that. Doege fumbled twice after getting hit while attempting to pass. Baylor recovered one of them at the West Virginia 19 but couldn't take advantage. John Mayers missed both of his field goal attempts. Noah Rauschenberg's 51-yard try was blocked as the second-quarter clock expired. Doege completed 30 of 42 passes for 211 yards and was intercepted twice. Brewer finished 23 of 38 for 229 yards. THE TAKEAWAYBaylor: Missed field goals, a dozen penalties and a lethargic run game cost the Bears a chance to pull out yet another overtime win. Last year Brewer led Baylor on a pair of game-winning drives in the fourth quarter and two others that tied games which Baylor won in overtime. West Virginia: In front of a few hundred relatives of players and coaches, the Mountaineers held the ball 46 minutes on offense, but the defense stood out in this one. After a quiet start to the season, West Virginia defensive linemen Darius Stills had another solid effort against Baylor. West Virginia now has 19 sacks against the Bears over the past three meetings. UP NEXTBaylor has a week off before hosting No. 17 Oklahoma State on Oct. 17. West Virginia hosts Kansas on Oct. 17. ---More college football: https://apnews. com/Collegefootball and http:www. twitter. com/-Top25)
Sep 29, 2020Baylor has opened the Dave Aranda era on a positive note. It would get even better by finally winning a game at West Virginia. The Bears aim for a first-ever road victory over the Mountaineers, who are hoping to end their own issues within the Big 12 when they meet in a conference matchup Saturday afternoon at Morgantown, W. Va. It took some time due to COVID-19 issues, but Baylor (1-0, 1-0 Big 12) finally opened its 2020 season. Charlie Brewer threw for 142 yards with a touchdown and versatile senior Trestan Ebner scored rushing and receiving touchdowns and returned two kicks for scores (100 and 83 yards) in last weekend's 47-14 home win over Kansas. The result takes some pressure off Aranda, who debuted as Bears coach. The longtime defensive coordinator at Wisconsin and most recently LSU, is finally getting his shot as a head coach, and early on, things look good. Now, the focus for the Bears is to see if they can replicate that success on the road for the first time during this unique season. It's also a chance to avoid going 0-5 at West Virginia, where there will not be any fans in attendance for this contest. "We're approaching this as this is about us, and to just take our show on the road," Aranda said. "It's all about us . . . We would really like for our players and our coaches to just be so tuned in to what we're doing. " Brewer, one of the top quarterbacks in the country over the past two seasons, threw for 277 yards with two touchdowns during Baylor's 17-14 home win over West Virginia last season. However, he was picked off three times on eight attempts in a 58-14 loss in Morgantown in 2018. The Mountaineers (1-1, 0-1) return home after falling 27-13 at then-No. 15 Oklahoma State last weekend. West Virginia fell behind 17-0 in the first half and managed just one touchdown -- Winston Wright's 70-yard scoring pass from Jarret Doege, who went 20-of-37 for 285 yards but was also sacked five times. Leddie Brown rushed for 104 yards on 26 carries for West Virginia, which allowed Cowboys star Chuba Hubbard and teammate LD Brown to each rush for more than 100 yards in the contest. The Mountaineers were also penalized 12 times for 106 yards. "Extremely disappointing," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "We talk all of the time about WVU not beating WVU . . . Before we can win big games, we've got to quit losing them. " The focus, now, for West Virginia is to not only bounce back from last weekend's loss, but avoid a sixth straight Big 12 home defeat. The Mountaineers' most recent home league win came against TCU on Nov. 10, 2018. Brown has totaled 227 yards on 36 carries through the first two games for West Virginia. However, he's been held to 43 on 16 attempts in two career games versus Baylor. --Field Level Media
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