West Virginia Football: 3 takeaways from thrilling victory over Baylor

A grueling, yet sluggish double-overtime game ends up with West Virginia football preserving in the end, 27-21 over Baylor.

If there was ever the most 2020 game of this season, Baylor-West Virginia takes the cake. An extremely messy game, filled with turnovers and penalties, to go along with well below average Offensive Line play.

To put it into comparison, both teams combined to go 9-for-34 on third downs, six turnovers and 24 penalties and 188 yards in between the both teams.

For the Mountaineers, it was a first drive, that went 12 plays and 70 yards, capped off by a Jarret Doege one yard touchdown run.

The mess began from there on out, for both teams. Especially for the Mountaineers, who had almost half of their possessions in the first half end with turnovers.

West Virginia would then grind out another long drive in the second half, ending with yet another one yard run from Lennie Brown. Although stagnant at times, The Mountaineers could get consistent drives to put them ahead of the Bears, when they needed to.

For the Bears however, it was truly a struggle to find any kind of consistency. From the looks of it, play calling may have been a factor to that. Lack of a run game and keeping Brewer up right was their down fall.

It also didn’t help with the Bears going 0-for-3 on field goals. Each from 45-plus and each missing in their own way. The first one was too short, the second one hit the upright, and the third got blocked, right before halftime.

With all of that being said, with under three minutes to go, the Baylor offense found a way to tie the game at.

With the pressure of being short of a touchdown on the last possession, Brewer threw a strike to junior receiver Joshua Fleeks, who ran it in from 34 yards out to tie it up for the Bears. After they stalled the Mountaineers, the Bears somehow got this contest into over time, knotted up at 14.

Both teams would strike in different ways in the first overtime. West Virginia drove the ball down to inside the five, where Doege would hit Bryce Ford-Wheaton. Baylor would take one play as Brewer would hit Ben Sims from 25 yards out.

However, a Charlie Brewer interception in the 2nd Overtime, would leave the door open for the Mountaineers. West Virginia would take advantage as Lennie Brown would power his way in for his 2nd touchdown of the game and the nail in the coffin.

The stat line at the end of the game for Brewer doesn’t look near as bad as prior to the fourth quarter. The senior threw for 229 yards and three touchdowns, on two interceptions. Leading receivers for the Bears were Fleeks and Sneed, with both having 48 yards and a touchdown.

For the Mountaineers, the difference maker was the ability to run the Football. West Virginia did a good enough job, with 134 yards for the game. Brown lead the way with 93 of them.