Oct 18, 2014; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers wide receiver Mario Alford (5) celebrates with quarterback Clint Trickett (9) after scoring a touchdown during the fourth quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. West Virginia Mountaineers defeated Baylor Bears 41-27. (Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports)
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia had played two Top 10 foes tough already. The third time proved to be the charm.
Quarterback Clint Trickett tossed three touchdown passes, including two in the fourth quarter, to spur the unranked Mountaineers to a 41-27 upset win over No. 4 Baylor before a crowd of 60,758 Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium.
West Virginia (5-2, 3-1 Big 12) had played Alabama and Oklahoma tight earlier in the season before eventually losing. This time, the Mountaineers put together a complete, four-quarter performance against a dangerous Baylor team that had rallied from 21 points down in the fourth quarter to beat TCU last week.
Baylor (6-1, 3-1), the reigning Big 12 champions, came into the game averaging an FBS-leading 622.5 yards per game and had scored 63 and 73 points in its past two meetings with the Mountaineers. But the Bears sputtered against a suddenly stout West Virginia defense that limited Baylor to just 318 yards.
West Virginia was positioned for the upset, up 27-20 in the third quarter, but Baylor bounced back. The Bears knotted things up with the Mountaineers on running back Shock Linwood’s second-effort, 1-yard touchdown run with 3:51 to go in the third.
But West Virginia reclaimed the lead behind the nation’s leading receiver, Kevin White. His one-handed, 12-yard touchdown snatch with 11:36 to play propelled the Mountaineers to a 34-27 advantage.
White finished with eight catches for 132 yards and two TDs, extending his nation-best string of 100-yard games to seven.
Trickett racked up 322 passing yards and three TDs, including a 39-yard strike to senior receiver Mario Alford with 7:35 to go that was the cherry on top.
Unlike last week in Waco, that deficit was too much to overcome for Baylor.
Baylor needed less than a minute to grab the lead at the start of the game, and the Bears didn’t even start with the ball. On West Virginia’s third play, defensive tackle Andrew Billings punched the ball free from Trickett and the Bears recovered at the 7-yard line.
One play later, sophomore running back Corey Coleman was standing in the end zone, the recipient of a quick strike from quarterback Bryce Petty.
But West Virginia had an emphatic answer, as Trickett found White on a 36-yard scoring connection two minutes later.
The Mountaineers managed to keep pace with Baylor despite three first-half turnovers.
Baylor’s longest play of the game was also one of the wildest. Trailing 14-13 in the second quarter, Petty launched a deep ball down the sideline for senior receiver Antwan Goodley, who then cut across the field en route to an apparent 63-yard touchdown.
He benefited from a hard block from Coleman on cornerback Terrell Chestnut — a play that initially resulted in a targeting penalty for Coleman and a nullification of the score. But the replay official turned over that flag, ruling that Coleman had led with his shoulder. Chestnut was slow to get up and didn’t return to the game.
West Virginia regained the lead with 4:21 left in the half, as running back Dreamius Smith trotted in untouched for a 9-yard TD. Josh Lambert’s 54-yard field goal with no time left extended West Virginia’s lead to 24-20 at halftime.
NOTES: Baylor was flagged 18 times for 215 yards, a school record for penalty yardage. West Virginia added 14 penalties for 138 yards. … West Virginia had a school-record streak of five games of at least 500 yards snapped. The Mountaineers finished with 456 yards. … Baylor’s loss was its first in the Big 12 since falling to Oklahoma State, 49-17, on Nov. 23, 2013, in Stillwater, Okla.
