MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia rallied from 11 factors down with 5:30 left within the fourth quarter to stun Kansas 32-28 right here at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Issues did not look good for the Mountaineers late within the fourth quarter following a two-hour climate delay, the second right here this season, however quarterback Garrett Greene engineered two late landing drives that resulted in 15 factors after the Jayhawks took a 28-17 lead.
The deciding tally got here with 26 seconds left when Greene hit Rodney Gallagher III in the suitable flat for a 15-yard landing.
“Lengthy day and I am exhausted, however enormous win,” West Virginia coach Neal Brown stated afterward. “Most issues even out, and we got here again and flipped the script as we speak.”
Final week in Pittsburgh, West Virginia was unable to shut the deal after main by 10 with rather less than 5 minutes to go within the Yard Brawl.
At this time, WVU made the performs at crunch time.
On its successful landing march, WVU took possession of the soccer by itself 33 with 2:22 on the clock, one timeout and the two-minute warning in its pocket. Greene started the drive with an 11-yard cross to Hudson Clement, Gallagher added 6 on a large receiver run after which Greene scrambled for 12 to offer WVU a primary down on the Jayhawk 29.
Kansas referred to as its first timeout with 37 seconds left after Greene’s 4-yard run to the 25. A cross interference penalty on security Marvin Grant throughout Greene’s cross to Clement ultimately zone put the ball on the 10. A false begin penalty moved the ball again 5 yards earlier than Gallagher received open to the close to facet of the sector, the place Greene hit him in stride, and he outraced the protection to the pylon.
On the following drive, Kansas (1-3, 0-1) received to West Virginia’s facet of the sector when Jalon Daniels accomplished a 36-yard cross to Lawrence Arnold to the WVU 40, however on the subsequent play, Tyrin Bradley got here free from the bottom for a strip-sack fumble that he recovered on the Mountaineer 48.
Greene took a knee to finish the sport.
For the day, Greene accomplished 15 of his 30 cross makes an attempt for 295 yards and two touchdowns and ran 17 instances for 87 yards and one other rating.
“We’re higher when he runs,” Brown stated. “He is particular within the two-minute drill, I will say that.”
Clement was Greene’s large goal as we speak within the passing sport with seven catches for 150 yards, whereas Traylon Ray added two catches for 70 yards.
The sport become a frenetic affair within the second half after the 2 groups performed a good defensive battle within the opening two stanzas.
The Jayhawks marched the size of the sector on their first drive of the second half to tie the sport at 14, utilizing protected passes from Daniels and a 7-yard run from Devin Neal on fourth-and-2 on the WVU 43 in the course of the drive.
Kansas finally received into the top zone when Daniels flipped a 7-yard cross to a wide-open Luke Grimm within the again nook of the top zone, capping a 10-play, 75-yard drive the consumed 5:52 of the clock.
On the subsequent possession, a Greene 52-yard put up cross to Ray took the ball to Kansas’ 23, however two unsuccessful C.J. Donaldson Jr. runs and Greene’s incomplete cross to Gallagher ultimately zone required Michael Hayes to kick a 40-yard discipline aim, his fifth in 5 makes an attempt this season. That gave West Virginia a 17-14 lead with 7:03 left within the third quarter.
However that benefit was brief lived.
It took Kansas simply 4 performs to return to the top zone, getting all however 7 of it on the bottom. A 21-yard Daniels keeper took the ball to midfield after which a Daniel Hishaw Jr. 32-yard run down the far facet of the sector received it to the WVU 15.
Two performs later, Hishaw scooted untouched 11 yards into the top zone to offer Kansas a 21-17 lead following Tabor Allen’s conversion kick
The Mountaineers dodged a bullet after Mello Dotson picked off Greene’s underthrown cross by forcing a punt, however the offense was stifled by a false begin penalty, two brief Greene runs and a brief cross out within the flat to Jahiem White.
Lighting strikes within the space got here quickly after, requiring a virtually two-hour delay earlier than play resumed at 4:44 ET with 10:23 displaying on the sport clock and Kansas dealing with a fourth and seven on the KU 48.
The Mountaineers regained possession of the ball at their very own 9, however instantly punted the ball again to Kansas, which received the ball at its personal 46 after Oliver Straw’s brief, line-drive punt.
Kansas prolonged its lead one play after Hishaw’s 11-yard, fourth-down run to WVU’s 32. Grimm took a reverse from Daniels and adopted a wall of blockers down the close to sideline for a landing.
Allen’s conversion kick put the Jayhawks forward 28-17 with 5:39 left.
Greene passes to Clement and Gallagher received the ball to the KU 33, and a private foul on Marvin Grant throughout Greene’s scramble put the ball on the 11. Two performs later, Greene flipped a cross out within the left flat to a wide-open Kole Taylor for an 8-yard landing. Taylor additionally caught the two-point conversion on Ray’s reverse cross pulling WVU to inside a discipline aim with all three timeouts remaining and the two-minute warning.
On the outset, West Virginia used its RPO sport to get on the scoreboard first on its second possession of the afternoon. Greene accomplished fast slants of 38 and 39 yards to Clement on consecutive performs to maneuver the ball to the KU 1. White used a convoy of blockers to finish the drive on the subsequent play for his third speeding landing of the season.
The Mountaineers appeared poised to take a two-score lead the subsequent time that they had the ball, however Cobee Bryant picked off Greene’s cross that was meant for Ray on the KU 12, and he returned it 5 yards to the 17.
The Jayhawks stored the ball on the bottom in between the tackles with Neal and Hishaw, the duo combining to achieve 55 yards, 11 of these coming from Nea,l to conclude the drive in WVU’s finish zone.
An enormous play was Daniels’ third-and-13 cross to Quentin Skinner alongside the far sideline that was initially dominated incomplete, however replay officers stated Skinner received a foot in earlier than going out of bounds. Daniels additionally accomplished a 17-yard cross to Grimm in the course of the 13-play, 83-yard scoring march.
West Virginia received the higher of an change of possessions when Gallagher returned Damon Greaves’ line-drive punt 16 yards to the KU 34.
Greene accomplished a third-and-4 cross for 9 yards to Clement earlier than calling his quantity for a 19-yard landing. Nevertheless, heart Brandon Yates was referred to as for holding to wipe off the landing.
Two performs later, Greene threw a bullet to Ray for 18 yards to the KU 5, after which took it in himself after bouncing off security O.J. Burroughs on the 2 to get into the top zone.
Neal led all rushers with 110 yards on 27 makes an attempt and the Jayhawks completed the afternoon with 247 yards on the bottom.
Daniels accomplished 15 of his 25 passes for 184 yards and a landing in opposition to a WVU cross protection that was giving up greater than 280 yards per sport by way of the air. The Mountaineers made some personnel adjustments within the secondary and likewise simplified issues with their coverages.
“We needed to maintain the ball in entrance of us,” Brown stated.
A crowd of 52,428 watched as we speak’s sport.
West Virginia (2-2, 1-0) will hit the pause button subsequent weekend and can resume Huge 12 play on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 14th-ranked Oklahoma State in Stillwater.
“We want a break,” Brown admitted. “We’re beat up and it has been a troublesome stretch bodily and emotionally.”
Kansas performs at TCU subsequent weekend.