2024-09-22 11:20:02
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia rallied from 11 points down with 5:30 left in the fourth quarter to stun Kansas 32-28 here at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Things didn’t look good for the Mountaineers late in the fourth quarter following a two-hour weather delay, the second here this season, but quarterback Garrett Greene engineered two late touchdown drives that resulted in 15 points after the Jayhawks took a 28-17 lead.
The deciding tally came with 26 seconds left when Greene hit Rodney Gallagher III in the right flat for a 15-yard touchdown.
“Long day and I’m exhausted, but huge win,” West Virginia coach Neal Brown said afterward. “Most things even out, and we came back and flipped the script today.”
Last week in Pittsburgh, West Virginia was unable to close the deal after leading by 10 with a little less than five minutes to go in the Backyard Brawl.
Today, WVU made the plays at crunch time.
On its winning touchdown march, WVU took possession of the football on its own 33 with 2:22 on the clock, one timeout and the two-minute warning in its pocket. Greene began the drive with an 11-yard pass to Hudson Clement, Gallagher added 6 on a wide receiver run and then Greene scrambled for 12 to give WVU a first down at the Jayhawk 29.
Kansas called its first timeout with 37 seconds left after Greene’s 4-yard run to the 25. A pass interference penalty on safety Marvin Grant during Greene’s pass to Clement in the end zone put the ball at the 10. A false start penalty moved the ball back 5 yards before Gallagher got open to the near side of the field, where Greene hit him in stride, and he outraced the defense to the pylon.
On the ensuing drive, Kansas (1-3, 0-1) got to West Virginia’s side of the field when Jalon Daniels completed a 36-yard pass to Lawrence Arnold to the WVU 40, but on the next play, Tyrin Bradley came free from the backside for a strip-sack fumble that he recovered at the Mountaineer 48.
Greene took a knee to end the game.
For the day, Greene completed 15 of his 30 pass attempts for 295 yards and two touchdowns and ran 17 times for 87 yards and another score.
“We’re better when he runs,” Brown said. “He’s special in the two-minute drill, I’ll say that.”
Clement was Greene’s big target today in the passing game with seven catches for 150 yards, while Traylon Ray added two catches for 70 yards.
The game turned into a frenetic affair in the second half after the two teams played a tight defensive struggle in the opening two stanzas.
The Jayhawks marched the length of the field on their first drive of the second half to tie the game at 14, using safe passes from Daniels and a 7-yard run from Devin Neal on fourth-and-2 at the WVU 43 during the drive.
Kansas eventually got into the end zone when Daniels flipped a 7-yard pass to a wide-open Luke Grimm in the back corner of the end zone, capping a 10-play, 75-yard drive the consumed 5:52 of the clock.
On the next possession, a Greene 52-yard post pass to Ray took the ball to Kansas’ 23, but two unsuccessful C.J. Donaldson Jr. runs and Greene’s incomplete pass to Gallagher in the end zone required Michael Hayes to kick a 40-yard field goal, his fifth in five attempts this season. That gave West Virginia a 17-14 lead with 7:03 left in the third quarter.
But that advantage was short lived.
It took Kansas just four plays to return to the end zone, getting all but 7 of it on the ground. A 21-yard Daniels keeper took the ball to midfield and then a Daniel Hishaw Jr. 32-yard run down the far side of the field got it to the WVU 15.
Two plays later, Hishaw scooted untouched 11 yards into the end zone to give Kansas a 21-17 lead following Tabor Allen’s conversion kick
The Mountaineers dodged a bullet after Mello Dotson picked off Greene’s underthrown pass by forcing a punt, but the offense was stifled by a false start penalty, two short Greene runs and a short pass out in the flat to Jahiem White.
Lighting strikes in the area came soon after, requiring a nearly two-hour delay before play resumed at 4:44 ET with 10:23 showing on the game clock and Kansas facing a fourth and 7 at the KU 48.
The Mountaineers regained possession of the ball at their own 9, but immediately punted the ball back to Kansas, which got the ball at its own 46 after Oliver Straw’s short, line-drive punt.
Kansas extended its lead one play after Hishaw’s 11-yard, fourth-down run to WVU’s 32. Grimm took a reverse from Daniels and followed a wall of blockers down the near sideline for a touchdown.
Allen’s conversion kick put the Jayhawks ahead 28-17 with 5:39 left.
Greene passes to Clement and Gallagher got the ball to the KU 33, and a personal foul on Marvin Grant during Greene’s scramble put the ball at the 11. Two plays later, Greene flipped a pass out in the left flat to a wide-open Kole Taylor for an 8-yard touchdown. Taylor also caught the two-point conversion on Ray’s reverse pass pulling WVU to within a field goal with all three timeouts remaining and the two-minute warning.
At the outset, West Virginia used its RPO game to get on the scoreboard first on its second possession of the afternoon. Greene completed quick slants of 38 and 39 yards to Clement on consecutive plays to move the ball to the KU 1. White used a convoy of blockers to complete the drive on the next play for his third rushing touchdown of the season.
The Mountaineers appeared poised to take a two-score lead the next time they had the ball, but Cobee Bryant picked off Greene’s pass that was intended for Ray at the KU 12, and he returned it 5 yards to the 17.
The Jayhawks kept the ball on the ground in between the tackles with Neal and Hishaw, the duo combining to gain 55 yards, 11 of those coming from Nea,l to conclude the drive in WVU’s end zone.
A big play was Daniels’ third-and-13 pass to Quentin Skinner along the far sideline that was originally ruled incomplete, but replay officials said Skinner got a foot in before going out of bounds. Daniels also completed a 17-yard pass to Grimm during the 13-play, 83-yard scoring march.
West Virginia got the better of an exchange of possessions when Gallagher returned Damon Greaves’ line-drive punt 16 yards to the KU 34.
Greene completed a third-and-4 pass for 9 yards to Clement before calling his number for a 19-yard touchdown. However, center Brandon Yates was called for holding to wipe off the touchdown.
Two plays later, Greene threw a bullet to Ray for 18 yards to the KU 5, and then took it in himself after bouncing off safety O.J. Burroughs at the 2 to get into the end zone.
Neal led all rushers with 110 yards on 27 attempts and the Jayhawks finished the afternoon with 247 yards on the ground.
Daniels completed 15 of his 25 passes for 184 yards and a touchdown against a WVU pass defense that was giving up more than 280 yards per game through the air. The Mountaineers made some personnel changes in the secondary and also simplified things with their coverages.
“We wanted to keep the ball in front of us,” Brown said.
A crowd of 52,428 watched today’s game.
West Virginia (2-2, 1-0) will hit the pause button next weekend and will resume Big 12 play on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 14th-ranked Oklahoma State in Stillwater.
“We need a break,” Brown admitted. “We’re beat up and it’s been a tough stretch physically and emotionally.”
Kansas plays at TCU next weekend.
