MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – West Virginia scored 15 points in the final 3:27 to come from behind and defeat Kansas 32-28 on Saturday afternoon in the teams’ Big 12 Conference opener inside Milan Puskar Stadium.
After both teams went scoreless on their opening drives, the Mountaineers made quick work of a three-play, 78-yard drive to go up 7-0 with 5:16 to go in the first quarter.
The teams traded interceptions on the next two drives, as Kansas’ Cobee Bryant intercepted West Virginia’s Garrett Greene at the WVU 12-yard line. The interception marked Bryant’s 10th of his career, which ties him for fifth in Kansas school history.
Kansas’ offense got going on its next drive behind the ground game of Devin Neal and Daniel Hishaw Jr. The duo carried the ball eight times in a 13-play scoring drive that Neal capped with an 11-yard touchdown run to tie the game with 7:25 to play in the half.
The two teams traded punts on their next possessions, but a 16-yard return by WVU set the Mountaineers up with the ball in Kansas territory late in the half. WVU converted two third downs and scored on a five-yard touchdown run by Greene, which sent the Mountaineers into the locker room with a 14-7 advantage.
Kansas evened things up after the break on a 10-play, 75-yard drive that consisted of a 26-yard end-around to senior Luke Grimm, before the Jayhawks went back to Grimm on a 7-yard pass from Daniels to even the score at 14-14 with 9:08 remaining in the third quarter.
Following a West Virginia 40-yard field goal, Kansas marched down the field on back-to-back 20-yard plays from Daniels and Hishaw, which set up an 11-yard rushing touchdown by Hishaw to give the Jayhawks a 21-17 lead over the Mountaineers with 4:30 remaining in the third quarter.
On the ensuing West Virginia possession, Kansas forced pressure on WVU’s Greene, who threw a pass that was intercepted by senior Mello Dotson, his second interception of the season and ninth of his career.
With 10:43 remaining in the fourth quarter, the game was delayed 1 hour and 58 minutes due to lightning in the area. Kansas punted the ball back to WVU as play resumed, but a quick three-and-out got possession back for the Jayhawks.
Neal and Hishaw again got the offense moving, carrying the ball for 22 yards on the first five plays of the Jayhawks’ next drive. Grimm would take care of the final 32 yards on another end-around, scoring the first rushing touchdown of his career to put Kansas up 28-17 with 5:39 to play.
WVU answered with a nine-play touchdown drive that used just over two minutes off the clock and cut the lead to 28-25 with 3:27 to play after the Mountaineers completed a successful two-point conversion.
Kansas was unable to use up much of the clock during its next drive, going three-and-out and punting the ball back to WVU with 2:22 to play. The Mountaineers needed seven plays to go 67 yards in 1:51 of game time and regain the lead, 32-28, with 26 seconds to play.
Needing a touchdown to win, the Jayhawks crossed midfield following a 36-yard pass from Daniels to Lawrence Arnold on second down. On KU’s next play, however, Daniels was stripped of the ball from behind and WVU recovered the fumble to secure its victory.
UP NEXT
Kansas returns home for its first of four games at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 28 against TCU.
