HailWV “Big 12 in 11” series, Part 2: WVU vs. Texas

The Big12’s best? Yes, please!

A shade of Orange invades Morgantown on this cool October Homecoming Saturday, and no, it’s not Syracuse puke Orange, either. It’s the Burnt Orange of the University of Texas Longhorns matching up against the West Virginia Mountaineers.

WVU is coming off of a tough loss to the Baylor Bears, and the Longhorns look to capitalize on this.

Meanwhile, look who’s in the house to call today’s game on FX:

After the jump is all of the action.

Kicking off the game in the 1st quarter (obviously), Texas struck first, as Joe Bergeron ran a 5 yard play into the end zone, to put UT up 7-0 with 10:17 to go. However, it takes less than 5 minutes for WVU to strike back at the 5:55 mark with a Tyler Urban 7 yard reception from Geno Smith, tying the game at 7-7.

Tex

10:17

TD

Joe Bergeron 5 yd. run (Tucker kick)

7-0

WVU

5:55

TD

Tyler Urban 7 yd. pass from Smith (Bitancurt kick)

7-7

Heading into the 2nd quarter, Joe Bergeron has his 2nd rushing TD of the day at the 10:08 mark, giving Texas the lead. Several minutes went by and both teams traded the ball until Shawne Alston ripped out a 28 yard run with 7:31 to go in the half, tying the game at 14 a piece. The 2nd quarter also saw Josh Taylor sack Texas QB Casey McCoy to a HUGE ovation at Mountaineer Field. Just when the crowd thought everyone was going into the locker rooms tied at halftime, Alston rips out yet another one, this one for 16 yards to put the Mountaineers up 21-14 with :02 to go, and I think this is the part where Gus Johnson gives us one of his infamous calls. Obviously, Texas couldn’t answer back. And, we’re at halftime.

Tex

10:08

TD

Joe Bergeron 1 yd. run (Tucker kick)

14-7

WVU

7:31

TD

Shawne Alston 28 yd. run (Bitancurt kick)

14-14

WVU

0:02

TD

Shawne Alston 16 yd. run (Bitancurt kick)

14-21

Kicking off the 3rd quarter, it was a defensive struggle, allowing only field goals, as Tyler Bitancurt nailed two of them… one at 13:02 (38 yards) & 3:04 (25 yards) while Texas’ Justin Tucker put one in from 42 yards at 6:49. Score after the 3rd quarter is WVU- 27, Texas- 17.

WVU

13:02

FG

Tyler Bitancurt 38 yds.

14-24

Tex

6:49

FG

Justin Tucker 42 yds.

17-24

WVU

3:04

FG

Tyler Bitancurt 25 yds.

17-27

Going into the 4th and final quarter of this Homecoming Classic, the Mountaineers decided to put this one away, as Geno Smith ran in a 4 yd TD with 10:48 to go. Then, it was a grind-it-out defensive battle. In a moment that seemingly confused everyone, Holgorsen sent Tyler Bitancurt out to attempt a 33 yard FG with 2:13 to go… it went in, but most people believed he should have went for it. Finally, the musket fires off and WVU wins their first Big 12 Conference game by a score of 37-17.

WVU

10:48

TD

Geno Smith 4 yd. run (Bitancurt kick)

17-34

WVU

2:13

FG

Tyler Bitancurt 33 yds.

17-37

The Player of the Game, according to this simulation program, is Geno Smith. However, I would argue that Shawne Alston could have also gotten POTG honors.

Geno Smith (West Virginia Mountaineers)

Now, for those of you that love to go over individual stats, here are the team and individual stats for this Homecoming Classic in Morgantown:

Texas Longhorns

West Virginia Mountaineers

First Downs

18

29

– Rushing

6

8

– Passing

12

21

– Penalty

0

0

3rd Down Eff

7/16

10/18

4th Down Eff

0/2

0/1

Rushes-Yards

38-76

43-155

Avg Rush

2.0

3.6

Comp-Att-Int

17-33-0

27-39-0

Passing Yards

206

343

Sacks-Yards

1-4

2-12

Fumbles-Lost

0-0

1-0

Punts-Avg

6-41.0

4-41.0

KR-Avg

8-23.4

4-26.5

PR-Avg

4-11.3

5-11.0

Penalties-Yard

1-5

4-25

Time of Possession

25:37

34:23

Rushing

Att

Yds

20+

L

TD

Malcolm Brown

22

50

0

11

0

Joe Bergeron

10

23

0

5

2

Marquise Goodwin

1

9

0

9

0

D.J. Monroe

2

-3

0

1

0

Case McCoy

3

-3

0

1

0

Rushing

Att

Yds

20+

L

TD

Shawne Alston

12

77

1

28

2

Dustin Garrison

15

38

0

14

0

Vernard Roberts

3

32

1

32

0

Geno Smith

12

8

0

12

1

Andrew Buie

1

0

0

0

0

Rec

Yds

20+

40+

L

TD

D.J. Grant

4

49

1

0

20

0

Mike Davis

4

43

0

0

15

0

Marquise Goodwin

3

40

0

0

19

0

Jaxon Shipley

3

39

0

0

16

0

Darius White

1

16

0

0

16

0

Blaine Irby

1

14

0

0

14

0

Dominique Jones

1

5

0

0

5

0

Rec

Yds

20+

40+

L

TD

Tavon Austin

8

111

1

0

20

0

Stedman Bailey

5

58

0

0

19

0

Tyler Urban

4

46

0

0

17

1

Dustin Garrison

4

44

0

0

19

0

Ivan McCartney

3

30

0

0

14

0

Devon Brown

1

28

1

0

28

0

Brad Starks

2

26

0

0

19

0

Comp.

Att.

Yards

TD

INT

Case McCoy

17

33

206

0

0

Comp.

Att.

Yards

TD

INT

Geno Smith

27

39

343

1

0

Sacks

INT

Jackson Jeffcoat

1

0

Kheeston Randall

1

0

Sacks

INT

Josh Taylor

1

0

Made

Missed

Justin Tucker

42

–

Made

Missed

Tyler Bitancurt

38,25,33

–

Savor this one, fans, because the next team coming to Morgantown will be on October 22nd (WVU has a bye week next week in this sim world) as the Texas Tech Red Raiders, coached by the much-maligned Tommy Tuberville, come to Morgantown (probably by way of the Pittsburgh airport.)

With this win, WVU moves to 1-1 in the Big 12 Conference, and 3-2 overall.