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.
1st Quarter |
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.
2nd Quarter |
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.
3rd Quarter |
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.
4th Quarter |
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.
Player of the Game |
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:
Team Statistics |
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
West Virginia Mountaineers Individual Stats |
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
Receiving |
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
Receiving |
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
Passing |
Comp.
Att.
Yards
TD
INT
Case McCoy
17
33
206
0
0
Passing |
Comp.
Att.
Yards
TD
INT
Geno Smith
27
39
343
1
0
Defensive |
Sacks
INT
Jackson Jeffcoat
1
0
Kheeston Randall
1
0
Defensive |
Sacks
INT
Josh Taylor
1
0
Field Goals |
Made
Missed
Justin Tucker
42
–
Field Goals |
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.