Garrett Greene's first half against Baylor proves he still deserves starting role

It's not been the greatest couple months for West Virginia football quarterback Garrett Greene.

He's had a number of games during his senior season at WVU that looked as if he regressed from the previous year.

Greene has been embroiled in a bit of a quarterback controversy, with his head coach Neal Brown seeming to have faith in him even when fans have not.

From there, he was sidelined for multiple games with an injury, with rumors abounding he may not return to action.

But fortunately for the senior, he was cleared to return to action on Saturday against Baylor, and Brown confirmed before the game that Greene would retain his starting job.

And that may have been the best case scenario for WVU, despite backup Nicco Marchiol’s perfect record as a starter so far. Greene kept the Mountaineers in a shootout during the first half against Baylor, and looked like his old self in doing so.

Greene had to combat a near-perfect performance by Baylor quarterback Sawyer Roberston (16-for-18 passing with 240 yards and 3 touchdowns) and did so efficiently, engineering three scoring drives to keep the score 35-28 heading into halftime -- far from where the team wants to be, but still competitive in a game where Baylor’s offense has been hot and WVU’s defense has looked concerning at best.

He was impressive both through the air (9-for-16 passing with 117 yards and 1 touchdown) and on the ground (16 carries for 109 yards and 2 touchdowns to lead the team), showing flashes of his dual-threat ability that makes him one of the most dangerous offensive players in the Big 12 when healthy. He also was directly responsible for 3-of-4 scores in the first half for the WVU.

There's still plenty of game left to be played as this article is published, and Greene alone may not be enough to win the game for WVU. But he has shown why Brown hasn't abandoned his starting quarterback quite yet.