West Virginia wins Big 12 opener with a similar ending to their Backyard Brawl loss

With their backs against the wall after a 1-2 start to the season, West Virginia football turned the page to conference play on Saturday. In a nail-biting finish, the Mountaineers collected a come-from-behind victory as Kansas dropped their third-consecutive game. In a game that was delayed by nearly two hours due to lighting, West Virginia is thrilled to head into their bye week with a 1-0 start in Big 12 play.

If you keep up with the Mountaineer football program, you can’t help but recognize the eerily similar finish this game had to last week’s Backyard Brawl against Pitt. Both were back-and-forth contests that either team could’ve won, but the last 5 possessions in the game were nearly identical. The good news for WVU is that this time it swung in their favor. 

Against Pitt:

A 9-play, 68-yard drive by WVU gave the Mountaineers a 10-point lead with under 5 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter. Pitt responded with a 5-play, 75-yard touchdown drive spanning 1:49. This drive cut the WVU lead to 3 with 3:06 remaining. 

On the ensuing drive, WVU had a three-and-out that took 1:07 off the game clock, giving Pitt the ball back with 2 minutes remaining. Pitt responded with a 6-play, 77-yard touchdown drive to take a 4-point lead with 32 seconds remaining.

Now trailing by 4 points, WVU had a 4-play, 27-yard drive, but the possession ended with an interception to seal the game for Pitt.

Against Kansas:

A 6-play, 54-yard drive by Kansas gave the Jayhawks an 11-point lead with just over 5 minutes remaining in the 4th quarter. WVU responded with a 9-play, 75-yard touchdown drive spanning 2:12. This drive cut the Kansas lead to 3 with 3:27 remaining. 

Kansas took the ball back and had a three-and-out that took 1:01 off the game clock, giving WVU the ball back with 2 minutes remaining. WVU then kept things rolling with a 7-play, 67-yard touchdown drive to take pull ahead by 4 points with 26 seconds remaining. 

Now down by 4 points, Kansas attempted to rally but their 3-play, 27-yard drive ended with a fumble that clinched a Mountaineer win.

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What Does This Mean?

The Backyard Brawl and WVU’s Big 12 home opener undoubtedly had similar endings. While Neal Brown took some heat for his late-game management last week, it seems the head coach learned a thing or two in the week between games. 

Firstly, he let Garrett Greene be Garrett Greene. Before becoming the full-time starter last season, WVU fans only knew Garrett Greene to be a runner. In 2023 he ran for over 700 yards. While he has run the ball in 2024, he had yet to make the true impact on the game that he is capable of while running the football.

Against Kansas, that changed. He was WVU’s leading rusher by a wide margin and picked up 87 yards and 1 touchdown on 17 carries. This is due in part to Neal Brown calling designed run plays for Greene, and Greene scrambling to make big play after big play. On WVU’s final two touchdown drives, Greene carried the ball 5 times in total. 

Secondly, Brown executed in late-game offensive play-calling, an area he caught a little heat for last week. As the offensive play caller, WVU’s last two touchdown drives were engineered by Greene and Brown. One 9-play drive and one 7-play drive, each spanning about 2 minutes. Although they were down 11 late, WVU kept calm without trying to get it all back in one play, rather they worked their way down the field and punched it in the end zone twice en route to victory.

When Brown earned ire on a 2022 punt on 4th Down in the Brawl when fans wanted a punt and the team subsequently lost by a single score, Brown changed his approach to when he keeps the offense on the field on 4th Down and his made better decisions since. Just like that lesson two years ago, it appears a single-score loss to Pitt taught Brown another coaching lesson.

WVU heads into their bye week having successfully changed the narrative surrounding the program. Had they fallen to 1-3 (0-1), Brown's seat would be as hot as it’s ever been. Now? WVU will look to get healthy through the bye week and gear up for a tough road test against Oklahoma State in two weeks. A come-from-behind win and a coach with more job security than he felt heading into the game, that’s the beauty of college football.