By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
         This was far from a masterpiece, it certainly didn't meet coach Matt Rhule's high standard, and the 12^th-ranked Baylor Bears won't get any style points.
         And none of that really matters.
         On a day when the offense kept shooting itself in the foot and special teams gave up a 95-yard kickoff return, the Baylor defense came to the rescue to help the Bears (8-0, 5-0) remain unbeaten with a gutsy 17-14 win over an upset-minded West Virginia team (3-5, 1-4) that dropped its fourth in a row.
         "We didn't play good enough," said Rhule, whose team has strung together 10-straight wins dating back to the end of last season. "We didn't play a great game (on offense or special teams), but I do think we played a great game on the defensive side of the football.
         "As I told the guys, don't apologize for going 8-0, for winning this game. We just have to improve as we try to move forward."
         Baylor threw a fourth-quarter shutout for the first time in seven games and gave up its fewest rushing yards in four years. West Virginia finished with just 14 net yards rushing and 219 total yards, with over a third of those coming on an 83-yard touchdown from Austin Kendall to George Campbell that tied it up at 7-7 midway through the third quarter.
         "That was a tremendous, tremendous defensive game," Rhule said. "When you hold someone in modern college football to 64 yards in one half, to 219 in the game, it's really hard to do. You hold (West Virginia's offense) to seven points. Really proud of our defense."
         Sacked seven times, Charlie Brewer passed for 277 yards and two touchdowns and also engineered a 13-play, 62-yard drive to set up John Mayers' game-winning 36-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter.
         Never able to sustain anything on offense, the Mountaineers still had a chance to tie or take the lead late in the fourth quarter when Kerry Martin recovered an R.J. Sneed fumble on a muffed punt return.
         Needing to go just 34 yards to take its first lead of the game, West Virginia couldn't convert on third-and-2 from the 26 when Grayland Arnold broke up a pass intended for big receiver Isaiah Esdale.
         "It's the fourth quarter, so we've got to get a fourth-quarter shutout," linebacker Jordan Williams said. "So, we're going to hold them to whatever it may be. We knew they needed a field goal, because they weren't going to put it in on us. We but, but we never break."
         Casey Legg, filling in for injured kicker Evan Staley, was good from 43 yards out, but the Mountaineers were flagged for delay of game before the snap. Lining up for a 48-yarder, Legg's kick was blocked by Bravvion Roy, the Bears' fifth blocked kick of the year and ninth in the last 13 games.
         "Blocked kicks are usually coming from effort plays, which is why we block a lot of them, I guess," said linebacker Terrel Bernard, who recorded a career-high 10 tackles. "The D-line does a great job on all the field goal (extra points) of getting push. You just do your job. They teach us the technique, five and rise, and have amazing effort. And you can get some."
         With 3 ½ minutes left, and first-year WVU coach Neal Brown still holding all three timeouts, the Mountaineers had a chance to get the ball back. But, on third-and-17, Brewer connected with Tyquan Thornton for a 43-yard pass that took the wind out of West Virginia's sails.
         Rhule doesn't call plays, "but every once in a while, I'll come in and say, 'Do this.' . . . There's a time where you have to take a shot."
         West Virginia got the ball back at its own 5-yard line with 38 seconds left and got to the 39 before time and chances ran out.
         "A lot of guys hurt in that locker room. I hurt for them," Brown said. "I hurt because they invested. They came up short. I don't know if we necessarily got beat, but we came up short, and I don't mean that as a slight to Baylor. Matt's done an incredible job there. They played with a ton of confidence, but they played well and found a way to win. They've got a lot of moxie."
          With the defense completely dominating the first half, Baylor had a chance to put this one away early. But, there were a combined eight punts in the first quarter before the Bears finally broke through with an eight-play, 86-yard drive.
         Brewer was 4-of-4 for 63 yards on the drive, including a 26-yarder to Thornton, and finished it with a 13-yard TD toss to Sneed.
         On their next series, the Bears zipped into West Virginia territory with a couple passes. But on a first down from the 47, Sneed was sacked by Tykee on an end-around play "that I thought was going to be a touchdown to Chris Platt," Rhule said. Instead, Noah Guzman recovered the Sneed fumble at the Bears' 48.
         At the end of the half, Baylor had three cracks from the 1-yard line and couldn't get it in the end zone. Brewer appeared to cross the plane on third down, but the officials ruled that he was stopped short.
         "I thought it was a touchdown," Rhule said. "I probably could have challenged it. But, they said they replayed it and confirmed it. You can still challenge it, but it didn't seem smart in that type of game."
         Held to 64 yards in the first half, West Virginia topped that with one play when Kendall connected with Campbell on the 83-yard touchdown pass with 6:42 left in the third quarter.
         Wasting no time to answer, Baylor drove 75 yards in just seven plays and scored on a 21-yard TD strike from Brewer to Denzel Mims, who finished with 99 yards on five catches.
         That lead, though, lasted all of 12 seconds. Winston Wright took the ensuing kickoff at his own 5-yard line, found a seam down the right sideline and outsprinted cornerback Mark Milton for a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and 14-14 tie.
         "Really disappointed in the special teams tonight," Rhule said. "Obviously, made a field goal and blocked a field goal to win it. But, to have two possessions extended for them – one for running into the punter and then dropping a punt. We dropped punts in the pregame and dropped them all game. We have to get better at that. R.J. has been so stellar at that.
"Tonight, we took a step backwards. And, obviously, the kickoff return for a touchdown. It was a little bit of a recipe for disaster. Some of the things we don't ever do, we did tonight."
But when the Bears needed it, the defense came up with the answer.
"We just went out there and we found a way to win," Williams said.
         Baylor goes back on the road to face TCU (4-3, 2-2) on Saturday, Nov. 9, in Fort Worth. Game time and TV selections will be announced on Sunday.