Box Score
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Using a 65-yard fumble return and a blocked extra point return, West Virginia rallied from a 10-point first-half deficit to defeat the 23^nd-ranked Baylor Bears, 43-40, Thursday night in a wild game at Milan Puskar Stadium.
            The two teams combined for 1,090 yards and 83 points in a game filled with ebbs and flows, twists and turns. 
            "There were a lot of good things, but we could not make that next play," third-year head coach Dave Aranda said. "We're up, and we've got to make a play to stop a drive to kind of halt the emerging momentum. And we never could do that. There's a whole bunch of reasons for that, whether it was alignment or assignment. So, there's a fair amount to clean up there."
            Baylor quarterback Blake Shapen had to leave the game midway through the third quarter following a targeting hit to the helmet by cornerback Andrew Wilson-Lamp, but redshirt freshman Kyron Drones led a pair of scoring drives that gave the Bears (3-3, 1-2) a 37-31 fourth-quarter lead. In a pivotal moment, John Mayers' extra point was blocked by Dante Stills and returned for a two-point play.
            "We're still fighting the battle with special teams for improvement and for consistency," Aranda said, "and to really have that as a weapon for us. That, obviously, showed up tonight as well. But with the punches we took - some of which were self-inflicted - i thought guys continued to fight. So, I'm proud of that. That's something to build off of."
            The Mountaineers (3-3, 1-2) regained the lead on a 34-yard touchdown run by Tony Mathis, who finished with 163 yards on 22 carries against one of the best run defenses in the country coming into the game.
            "We didn't do simple better today, especially defensively," said middle linebacker Dillon Doyle, who had 10 tackles and his first interception of the season. "The offense did a great job, we just didn't do our part. We needed to play complementary football, and we didn't really do it today. So, that's obviously disappointing."
            Baylor lost its third turnover of the game on a Drones interception, with the Bears in position to go back on top, but Doyle got it right back when he picked off a JT Daniels pass at the WVU 25.
            Mayers booted a 44-yard field goal to tie it at 40-40, but then the Mountaineers drove 61 yards in just six plays and won it on Casey Legg's 22-yard field goal with 33 seconds left in regulation as West Virginia won its sixth-straight against Baylor in Morgantown.
            "There's still a lot of football left, and we know what we're capable of," said sixth-year senior receiver Gavin Holmes, who had a career-high seven catches for 210 yards and one touchdown. "We just can't fall apart. We have to keep pushing. There are a lot of big-time games left. We have a lot of opportunity, and we know we're a really good team."
            In a fast and furious first half, Shapen threw for 294 yards and led the Bears to 24 points and 358 yards total offense. But, Baylor had only a 24-17 lead to show for it thanks to linebacker Jasir Cox's 65-yard fumble return in the second quarter.
            BU was leading 17-10 and in position to make it a two-score game when defensive end Sean Martin forced a fumble that Cox scooped up and took it in for the score to draw the Mountaineers even at 17-17 with 2:41 left in the half.
            It took the Bears just five plays to answer, aided by a personal-foul penalty on WVU, with Shapen connecting with Sqwirl Williams for a short screen pass that he turned into a 39-yard touchdown and 24-17 halftime lead.
            West Virginia struck first with a seven-yard TD run by Mathis, capping an eight-play, 65-yard scoring drive that saw quarterback JT Daniels hit his first four passes. 
            Shapen threw for 52 yards on a time-consuming 14-play, 71-yard drive, leading to a 40-yard field goal by Mayers that trimmed the Mountaineers' lead to 7-3.
            With the defense coming up with back-to-back stops, Shapen hooked up with Holmes for a 56-yard pass that led to a one-yard TD run by tight end Ben Sims. And then Holmes hauled in a quick slant and took it 35 yards for another touchdown and 17-7 lead.
            "We knew there weren't going to be a lot of bodies in the middle, so that's what that was," Holmes said. "Coaches put their belief in me, especially this last week in practice."
            Holmes had already produced the first 100-yard receiving day of his career in the first half, catching four passes for 157 yards. Shapen was 12-of-18 for 294 yards and two touchdowns in the first two quarters for a QB rating of 240.5
            Baylor's defense got another three-and-out late in the half, but the Bears had to punt it away from midfield with 20 seconds left when Qualan Jones missed a short pass from Shapen on third-and-five.
            The Baylor offense finished with 590 yards, including a combined 421 yards passing by Shapen and Drones. Shapen was 14-of-22 for 326 yards and two touchdowns – 19 yards off the career-high he set last week – while Drones was 7-of-14 for 95 yards and one TD with one pick.
            Aranda said Shapen and sophomore running back Craig "Sqwirl" Williams both "went out with head injuries. I think they'll get looked at (on Friday), and we should have an idea after that."
            With his career day, Holmes became Baylor's first 200-yard receiver since KD Cannon in the 2016 Cactus Bowl.
            Freshman Richard Reese led the ground attack with 57 yards on 13 carries, while Jones had 44 yards and one TD on 10 totes and added 37 yards on two catches. With the tight ends targeted a combined 13 times, Drake Dabney also turned in a career day with five catches for 66 yards. 
            "You would love to have a win coming off of a bye," Aranda said, "but i thought there was a lot of truth that was spoken, and there was a lot of work put into the fundamental things that you'd like to say would equate to a win. And it's awfully unfortunate that it didn't, but it really shows that there's much more work to do."
            Baylor returns home to host No. 19/20 Kansas (5-1, 2-1) for an 11 a.m. Homecoming game at McLane Stadium next Saturday, Oct. 22, that will be televised by either ESPN or ESPN2. The Jayhawks got off to their first 5-0 start in 13 years before a 38-31 loss to TCU last week and will play at Oklahoma on Saturday.