MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- In the words of former Baylor football coach Grant Teaff, "It's over, baby!"
Teaff voiced those words after the Bears' first win over Texas in Austin in 38 years.
This time, redshirt freshman running back
Bryson Washington totaled four touchdowns for the second-consecutive game and led the Bears (6-4, 4-3) to their first-ever win at Milan-Puskar Stadium, beating the West Virginia Mountaineers (5-5, 4-3), 49-35, Saturday to become bowl eligible for the 12th time in the last 15 years.
Winless in six previous trips to Morgantown, Baylor put up 35 first-half points and then put the game away with fourth-quarter touchdown runs of nine yards by Washington and 15 by
Dawson Pendergrass, the second one coming after Corey Gordon's third interception of the year.
Quarterback
Sawyer Robertson threw for a career-high 329 yards, completing 26-of-36 and tossing TD passes of 22 yards to Washington, 43 to
Josh Cameron and a beautiful 40-yarder to
Monaray Baldwin.
Coming off a career-high 196 yards and four touchdowns rushing in a win over TCU, Washington recorded his fourth 100-yard day of the season and third in his last four games, finishing with 123 yards and three touchdowns on 18 carries. He also had five catches for a career-high 59 yards.
Garrett Greene passed for 237 yards and two touchdowns and added a game-high 129 yards and two TDs on 22 rushing attempts, but was picked off once and sacked four times.
In a wild ending to the first half, the two teams combined for five touchdowns in the last 4 ½ minutes as Baylor had a 35-28 lead going into intermission.
With the two teams locked in a 14-14 deadlock through the first 25 minutes, the Bears regained the lead on Robertson's 40-yard TD pass to
Monaray Baldwin and went up two scores, 28-14, when Washington sprinted 51 yards up the gut after a short punt by the Mountaineers.
When Baylor failed to recover the ensuing onside kick with 2:13 left in the half, it took West Virginia just three plays and 26 seconds to score on a CJ Donaldson 23-yard run that cut it to 28-21.
Far from done, Robertson went 4-for-5 for 44 yards on a drive that was capped by another Washington touchdown from eight yards out, coming with just 47 seconds left on the clock.
Using all three timeouts and every bit of those 47 seconds, the Mountaineers closed the half with an eight-play, 75-yard drive that included a 44-yard pass from Greene to Hudson Clement, Greene sneaking in from the 1 on a play that was reviewed and upheld.
The two teams combined for 673 yards total offense in the first half, with Robertson throwing for 240 yards and three touchdowns and Washington picking up 134 yards and three TDs on 13 touches.
Baylor goes back on the road next week, facing the Houston Cougars (4-6, 3-4) on Saturday, Nov. 23, at TEDECU Stadium in Houston. BU's former Southwest Conference rival, Houston had a two-game winning streak snapped in a 27-3 loss to Arizona Friday night in Tucson.
Kickoff time and television information is expected to be released either late Saturday or early Sunday.
