MAKING HISTORY
11/17/2024 8:44:00 PM | Football
Bears bowl eligible with first-ever win at West Virginia, 49-35
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – During an impassioned pregame locker room speech, Baylor redshirt junior receiver Josh Cameron encouraged the Bears to "go make history tonight."
"I told them, 'Hey, they kind of wrote us off. They've been saying that we're not that good. Let's just go out there and do our thing, and let's just go make history tonight.' And that's what happened."
Yes, it did.
With Sawyer Robertson throwing for a career-high 329 yards and redshirt freshman running back Bryson Washington totaling four touchdowns for the second-consecutive game, Baylor (6-4, 4-3) did indeed make history with its first-ever win at Milan-Puskar Stadium, beating West Virginia (5-5, 4-3), 49-35, Saturday to become bowl eligible for the 12th time in the last 15 years.
"Just to be where we are . . . sitting at 2-4 going into the bye week. And here we are, it's kind of crazy," said Robertson, who completed 26 of 36 passes and tossed three touchdown passes. "It's a testament to the guys in the locker room. It's a testament to the coaches putting us as players in position to succeed. I couldn't be prouder of the guys. It's a really good feeling."
Winless in six previous trips to Morgantown, Baylor exploded for 35 first-half points and then was able to put the game away with fourth-quarter touchdown runs of nine yards by Washington and 15 yards by Dawson Pendergrass, the second one coming off a Corey Gordon interception for the game's only turnover.
Linebacker Keaton Thomas, who had a game-high 12 tackles, said there was always belief in the locker room . . . even when the Bears opened conference with three-straight losses.
"No, never," said Thomas, who began his collegiate career as a walk-on safety at West Virginia in 2021. "Even in those games, we didn't have that disbelief. After we had that bye week and then obviously the second one now, we've been really working specifically on end-of-game type situations. So, we knew we were going to win this game. We just had to make sure we executed and stayed level-headed."
Coming off a career-high 196 yards and four touchdowns rushing in a 37-34 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 and his first-career touchdown catch.
"Oh man, he's just doing his thing," Cameron said of Washington, who has a team-high 699 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns for the season. "Really, he kind of set the tone in the beginning of the game with the high-point catch (for a touchdown). When the running backs are going, it just opens up the offense for us and the receivers. I'm just super happy and really proud of him with his journey, just how far he's come, honestly."
Washington's 22-yard TD catch in traffic capped a seven-play, 75-yard drive on Baylor's first offensive possession and answered a Garrett Greene three-yard run on West Virginia's only third down of a 12-play drive.
The Bears took their first lead of the game on a 43-yard TD strike from Robertson to Cameron, who recorded his second 100-yard day of his career with five catches for 101 yards and his team-high eighth touchdown.
"(Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital) just makes it so easy for me, as far as my checks, my options that I can get to," Robertson said. "Give it to B-Wash on this play. If they give me this look, I can spit it out to Josh or Hal (Presley) or Ashtyn (Hawkins). We got (Michael) Trigg going a little bit, too, with those little dump-offs. That's all Spav right there, just being who he is and the great offensive mind he is."
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.
"There's a whole lot to get better at on defense," Baylor coach Dave Aranda said. "We're going to have to look at an inch here, an inch there. You'd like to get better by miles in all of it. I don't know if that's initially going to be the case. We're going to have to get better by an inch here, an inch there, and we're going to have to fight like hell to get better at that inch."
The defense did get better in the second half, holding the Mountaineers to 4.4 yards per play and scoreless until the last minute, when Greene hit tight end Kole Taylor for an 11-yard TD pass on third-and-goal with just 55 seconds left in the game.
"I think we just got too comfortable (in the second quarter), especially myself. I had a bad missed tackle," Thomas said. "And that's part of the game, but I knew I was going to fix it. I just told the guys, 'That's on me,' and it wasn't going to happen again."
Baylor did have a streak of 250-yard rushing games stopped at three, but the Bears still had 512 yards total offense and rushed for 183 yards on 34 carries (5.4-yard average). Pendergrass added 68 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries, while Hawkins had a game-high seven catches for 52 yards.
Greene provided the bulk of West Virginia's offense, completing 19 of 39 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns and adding a game-high 129 yards and two TDs on 22 attempts.
Baylor goes back on the road, facing the Houston Cougars (4-6, 3-4) at 6 p.m. Saturday at TDECU 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.
Baylor Bear Insider
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – During an impassioned pregame locker room speech, Baylor redshirt junior receiver Josh Cameron encouraged the Bears to "go make history tonight."
"I told them, 'Hey, they kind of wrote us off. They've been saying that we're not that good. Let's just go out there and do our thing, and let's just go make history tonight.' And that's what happened."
Yes, it did.
With Sawyer Robertson throwing for a career-high 329 yards and redshirt freshman running back Bryson Washington totaling four touchdowns for the second-consecutive game, Baylor (6-4, 4-3) did indeed make history with its first-ever win at Milan-Puskar Stadium, beating West Virginia (5-5, 4-3), 49-35, Saturday to become bowl eligible for the 12th time in the last 15 years.
"Just to be where we are . . . sitting at 2-4 going into the bye week. And here we are, it's kind of crazy," said Robertson, who completed 26 of 36 passes and tossed three touchdown passes. "It's a testament to the guys in the locker room. It's a testament to the coaches putting us as players in position to succeed. I couldn't be prouder of the guys. It's a really good feeling."
Winless in six previous trips to Morgantown, Baylor exploded for 35 first-half points and then was able to put the game away with fourth-quarter touchdown runs of nine yards by Washington and 15 yards by Dawson Pendergrass, the second one coming off a Corey Gordon interception for the game's only turnover.
Linebacker Keaton Thomas, who had a game-high 12 tackles, said there was always belief in the locker room . . . even when the Bears opened conference with three-straight losses.
"No, never," said Thomas, who began his collegiate career as a walk-on safety at West Virginia in 2021. "Even in those games, we didn't have that disbelief. After we had that bye week and then obviously the second one now, we've been really working specifically on end-of-game type situations. So, we knew we were going to win this game. We just had to make sure we executed and stayed level-headed."
Coming off a career-high 196 yards and four touchdowns rushing in a 37-34 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 and his first-career touchdown catch.
"Oh man, he's just doing his thing," Cameron said of Washington, who has a team-high 699 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns for the season. "Really, he kind of set the tone in the beginning of the game with the high-point catch (for a touchdown). When the running backs are going, it just opens up the offense for us and the receivers. I'm just super happy and really proud of him with his journey, just how far he's come, honestly."
Washington's 22-yard TD catch in traffic capped a seven-play, 75-yard drive on Baylor's first offensive possession and answered a Garrett Greene three-yard run on West Virginia's only third down of a 12-play drive.
The Bears took their first lead of the game on a 43-yard TD strike from Robertson to Cameron, who recorded his second 100-yard day of his career with five catches for 101 yards and his team-high eighth touchdown.
"(Offensive coordinator Jake Spavital) just makes it so easy for me, as far as my checks, my options that I can get to," Robertson said. "Give it to B-Wash on this play. If they give me this look, I can spit it out to Josh or Hal (Presley) or Ashtyn (Hawkins). We got (Michael) Trigg going a little bit, too, with those little dump-offs. That's all Spav right there, just being who he is and the great offensive mind he is."
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.
"There's a whole lot to get better at on defense," Baylor coach Dave Aranda said. "We're going to have to look at an inch here, an inch there. You'd like to get better by miles in all of it. I don't know if that's initially going to be the case. We're going to have to get better by an inch here, an inch there, and we're going to have to fight like hell to get better at that inch."
The defense did get better in the second half, holding the Mountaineers to 4.4 yards per play and scoreless until the last minute, when Greene hit tight end Kole Taylor for an 11-yard TD pass on third-and-goal with just 55 seconds left in the game.
"I think we just got too comfortable (in the second quarter), especially myself. I had a bad missed tackle," Thomas said. "And that's part of the game, but I knew I was going to fix it. I just told the guys, 'That's on me,' and it wasn't going to happen again."
Baylor did have a streak of 250-yard rushing games stopped at three, but the Bears still had 512 yards total offense and rushed for 183 yards on 34 carries (5.4-yard average). Pendergrass added 68 yards and one touchdown on 11 carries, while Hawkins had a game-high seven catches for 52 yards.
Greene provided the bulk of West Virginia's offense, completing 19 of 39 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns and adding a game-high 129 yards and two TDs on 22 attempts.
Baylor goes back on the road, facing the Houston Cougars (4-6, 3-4) at 6 p.m. Saturday at TDECU 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.
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