By Steve Habel, Senior Editor
AUSTIN, Texas – No one has come after Texas the way West Virginia’s defense did Saturday afternoon at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium, and that max-blitz, come-from-anywhere strategy — especially in the end game — was the difference in 16th-ranked Mountaineers’ 24-20 victory over the Longhorns.
West Virginia’s defense, actually a mirror image of what the Longhorns have been doing over the past five games, rattled the Longhorns down the stretch and produced three huge stands in the final 10 minutes.
The Mountaineers (8-1 overall, 5-1 in games against Big 12 opponents) survived a season-high four turnovers — three of them interceptions by Texas-bred [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]quarterback Skyler Howard, who also passed for 269 yards and a touchdown. West Virginia forced a fumble by Texas quarterback Shane Buechele on a sack early in the fourth quarter, had another drive-killing sack on the ensuing drive and a fourth-down stop at its own 39-yard line on the Longhorns’ penultimate possession.
Texas moved to the West Virginia 27-yard line on a last-gasp drive but Buechele’s pass in the end zone was incomplete as time expired.
“This game was there for us to go get, we just didn’t get it,” Texas coach Charlie Strong said. “We had an opportunity to win this game and we just gotta capitalize when we have those opportunities.”
WVU running back Kennedy McKoy picked up 73 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries for West Virginia, but the Mountaineers’ offensive attack was tepid at best.
“Offensively, we played well in the first quarter and then we were awful, and that’s 100 percent on me,” Holgorsen said. “Texas had three turnovers and we got zero points (off of them) and that’s not offensive football. lf we keep playing offense like this, we won’t win the Big 12, and that’s our goal.”
Texas running back D’Onta Foreman, who leads the nation in rushing yardage per game, led the Longhorns with 167 yards on 35 carries. Buechele passed for 318 yards, one touchdown and one interception as Texas (5-5 overall, 4-4 in games against Big 12 teams) outgained West Virginia, 536-383.
The teams traded field goals on their respective opening drives, with the Longhorns’ Trent Domingue converting from 27 yards at the 12:01 mark of the first quarter and the Mountaineers’ Mike Molina nailing a 44-yard kick almost five minutes later.
West Virginia took the lead with a nifty 66-yard march that culminated in an eight-yard touchdown run by McKoy and a 10-3 lead with 2:27 to play in the first quarter. The Mountaineers added to their advantage on their next possession when wide receiver Ka’Raun White turned in a highlight-reel play, hauling in a 29-yard touchdown pass from Howard as he lay in the corner of the end zone after being shoved to the turf by UT defensive back Kris Boyd while the ball was in the air.
Texas landed a punch of its own on its ensuing possession, using a 32-yard run by Foreman and a 10-yard bootleg touchdown by Buechele to get back to within 17-10 halfway through the second quarter.
The Longhorns drove to the West Virginia 2-yard line in a 21-play, 84-yard march that took almost seven minutes of the second quarter but had to settle for a 19-yard Domingue field goal that cut the deficit to 17-13 at halftime.
Texas outgained West Virginia, 252-221, in the first half, out rushed the Mountaineers 139-66 and ran 50 plays to West Virginia’s 38. The Mountaineers owned a 155-113 advantage in passing yards and a 17:01-12:59 edge in time of possession.
West Virginia blocked a 37-yard field goal by Domingue early in the third quarter and marched 79 yards in 14 plays for a 3-yard touchdown run by McKoy to push its lead back to 11 points, at 24-13, at the 5:03 mark.
UT safety Dylan Haines picked off Howard on back-to-back third-quarter series. The first interception resulted in a 20-yard Buechele-to-Collin Johnson touchdown pass at the end of an 80-yard, nine-play drive to cut the lead to 24-20 with 1:28 to play in the third quarter.
“It’s all about executing,” Bucehele said. “We continue to fight. It was a physical game and obviously we would have liked to score more but West Virginia has a really strong defense. Our team understands we really have to play well these last two games.”
The Longhorns were forced to play all but the first two series of the game without star playmaking linebacker Malik Jefferson, who sustained a head injury early on.
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