(Photo by WVU Athletics)
Now that was a lot of fun, folks.
West Virginia put together a solid performance against Baylor on Thursday night, accumulating 500 yards of total offense and 34 points (9 points came on defense and special teams). To top it all, it was a well-balanced diet of the run and the pass.
Here are the top performers and team stats from Thursday night:
Passing: 283 yards (J.T. Daniels – 24-37, 283 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT)
Rushing: 217 yards (Tony Mathis Jr. – 22 rushes, 163 yards, 2 TDs)
Kaden Prather led Mountaineer receivers with 8 catches for 109 yards and one touchdown.
These are the stats Mountaineer Nation had grown accustomed to seeing in the Dana Holgorsen days. It’s fast, high-flying, productive, damn fun football.
Following a miserable three seasons for the unit, Neal Brown finally handed over the keys to former USC offensive coordinator Graham Harrell. Coming in with his quarterback J.T. Daniels, Harrell is producing an offense that can win in the Big 12. This is simply something WVU didn’t have with Brown calling the shots and Doege under center.
To put it bluntly, the fun is back in WVU Football. We now don’t have to dread every time the unit comes on the field. With Doege and Brown, you could almost guarantee the series would likely end in a punt or a turnover. Harrell’s unit gives WVU fans that hope that they might actually see their team score. That will sell tickets, period.
If Neal Brown has done anything right in Morgantown, it was bringing on Harrell. It could very likely be the key aspect that saves his job at this rate.
