Big 12 Conference play kicked off for the Kansas Jayhawks and West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday in Morgantown. Both teams entered the game after a disappointing non-conference, where both teams went 1-2. Each team only had an FCS win on their resume. But ultimately, their goals of winning the conference and reaching the College Football Playoff were still attainable in this new era of a 12-team playoff.
And with Big 12 play kicking off, it was West Virginia coming back to beat Kansas 32-28. Here are the three biggest takeaways from the game.
Kansas Couldn’t Get the Stop
With West Virginia trailing 28-17 with just over five minutes left, the Mountaineers scored a touchdown in two minutes on a nine-play, 75-yard drive that included two big third-down conversations, with Kole Taylor making both catches. The first was a 3rd and 10 from the KU 33, and the second one was a 3rd and 7 from the KU eight-yard line, that resulted in Taylor’s touchdown grab.
After forcing a three-and-out, West Virginia had the ball back with just over two minutes to play, and there was enormous third-down conversion. This one was a 3rd and 6 at the KU 42-yard line and Garrett Greene used his legs for a 13-yard run to keep the drive going. Then on a 2nd and 6 from KU’s 25, Greene took a shot to Hudson Clement in the end zone and drew a pass interference on Mello Dotson. Two plays later, Greene found Rodney Gallagher IIIÂ on the right side of the field for the go-ahead touchdown with 26 seconds left in the game.
Neal Brown Needed That
Had Neal Brown fallen to 1-3 on the seat, the “Neal Brown Hot Seat” talk would have really heated up. Fair or not, that’s college football in today’s game. But with this comeback win, the Mountaineers are 1-0 in Big 12 play after a tough 1-2 start to the season.
Granted, the schedule doesn’t get easier from here, with a road trip to Stillwater, followed by a home game against Iowa State. But for one week, the heat deserves to be off Neal Brown as his Mountaineers fought back from a double-digit deficit with five minutes left (one week after blowing a double-digit lead), including a 90-minute weather delay, to come back and win a game in front of the Mountaineer faithful in Morgantown.
Jalon Daniels’ Step Forward
On a positive note for Kansas, Jalon Daniels started to look more like the quarterback Kansas fans have expected.
Now his stat line won’t knock your socks off, as he went 15/25 for 184 yards, one touchdown and one interception (which wasn’t pretty), with only rushing for 11 yards. But given how underwhelming Daniels had looked thus far, there were moments when Daniels looked more comfortable in the pocket, was crisper on some of his down-field throws and was making progress from where he had been the last two to three weeks.
Once again, I am trying to find the silver lining for a KU team that no one projected being 1-3 to start the season, but here we are. Had the defense made one stop on a key third down, we’re talking about a KU win and Daniels getting back into a groove.
But now, the Jayhawks will head back to Lawrence and take on TCU at home. Well, actually, it’s in Kansas City, Missouri, for their first Big 12 game at Arrowhead Stadium.
