Mountaineers are 4-0

WVU overcomes 13-point deficit

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Skyler Howard threw a touchdown pass and West Virginia came from 13 points down in the second half to beat Kansas State, 17-16, Saturday in the Big 12 Conference opener for both teams.

Despite not finding the end zone until the fourth quarter, West Virginia improved to 4-0 for the first time since 2012. The Mountaineers broke a four-game losing streak to the Wildcats.

“I just couldn’t be more proud of our team for having the courage to go out there and do that in the second half,” said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen.

Kansas State (2-2) had a chance to win it. But Matthew McCrane, who earlier made three field goals, missed a 43-yarder wide left with 2:03 left. West Virginia got the ball at its 26 and ran out the clock.

Kansas State was limited to 108 yards of offense in the second half.

“Our execution was not as good as it needs to be,” Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said. “We just probably didn’t move the ball like we should. We struggled offensively in the second half when we had to have some movement. Couldn’t get first downs.”

West Virginia finally found the end zone on Justin Crawford’s 1-yard run with 13:41 left in the game.

A 31-yard punt later gave West Virginia the ball back at its 43, and Howard converted a third-down pass to Ka’Raun White at the Kansas State 9 before finding Jovon Durante in the right corner of the end zone from 7 yards with 6:11 left for the final margin.

West Virginia squeaked by for the second game in a row. A week ago the Mountaineers were ahead of BYU by 16 points in the fourth quarter and needed Maurice Fleming’s interception to seal a 35-32 win.