Mountaineers finish off Bears

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When West Virginia needed another late push to pull out a victory, Clint Trickett and Kevin White came up big again.

Trickett threw two of his three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, White had two touchdown catches and West Virginia surprised sloppy No. 4 Baylor 41-27 Saturday.

The Mountaineers (5-2, 3-1 Big 12) surpassed their victory total of last season and beat a top-five opponent for the first time since defeating No. 3 Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl after the 2007 season.

West Virginia had lost to Alabama and Oklahoma earlier this season when the Crimson Tide and Sooners were ranked in the top five.

“We’ve been in this situation before and have been unable to finish,” West Virginia Coach Dana Holgorsen said. “I told them at halftime, we’re not in this thing to finish close again. Let’s go out there and win this thing.”

It marked the second consecutive game that West Virginia came up strong in the end to put away an opponent. A week ago, the Mountaineers came from 14 points down with 7 minutes left to beat Texas Tech on the road on a last-second field goal. Trickett and White combined for a touchdown pass late in that game, too.

Against Baylor, Trickett completed 23 of 35 passes for 322 yards, his eighth consecutive 300-yard game going back to last season.

“Clint did a great job,” White said.

White, the nation’s leading receiver, had 8 catches for 132 yards and 2 scores. He broke the 1,000-yard mark for the season and extended his streak of 100-yard receiving games to six.

Covering White was frustrating for cornerback Xavien Howard, who was called for four of Baylor’s seven pass interference penalties.

“This is by far the craziest game I’ve ever played with all those pass interference calls,” White said.

West Virginia sacked Baylor’s Bryce Petty four times and limited the Bears to one touchdown after halftime. Petty finished 16 of 36 for 223 yards and 2 first-half scores.

Baylor was penalized 18 times for a Big 12-record 215 yards. The previous mark of 183 yards was set by Texas Tech against Rice in 2007.

“I never felt like we were out of control or anything along those lines,” Baylor Coach Art Briles said.

Baylor (6-1, 3-1) goes from being the Big 12 favorite to a team hopeful to stay in contention for the College Football Playoff, tossed into the mix with the other one-loss teams who have no room for error.

This was hardly the point-a-minute, yard-busting matchup of the past two years when the winning team each time reached 70 points.

Baylor entered the game as the nation’s most prolific offense but was held to 318 yards, 305 below its average and the lowest total of the season.

“I think that’s something that nobody thought we could do,” Holgorsen said.