Mountaineers rally to victory
Austin Kendall, a fifth-year senior transfer from Oklahoma, sat on West Virginia's bench for almost all of 2020.
Prior to Thursday's Autozone Liberty Bowl, Kendall attempted just six
passes this season, completing only three of them. His only action came in one game, a win over Eastern Kentucky on Sept. 12.
So, when Mountaineers coach Neal Brown needed a spark, of course, he turned to Kendall. The North Carolina native threw a pair of touchdowns, including the gamewinning 20-yard score to T.J. Sim
mons, to beat Army 24-21 at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.
WVU (6-4) rallied to win a game it trailed 21-10, giving Brown, its second-year coach, his first bowl win since taking over after four seasons as coach at Troy.
The rally sparked by Kendall
stood up thanks to a WVU defense that forced a missed 39-yard field goal attempt by Army (9-3) with 1:50 left and picked off a Black Knights pass that, had it been completed, would have put them in field goal territory with another chance to tie things up.
Here are five takeaways from the 62nd edition of the Liberty Bowl.
The turning point?
Kendall, on in relief of starting quarterback Jarret Doege, led WVU to a touchdown on fourth-and-2 from the 3 to cut its deficit to 21-16.
Then, Brown dialed up a dandy special teams call in the form of a surprise onside kick attempt. The ball was recovered by Mountaineers defensive back
Alonzo Addae.
But Kendall and the WVU offense failed to capitalize at that time, instead coming through late in the fourth quarter to win the game.
Getting defensive
WVU’S defense was tasked with holding an Army offense in check that was fourth in the nation in rushing yards per game (281.3).
All the Mountaineers did, even without its All-america linebacker Tony Fields II, was limit the Black Knights to 182 yards on the ground. Army’s 3.1 yards per rush attempt was more than a yard under its season average of 4.7.
Terrific Tyhier Tyler
Tyler, a sophomore playing in just his seventh college football game, got going in the second quarter against WVU.
The 5-8 Newport News, Virginia, na
tive’s first rushing score of the game – a 1-yard dive – put Army up 7-3. Tyler’s 6yard dash with less than two minutes to play before halftime gave the Black Knights a 14-10 advantage and his third came from 2 yards out and made it a 2110 game.
Tyler’s fourth score on the ground broke the Liberty Bowl record for most rushing scores in a game. Colorado’s Bob Anderson (1969), Tulsa’s Alex Singleton (2012) and Arkansas’ Alex Collins (2015) each scored three.
No stranger to takeaways
Army’s defense has been among the stingiest in the country. The 271.1 yards allowed per game before facing WVU was the second-best rate in the nation.
A significant part of the Black Knights’ equation is their ability to create turnovers. But they were facing a difficult proposition if Jeff Monken’s defense was to have any success taking the
ball away from the Mountaineers, who came into the game with only nine turnovers.
The Army defense was game, though, intercepting Doege in the first quarter and scooping up a fumble in the second.
Missing Cadets
Army went into the game short-handed, as eight players were ruled out before kickoff.
Among them were three starters, including All-america linebacker Jon Rhattigan, running back Tyrell Robinson and left tackle Luke Mccleery.
It was unclear before the game why they did not play. USA TODAY reported Wednesday 24 of the 73 cadets involved in an academic cheating scandal played football for Army this season, including 17 that remain on the roster. A West Point spokesman said Wednesday some of the players accused of cheating on a calculus final exam could play against WVU.