WACO, Texas — Skyler Howard tossed four touchdowns, but given the volume of points needed for West Virginia to stand a chance Saturday, those were only a minor consolation.
After a 62-38 defeat against No. 2 dropped the Mountaineers to .500 overall, and still winless in the conference, Howard pointed to a second-quarter stretch in which the offense had legitimate chances at three touchdowns only to come away with three points.
Those empty drives, which left Baylor leading 27-17 at half, represented a missed chance to tighten up the pressure and check the Bears’ response to a close game.
It wasn’t a close game once Baylor reeled off four consecutive touchdown drives in the second half.
“We have belief in our defense, but with a team like (Baylor) we felt like it could be a shootout,” Howard said. “Against a team like Baylor … if you’re not scoring every time, then it can turn out that way.”
Howard closed the day 18-of-37 for 289 yards. Though he threw a 70-yard touchdown to Shelton Gibson, he later underthrew the wide-open receiver on what could have been a 40-yard score. Gibson later dropped a deep pass that could have gone the distance.
West Virginia averaged 5.7 yards per play overall, saw Wendell Smallwood deliver another productive effort and watched true freshman David Sills make a promising debut at receiver.
Coach Dana Holgorsen said the offense “took a step in the right direction,” though it wasn’t nearly enough to match the nation’s highest-scoring unit.
“There’s a lot of great things offensively that we did,” Howard said, “but the bad things we’re going to learn from and get ready for TCU.”