MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Lots of gold adorned the stands and the uniforms as No. 9 West Virginia dealt Kansas another dose road misery in the Big 12.
Recapping the live updates throughout the game:
Final stats
— Leddie Brown ran for 107 yards on 11 carries, scoring twice as the Mountaineers (5-0, 3-0) remained unbeaten.
— West Virginia outgained Kansas 509-286.
— Will Grier threw for 332 yards and four touchdowns, but it was his sloppy first half that left Milan Puskar Stadium buzzing. He suffered three red-zone interceptions and later lost a fumble.
— David Sills made seven catches for 74 yards. T.J. Simmons enjoyed an active day with six catches on six targets for 53 yards.
— Big 12 rushing leader Pooka Williams finished with 65 yards on 12 carries. The Kansas freshman entered averaging 118 yards per game.
— The Jayhawks (2-4, 0-3) committed three turnovers, one on muffed punt. They have lost 42 consecutive road games in conference.
Fourth quarter
TOUCHDOWN: Daylon Charlot 18-yard pass from Peyton Bender (0:00) WVU leads 38-22
Against a defense consisting mostly of second-teamers, Bender went 5-of-7 on the drive and Kansas answered as time expired. Kwamie Lassiter caught the two-point try. (Drive: 9 plays, 75 yards in 2:20)
TOUCHDOWN: David Sills 17-yard pass from Will Grier (2:20) WVU leads 38-14
West Virginia tacked on a garbage-time touchdown, with Grier making a deep corner throw to Sills after Pettaway’s 13-yard run. (Drive: 2 plays, 30 yards in 0:41)
— KANSAS FAILED FOURTH DOWN: The Jayhawks couldn’t convert a fourth-and-19 pass from their own 30. Had no choice but to try it.
FIELD GOAL: Evan Staley 49-yarder (5:05) WVU leads 31-14
After KU’s muffed punt, West Virginia made it a three-possession game. Grier’s third-and-5 completion to Gary Jennings netted 21, but there was another sack and left tackle Yodny Cajuste was flagged for being downfield. (Drive: 8 plays, 30 yards in 3:35)
— KANSAS TURNOVER: West Virginia went three-and-out, lowlighted by Grier taking two sacks, but KU gave the ball right back (and missed out on prime field position) when Kwamie Lassiter muffed the punt. JoVanni Stewart recovered at WVU’s 38.
— KANSAS PUNT: The Jayhawks moved from their 25 to the WVU 47, converting a third-and-10 when Bender hit Sims for 12 yards. Eventually, a Derrek Pitts sack for minus-15 squashed the threat.
Third quarter
TOUCHDOWN: Martell Pettaway 12-yard pass from Will Grier (0:00) WVU leads 28-14
After three straight WVU drives ended in turnovers, this nearly became the fourth. Marcus Simms dropped a curl route that wound its way through his legs and into the arms of a Kansas DB, but replays showed the ball hit the ground. Grier provided some third-and-5 scrambling for a 9-yard gain and was sandwiched by two tacklers despite sliding at the end of the play. It looked egregious in real-time but both defenders had started their striking motions when Grier started to go feet-first. On the TD throw, Pettaway swung out of the backfield undetected. (Drive: 11 plays, 77 yards in 4:21)
— KANSAS PUNT: Nice quick-change defense after KU started at its 44. JoVanni Stewart’s sack of Bender put the offense behind the sticks.
— WVU TURNOVER: The Mountaineers reached the KU 26 but ball-security issues resurfaced. Kyron Johnson’s strip-sack became Grier’s fourth turnover today. Offensive line shuffling played a factor with right guard Isaiah Hardy getting pulled after a holding penalty. In came backup center Jacob Bucigrossi, who was victimized by a KU stunt on his first snap at guard.
TOUCHDOWN: Khalil Herbert 31-yard run (10:50) WVU leads 21-14
The star of last season’s losing effort in Lawrence, Herbert busted loose on a draw play that victimized WVU’s blitz on second-and-12. (Safety Derrek Pitts was juked out of his jersey.) Kansas already had overcome a third-and-15 thanks to Peyton Bender’s 35-yard hookup with Jeremiah Booker, who got behind Keith Washington. (Drive: 7 plays, 75 yards in 4:10)
Halftime notes
— West Virginia leads 345-78 in total offense but only 21-7 on the scoreboard.
— Grier is 20-of-29 passing for 247 yards and two touchdowns, but those three ugly interceptions have kept Kansas in the game.
Second quarter
— WVU TURNOVER: Grier threw his third, AH-SAY AH-SAY, third interception in the end zone. This time it was Davon Ferguson making the pick on second-and-goal from the 4 mere seconds before halftime.
— KANSAS TURNOVER: Two plays after Grier’s mistake, Hakeem Bailey earned the coal miner’s turnover helmet by picking off Peyton Bender. A 17-yard return set up WVU at its own 41.
— WVU TURNOVER: Grier threw an interception to KU’s Hasan Defense at the goal line and saved a pick-six by tracking down the cornerback 60 yards downfield at the WVU 40. A brutal decision by Grier and something amiss among receivers David Sills and Gary Jennings, both of whom ran routes into the same patch of turf. The second red-zone interception negated a 12-play, 82-yard march that used 5 minutes.
— KANSAS PUNT: Actually, the punt followed a fake punt, in which Ryan Schadler scooted 8 yards around left end on fourth-and-2 at the Jayhawks’ 48. (The visitors are now batting .500 on fourth-down gambles in their own territory.) More trickery surfaced a couple plays later when receiver Steven Sims tried a throwback to QB Stanley Carter. The pass sailed high and incomplete, a blessing for KU considering David Long was lurking and primed for a pick-six.
TOUCHDOWN: Jovani Haskins 14-yard pass from Will Grier (11:52) WVU leads 21-7
The transfer tight end from Miami, limited by a head injury last week, scored his first collegiate touchdown by catching an underneath pass and diving head-first over the pylon. Grier went 5-for-5 on that drive, including a 39-yard hookup with Marcus Simms. (Drive: 7 plays, 75 yards in 3:20)
First quarter
TOUCHDOWN: Mavin Saunders 18-yard pass from Peyton Bender (0:12) WVU leads 14-7
The Curse of the Backup Quarterback haunted WVU for a second straight week. Bender replaced Carter Stanley and threw a gorgeous over-the-shoulder 26-yarder to Kerr Johnson, who beat Keith Washington along the WVU sideline. On the next snap, Saunders took advantage of an apparent coverage bust, slipping off the line uncovered. The series also featured a rare defensive holding against WVU on an inside run. (Drive: 6 plays, 72 yards in 2:11)
— WVU TURNOVER: Grier forced a third-and-8 pass toward Sills, but cornerback Hasan Defense made a physical play for the ball in the end zone. He ran it out to the Kansas 28.
— KANSAS TURNOVER: On the 152nd pass attempt of the year for the Jayhawks, Stanley threw their first interception. It came courtesy of edge rusher David Long deflecting the pass and defensive end Ezekiel Rose being heads-up. West Virginia took over at the KU 28-yard line.
TOUCHDOWN: Leddie Brown 2-yard run (5:21) WVU leads 14-0
The freshman did the heavy lifting by rumbling 47 yards on an inside trap and adding an 18-yarder near the goal line. But the drive would’ve faltered at the outset if not for Grier hitting T.J. Simmons on third-and-10 crossing route for 14 yards. (Drive: 7 plays, 80 yards in 2:1)
— KANSAS PUNT: Three-and-out for the Jayhawks, with David Long twisting in to drop Stanley on a third-down QB draw.
TOUCHDOWN: Leddie Brown 15-yard pass from Will Grier (9:28) WVU leads 7-0
Capitalizing on a short field created by KU’s fourth-down disaster, the Mountaineers got moving on a 26-yard pass that found David Sills uncovered along the sideline. Three defenders chased Gary Jennings instead. A 4-yard loss by McKoy and an illegal motion flag on Isaiah Hardy made for second-and-goal from the 15, but Grier handled it by hitting Brown out of the backfield for a score. (Drive: 4 plays, 35 yards in 2:03)
— KANSAS FAILED FOURTH DOWN: The Jayhawks were feeling frisky on their opening drive, gambling on a fourth-and-inches from their own 45. Carter Stanley faked the inside handoff to Pooka Williams and had running room around the right side, but the ball squirted loose on the fake and the QB jumped on it for a 6-yard loss.
— WVU PUNT: Grier was hit three times on a three-and-out that included two low snaps. Messy first series.
Pregame notes
— As MetroNews first reported, strong safety Toyous Avery (doubtful) is not with the DBs during warmups. Expect Derrek Pitts to slide over from cornerback.
— Two weeks ago, offensive lineman Isaiah Hardy was ticketed for a redshirt. Today he’s listed as the starter at right guard. (Joe Wickline — MAD SCIENTIST!!!!) Chase Behrndt, a starter the past three games, has been demoted — apparently for his second-half struggles at Texas Tech, and not for that run of five successive consonants in his surname. Word is, Behrndt isn’t 100 percent.
Hardy becomes the third starter at that spot through five games. Game 1 starter Joe Brown missed last week with an injury.
— Welcome home, Kansas fullback Caperton Humphrey. The native of Ona, W.Va., and Cabell Midland grad started at Eastern Kentucky before relocating. (The ol’ EKU to KU transfer).
— Kansas hasn’t won a Big 12 road game since Oct. 4, 2008, an unbelievable losing streak that sits at 41.
— Check out our MetroNews staff picks, which are 19-3 ATS on West Virginia games this season. Mine was Mountaineers 49-17. WVU favored by 29 with an O/U of 62.5.
— Mostly sunny with temps expected to reach the mid-80s today at Milan Puskar Stadium.