(Neal Brown postgame Zoom conference)
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s best victories in Neal Brown’s tenure with the Mountaineers have come at the expense of Kansas State. WVU defeated the Wildcats for the fifth consecutive season, 37-10 Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium.
The No. 16 Wildcats came to Morgantown tied atop the Big 12 standings with Oklahoma State as the only unbeaten teams in league play. Both of Brown’s victories over ranked opponents at WVU (4-2, 3-2 Big 12) have come against K-State (4-2, 4-1 Big 12).
“Without a doubt, that is the most complete game we have played in our two years here,” Brown said. “I am proud of everyone in our organization. Now we have to continue to keep improving.”
Both teams missed opportunities to find the end zone in the first quarter. West Virginia intercepted a pair of passes but managed just three points on a 19-yard Evan Staley field goal. Nicktroy Fortune and Sean Mahone each picked off passes in the opening frame. Kansas State opened the scoring on a 21-yard Blake Lynch field goal. The game was tied 3-3 at the end of one.
The Mountaineers scored a trio of touchdowns in the second quarter on quick strike drives. A 6-play, 66-yard drive in 2:17 was capped by a Jarret Doege TD toss to Ali Jennings.
After forcing a K-State punt, the Mountaineers needed just 1:58 to go 51 yards on 6 plays. Leddie Brown took it the final 9 yards to give West Virginia a 17-3 lead.
On West Virginia’s next possession, the Mountaineers used a 36-yard tote from Alec Sinkfield to set up a 15-yard touchdown pass from Doege to Winston Wright.
The Wildcats immediately responded with a 9-play, 73-yard drive. Will Howard found Malik Knowles 35 yards behind the defense. WVU took a 24-10 lead into the locker room. The Mountaineers outgained K-State 280-152 in the first half.
West Virginia took nearly six minutes off the clock on their opening possession of the third quarter. A 14-play drive stalled in the red zone but Casey Legg’s 25-yard field goal gave WVU a 27-10 lead. Legg replaced Staley after Staley was injured on kickoff coverage in the first quarter. Legg would later connect on a 45-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.
The Mountaineers essentially put the game out of reach on K-State’s next possession. Bridgeport High School grad Dylan Tonkery returned a tipped pass 18 yards for a touchdown, putting the Mountaineers up 34-10. It was Howard’s third interception of the day. Howard completed just 19-of-37 passes for 187 yards.
? Pick 6 Alert!!! ?#HailWV pic.twitter.com/Zl5ozvpbeK
— WVU Football (@WVUfootball) October 31, 2020
This game represented West Virginia’s largest margin of victory in a Big 12 game since a 47-10 win over TCU in November of 2018.
The Mountaineers contained KSU’s leading rusher and receiver Deuce Vaughn. He was limited to 20 yards on 11 touches. After being ejected in the first half at Texas Tech on a targeting call, Tony Fields II racked up a game-best 15 tackles. Entering today, the Wildcats had turned the ball over just twice. WVU collected three interceptions today.
“Between Sean Mahone, Dylan and Nicktroy, anybody who gets a turnover you get excited,” said Fields. “Our defense, we really feed off each other. Once our brother makes a play, it is like we made a play.”
The Wildcats were held to 41 rushing yards on 23 attempts.
“I just thought we were physical,” Brown said. “I know that sounds simple. But at lot of times on defense, if you are physical and can fly around, you have a chance. We played with a lot of energy and a lot of physicality today.”
“We played hard and we were running to the ball,” said Mahone. “Everybody flew around. Everybody was having fun. I can’t really describe it, it was just fun.”
Eight different Mountaineers caught at least one pass. Bryce Ford-Wheaton reeled in three passes for 104 yards. It was Ford-Wheaton’s first 100-yard receiving game. Doege completed 22-of-34 passes for 301 yards and a pair of touchdown tosses. Doege has thrown a touchdown pass in 26 consecutive games, the longest streak in FBS.
“Doege is getting better,” Brown said. “He has strung together three 300-yard games. His decision making is really good. His demeanor, he has a calmness about him.
“We knew we were going to have to get some explosive plays. But it is tricky. You have to be careful throwing the ball down the field because it puts you in some bad down and distances sometimes and there were some matchups we didn’t love during the game. Without a doubt, those explosive plays were huge today.”
Leddie Brown collected his fourth 100-yard game of the season. He rushed 24 times for 102 yards and also caught 4 passes for 28 yards. Alec Sinkfield racked up 85 yards on 14 totes.
“This is a group where it is hard to move the ball in long drives. They are big in the tackles and they have speed rushers on the edge,” Brown said.
“We knew we had to have more explosive plays,” Ford-Wheaton said. “And we really stepped up today.”
The Mountaineers did not drop a single pass and had just five penalties for 50 yards.
West Virginia returns to the road to face Texas next Saturday in Austin. The game will kick at noon eastern and will be televised by ABC.