One week after West Virginia utilized late-game heroics to pull off a memorable win in the 108th edition of the Backyard Brawl, the Mountaineers were never in position to pull off a second straight rally Saturday at Kansas.
With the offense sputtering again, the defense unable to carry the load and special teams suffering through the worst showing this season, West Virginia was overmatched throughout and fell to the Jayhawks 41-10 at David Booth/Kansas Memorial Stadium.
The Mountaineers (2-2, 0-1) were never close to leading and punted on each of their first six possessions, a stretch that included a three-and-out to start the game and one first down over the first five series. WVU gained 36 on 17 first-quarter plays.
“If you are going to have to throw it, you are going to have to be really on the mark, precise with your passing game, your protection and your routes and your decisions. We weren’t precise in any of those categories there,” said WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez.
Meanwhile, Kansas (3-1, 1-0) began its first possession at midfield following Tate Nagy’s 30-yard punt return, and on fourth-and-1 from the WVU 41, Jalon Daniels found an uncovered Levi Wentz, who ran 34 yards after the catch to reach the end zone for the game’s first points 3:03 into the matchup.
West Virginia’s defense did its part to keep the Mountaineers within striking distance for much of the first half, forcing punts on three straight series after the Jayhawks’ opening touchdown.
KU increased its advantage to 10-0 on Laith Marjan’s 42-yard field goal to finish off the first second-quarter series.
Although the Mountaineers got a 23-yard pass from Nicco Marchiol to Cyncir Bowers on their ensuing possession, that proved to be the only first down for the visitors on their sixth series.
WVU forced Kansas to punt off its goal line not long after, and the Mountaineers moved 49 yards on their seventh possession to produce their first points on Cade Hensley’s 26-yard field goal.
The 10-3 deficit was short-lived, however, as KU got a 43-yard kickoff return from Emmanuel Henderson to start 6 yards shy of midfield, and Daniels found Leshon Williams behind Jimmori Robinson for a relatively easy connection on a 39-yard touchdown pass that left the Jayhawks with a 14-point advantage 2:11 before halftime.
Marchiol’s pass fell incomplete on fourth-and-2 from the KU 37 on WVU’s final series of the first half, and Kansas capitalized on the extra possession by getting a 28-yard run from Daniels to set up Marjan’s 44-yard field goal on the final play of the second quarter for a 20-3 halftime lead.
WVU was 2-for-11 on drive-ending downs through two quarters. The Mountaineers also endured what appeared to be another significant injury as center Landen Livingston was hurt on the play leading into the 2-minute warning and left the field in a cart.
Any thought of a second-half rally all but vanished on the first play of the third quarter, as Henderson returned the opening second-half kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown and a 27-3 advantage.
“Open up the second half and you have to get some momentum and you give up a kick return,” Rodriguez said. “I mean, there is no excuse for that.”
Daniels’ 7-yard touchdown pass to Boden Groen upped the Jayhawks’ lead to 34-3 at the 6:43 mark of the third.
“They made some plays and we made some mistakes that didn’t really help ourselves out any,” said WVU linebacker Reid Carrico. “It is a good thing that it happened. We obviously realize that we have some problems out there. They got exploited today. We have to get better.”
“We missed more tackles I think than we had in any of the other games, especially in the second half. That was disappointing,” Rodriguez said.
In his first season at Kansas, former WVU linebacker Trey Lathan intercepted Marchiol in the third quarter, but the Mountaineers stopped Williams short on a fourth-and-1 run from the WVU 5.
After regaining possession, Jaylen Henderson took over for Marchiol at quarterback and led the Mountaineers on a 95-yard scoring drive that he capped with a 13-yard touchdown run 23 seconds into the fourth quarter. Henderson, a Texas A&M transfer, rushed six times for 77 yards on the series and helped end a stretch of 21 consecutive WVU drives without a touchdown away from home dating back to the third series in a Week 2 loss at Ohio.
KU countered quickly with the final touchdown — a highlight-reel worthy 62-yard run from Williams with 12:52 remaining.
WVU redshirt freshman Khalil Wilkins was at quarterback for each of the final two series.
“It gives you a little bit different of a dimension, I guess. I thought Jaylen ran hard. Khalil is a fast guy so we wanted to get him some reps as well. We will figure out what we are going to do going forward,” Rodriguez said.
Marchiol finished 15-for-27 with 126 yards. Henderson was the team’s leading rusher with 79 yards and Wilkins added 36.
One week after tailback Tye Edwards rushed for 141 yards and three touchdowns, he was held out due to injury.
“He got on the trip and I thought he was going to go. But he couldn’t go. That is unfortunate,” Rodriguez said.
No WVU player had more than three receptions and no receiver had more than two.
Daniels was 12-for-24 with 138 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 69 yards on five carries. He remained in the game throughout despite taking a hit from Fred Perry at the end of a slide early in the second quarter. Perry was ejected for targeting on the play.
Williams rushed for 129 yards on 19 carries and KU finished with 242 yards on the ground.
The Mountaineers have two touchdowns and four scoring drives on 27 possessions away from home this season.
“Even going through the ups and downs, you still have to have the mentality to compete. Regardless of that, I think we did a good job trying to compete and stay in it as best as we could. We just didn’t succeed in the moments we needed to,” said WVU wide receiver Rodney Gallagher III.
“Kansas is a good football team. They’ve got a chance to make some noise this year. So I am not going to take any credit away from them. I think if we capitialized on the opportunities that were given, the outcome would have been different.”
“They are a good football team and we are a good football team,” Carrico said. “We’ve just got to get through some of these growing pains and learn how to win these games.”
“I know this is a process,” Rodriguez said. “We are going to be getting better and better as we go along, if we can stay healthy. That is going to be a big part of it. Like I told the team, ‘I don’t know if we gave as much effort during the week as we did the week before’. We’ve got to make sure that happens because we are playing a better team this weekend in Utah at our place.”