AUSTIN, Texas — The tension was palpable, riding through Darrell K. Royal-Memorial Stadium like an electric wave.
A collection of more than 100,000 fans, players and coaches eagerly anticipated what would happen next as West Virginia and Texas traded timeouts before a decisive 2-point conversion attempt with just 16 seconds remaining in the game.
The only guy in the building who wasn’t nervous?
West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson, who was grateful head coach Dana Holgorsen elected to go for 2 after watching his unit’s worst performance of the year.
“There was nobody in this whole stadium that wanted him to go for 2 more than me, I can promise,” Gibson said. “I just wanted it to be over with. Because we weren’t doing our part. If we went to overtime, who knows what would have happened.”
Two Texas receivers posted career highs at West Virginia’s expense. Lil’Jordan Humphrey, the Longhorns 6-foot-5 monster, hauled in nine catches for 143 yards.
“He played big today,” Gibson noted.
Humphrey was aided by Devin Duvernay, who posted a career-high 100 yards on six receptions. Duvernay scored the go-ahead touchdown with 2:34 remaining on a 48-yard throw from Sam Ehlinger.
“The best thing we did today,” Gibson said, “was let them score with 2 minutes left and give Will the ball back.”
Ehlinger made things difficult on the Mountaineers all afternoon. The sophomore showed patience beyond his years, never forcing a poor throw and consistently waiting for the right moment to hurt West Virginia on the ground. He gained 52 yards on 11 carries, and threw a long first down and a long touchdown on plays where he evaded heavy blitzes.
“The most frustrating thing is they didn’t do anything we weren’t ready for and didn’t practice for,” Gibson said. “We took bad angles on the quarterback. It just wasn’t gelling. It wasn’t meshing. We’ve got to get it fixed because we’ve got another big game next week in Morgantown.”
Ehlinger finished with 356 passing yards on 25-of-36 attempts. It was the highest output by an opposing quarterback since Iowa State’s Jacob Park threw for 371 yards in a 30-point Cyclones loss to the Mountaineers in the 2016 finale.
“We had a great week of practice. I don’t know,” Gibson said.
West Virginia was rarely able to get pressure on Ehlinger.
“To be honest, I think they manhandled us up front,” Gibson said. “They exposed our linebackers a little bit and I didn’t think our secondary played good. It was a perfect storm. They all played really bad.”
But thanks to Holgorsen’s decision and Grier’s execution, Gibson and the Mountaineers defense can put the near-nightmare behind them.
“The O went out there and made some big plays, man,” said linebacker David Long. “And we came out with the W.”
