Baylor was second in the Big 12 in rushing prior to Saturday’s game against WVU, averaging just over 240 yards per game, so the Mountaineers were expecting a heavy dose of the Bears’ ground game.
Baylor, though, figured WVU was going to sell out to stop the run, and had a stellar game plan to counteract that.
Time and time again in the first half, the Bears ran play-action, faking the run game and throwing the ball deep or on quick, immediate slant routes.
“We knew they were going to try and take shots on us, especially early to get a big lead,” senior defensive tackle Sante Stills said. “Coming into the game, it was all run — run, run run, run run — they’re a big heavy run team.
“We just struggled in the passing game, getting to the quarterback and defending (in the secondary).”
Baylor finished with 525 yards of total offense — 354 in the air and 171 on the ground.
Scottie Young, Wyatt Milum don’t play
Senior safety Scottie Young did not make the trip to Baylor after starting the first four games at Spear for the Mountaineers.
“He was not healthy, I’ll leave it at that,” Brown said.
Jackie Matthews got the start in his place and practiced at Spear all week because Young was out.
Brown went on to say WVU’s issues in pass coverage — allowing 354 yards on just 31 attempts — were not because Young missed the game.
“Jackie Matthews has been splitting time there at the Spear anyway, and Jackie got all the reps this week at practice,” Brown said. “I don’t mean that as a discredit to Scottie, but our inability to cover didn’t have anything to do with him not playing.”
Safety Kerry Martin also didn’t make the trip, though Brown did not say why. Martin didn’t make the trip to Oklahoma on Sept. 25, either, but did dress last week at home against Texas Tech.
True freshman offensive tackle Wyatt Milum was injured in the first half last week and didn’t play the rest of the game. Brown said Milum was at about 75-80%, but the reward wasn’t worth the risk of playing him against the Bears.
“He didn’t play because he wasn’t at 100%,” Brown said. “I don’t think it’s fair to a true freshman who’s going to have a great career here to put him out there in that situation where he wasn’t full speed. At that point, you lose a player’s confidence and I wasn’t going to do that with him.
“He would have helped us but that’s not fair to him. This is a long-term deal and he’s going to start on this o-line for a long time.”
Timeout on first offensive play
After using two timeouts on offense last week against Texas Tech, the Mountaineers did it again Saturday, but this time, it was on the first offensive play of the game.
Brown, though, didn’t sound happy with the officiating, though he would not elaborate further.
“To be honest, I think it’s poor officiating,” Brown said. “I’m not going to get into it. We’ve had issues, but it’s better for me not to talk about it, I’ll say that, but I’m not real pleased with that aspect, either.”
