MORGANTOWN — Up until Thursday night, Baylor’s run defense had been as menacing as the old Steel Curtain of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ glory days.
No player had even approached 100 yards rushing on the Bears this season. Heck, few teams had gained 100.
And West Virginia was without its freshman sensation, as running back C.J. Donaldson was still recovering from his scary concussion suffered against Texas.
No way was WVU going to move the ball on the ground. Someone forgot to tell that to Tony Mathis Jr.
“I just went with the same routine I do every week,” Mathis said after rushing for a career-high 163 yards and two touchdowns in the Mountaineers’ 43-40 victory against Baylor at Milan Puskar Stadium. “I bought into what the coaches were telling me. Our whole offense went with it.”
The whole offense went with Mathis, basically, and it started from the get-go, as his 12-yard run off the left side on his first carry of the game became a preview of what was to come.
Of course, we didn’t know that at the time, but Mathis said he found a new sense of consistency through coaching in the week leading up to the game.
“The coaches helped me during the bye week,” Mathis said. “They were telling me to be decisive, because I’m a better runner when I’m decisive and my shoulders are square. I was working on that all week. That’s what happened.”
He scored the first TD of the game, a 7-yard run that looked like it was designed to go up the middle, but he sort of got bumped to the right.
Mathis kept his feet, cut back to the left and found enough space to power his way through.
That first drive saw Mathis carry the ball four times for 27 yards.
“That definitely helped me a lot,” he said when asked about getting into a rhythm.
It was a dancer’s rhythm the Mountaineers (3-3, 1-2 Big 12) had throughout the game, and what was once a major concern going into the contest had become the reason why the game was so fun to watch.
The reason for the concern: WVU was coming off its worst rushing performance of the season with just 61 yards against Texas.
“We were able to keep them off-balanced this week,” WVU head coach Neal Brown said. “The score never got away from us. Last week, it got away from us a little bit, so we probably gave up on the run a little too soon.
“We single-blocked more this game and didn’t double-team as much. Our running backs were more decisive and they broke a lot more tackles than they did in Austin.”
WVU finished with 217 yards on the ground and averaged 5.9 yards per carry. Baylor (3-3, 1-2) hadn’t allowed more than 166 in a game this season.
“We ran the ball for 217,” Brown said. “We controlled the line of scrimmage and they’ve got a top-round pick that plays on the defensive line, and their front six is really good.”
The Mountaineers are expecting Donaldson to return and be rested and healthy when they travel to Texas Tech on Oct. 22.
“He’s our big pound guy,” Mathis said of Donaldson. “I’m definitely glad he’s coming back.”
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