Tale of the Band
Points per game	37.0	30.0
Points against	17.4	18.0
Precipitation Yards Per Game	238.2	112.0
Rush lessons allowed per game	165.2	88.4
Pass yards per game	209.8	264.6
Pass yards allowed per game	150.8	227.4
Total yards per game	448.0	376.6
Total yards allowed per game	316.0	315.8
First stockings for	109	105
First tests against	95	88
Fumbles / Lost	8/4	12/5
Interceptions / Return Yards	7/49	2/1
Boat net	41.6	39.4
Field goal / Attempts	5/6	8/8
Time of possession	29:18	30:34
3rd Down Conversions	23/60	29/67
3rd down-conversion defense	24/71	29/76
4th down conversions	9/12	8/11
4th downconversion defense	6/10	3/8
Bags per / lost meters	6/35	17/95

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia are looking to return to the winning column early Saturday afternoon when they face Baylor’s resurgence, following a 24-14 to now-12 loss^e-classed Oklahoma State last Saturday.

The Bears (4-1) rolled off an impressive 31-29 victory over Iowa State two weeks ago and are also posting early-season wins over Texas State, Texas Southern and Kansas.

West Virginia, meanwhile, just suffered a disappointing 23-20 home loss to Texas Tech last Saturday following two emotional games against regional rivals Virginia Tech and Oklahoma.

The Mountaineers (2-3) held off the Hokies in dramatic fashion with a late position on the goal line, then a week later their thwarted hopes evaporate in Norman, Oklahoma, when Gabe Brkic scored a 30-goal basket. yards in the final. game of the match for a 16-13 victory for the Sooners.

In fact, West Virginia’s last two losses were the result of late field goals and if you count the season opener’s six-point loss to Maryland, only 12 points separate the Mountaineers from being undefeated.

What is clear is that West Virginia is always on the lookout for winning games at critical points in games. In Maryland, WVU had the football on Terrapin’s 13-yard line with less than nine minutes to go and was about to score the green light, but Jakorian Bennett made a red-zone interception and the Terps connected on an explosive play to turn the game around.

In Oklahoma, the Mountaineers were getting in position for a go-ahead score when a bad shot resulted in a loss of 21 yards, and the Sooners capitalized by running the length of the field in a time-consuming practice that culminated in a game. touchdown winning.

WVU also missed a touchdown opportunity midway through the third quarter when he couldn’t connect on a third pass and a goal from the OU’s 4-yard line.

Then last week, after a sluggish start that saw West Virginia dig a 17-0 hole in the first half, the Mountaineers woke up in the second half to tie the game at 20. WVU had the opportunity to score the green light touchdown with less than six minutes remaining, but again he couldn’t connect on a third pass in the red zone.

Following Casey Legg’s 28-yard field goalie, Texas Tech got a big 42-yard passing play to get himself in position to shoot the field goal with a header with just 18 seconds left.

That’s how close West Virginia is to being a 5-0 football team right now. On the other hand, it is a goal line against Virginia Tech nowhere near 1-4.

What faces the Mountaineers this week at Baylor, or two weeks from now at TCU, or Oct. 30 at home against Iowa State or the rest of their schedule for that matter, is a 50-50 game series. Either way, West Virginia is going to have to figure out how to start the games quickly, and then end them with authority.

“We are a 2-3 football team because we lack consistency, I think that’s pretty clear”, the coach Neal brown said in his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “Sometimes this season we’ve played really good football in all three phases. You can come back to different times when we’ve played well, but we haven’t put together a whole game.

“It’s frustrating. Our fans are frustrated, and I understand,” Brown continued. “No one is more frustrated than me. Our first half against Texas Tech was inexcusable. I can’t reason that.”

Later in his press conference, Brown revisited his team’s lethargic start against the Red Raiders.

“I’m still also (pissed off) with the way we played at the start of the game,” he said. “In other sports I kind of understand because you have all these games, but in soccer you have 12. How the hell don’t you prepare yourself to play one game a week? but that was not a problem.

“We started quickly in every game, but (Texas Tech) offensively. Defensively we did a good job against Virginia Tech, but other than that we struggled on the first disc so we’re going to change that. , he continued. “You have to recognize it’s a problem, more defensively than offensively, but it was a terrible start to our offense (against Texas Tech), and it was no different in the fourth quarter.

“We played really good football in the second and third quarters, except offensively in the third quarter in Maryland, so we’ll be creative in how we train this week,” Brown said.

Teams just haven’t scored a lot of points or generated a lot of yards against Baylor’s defense this year – even good ones like Iowa State and Oklahoma State. The Bears lead the Big 12 in terms of revenue margin to plus one with the most interceptions (seven) and the fewest interceptions thrown (zero).

Baylor is also one of four Power 5 teams ranked in the top 25 nationally for offense (22^sd) and scoring defense (23^rd), the others being Auburn, Georgia and Michigan.

Statistically, here are the areas of Baylor to highlight:

* Opponent’s rating average (17.4 ppg.)
* Rushed yards (238.2 ypg.)
* opponent’s passing yards (150.8 yards per game)
* Interceptions / return yards (7-49)
* Rowboat fillet (41.6 ypg.)
* Opponent’s lower third conversion rate (34%)
* Conversion rate from fourth to bottom (75%)

The Bears have two leading players in defense – safety back Jalen Pitre and outside linebacker Terrel Bernard, who missed the Oklahoma State game with a knee injury. Neal brown However, he is anticipating Bernard’s return for Saturday’s game at Waco.

Offensively, Baylor will look to establish their running game with Abram Smith, Trestan Ebner and quarterback Gerry Bohanon each weighing more than 210 pounds, then tossing the ball onto the field out of play passes to Tyquan Thornton, who shows 19 catches for 276 yards and three touchdowns.

The Bears also have an outstanding Issac Power kicker and an outstanding Ebner kicker, who has three career touchdowns, including one this year against Iowa State. It all fits in perfectly with how coach Dave Aranda wants to win football matches.

“We have to play better and do it for a full game because in our league those games are going to be down to the fourth quarter,” said Brown. “We were tied for or ahead in the fourth quarter of our three losses and failed to do so.”

West Virginia is hoping to change that on Saturday at McLane Stadium.

The game kicks off at noon ET and will be televised nationally on FS1 (Cory Provus and Mark Helfrich). Mountaineer Sports Network’s radio coverage begins at 8:30 a.m. on stations across West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular WVU Gameday mobile app.

Regular network coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed drenning starts at 11 a.m.

West Virginia is 6-3 overall against Baylor, including a 27-21 overtime win last year at Morgantown. The Bears lead the series at Waco 3-1.