West Virginia Mountaineers vs Baylor Bears Match Player Stats On Oct 17, 2015

The Sports Xchange
Oct 17, 2015

WACO, Texas -- Baylor barely broke stride in clearing the West Virginia hurdle.

The No. 2 Bears stiff-armed West Virginia for most of the first three quarters before pulling away for a 62-38 victory on Saturday at McLane Stadium.

Baylor quarterback Seth Russell passed for 380 yards and five touchdowns and rushed for 160 yards and a touchdown.

Russell's 52-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jay Lee with 1:31 left in the third quarter gave Baylor (6-0 3-0 Big 12) separation as the Bears pushed ahead 48-24.

Until then, West Virginia (3-3, 0-3) had done enough to hang around and threaten to make a comeback.

West Virginia quarterback Skyler Howard passed for 289 yards and four touchdowns. But he gave up an interception in the Baylor end zone as the Mountaineers squandered some key chances.

Baylor wide receiver Corey Coleman caught 10 passes for 199 yards and three touchdowns. Coleman's third touchdown showed why he is the Bears' most dangerous weapon this season.

Coleman ran a slant pass from the left side and caught Russell's pass a few yards past the first down line-to-gain on a fourth-and-3 play. That's when Coleman stopped on a dime, causing West Virginia cornerback Rick Rumph to fall down. Coleman reversed field and raced in for a 33-yard touchdown that put Baylor ahead 34-17 with 9:45 left in the third quarter.

West Virginia missed an opportunity to keep pace late in the first half. Mountaineers running back Wendell Smallwood split the Baylor defense for a 52-yard run to the Bears' 10. However, a chop-block penalty against West Virginia pushed the ball back to the 24 and the Mountaineers couldn't take up the slack.

West Virginia kicker Josh Lambert missed a 35-yard field goal try, wide right, allowing Baylor to take a 27-17 lead to halftime.

Baylor's home crowd seemed uneasy by the end of the second quarter as the Bears weren't clicking at their usual offensive pace.

Baylor had its lowest first-half scoring output of the season so far with 27 points. The Bears came in averaging 41.2 points in the first half in its previous five games.

The Bears still made enough big plays to edge ahead of West Virginia.

Russell ran 16 yards for the Bears' first touchdown and hit Corey Coleman for touchdown passes of 2 and 11 yards in the first half.

NOTES: Entering the game, Baylor had won 18-consecutive home games, the longest streak in the nation. ... West Virginia took a 2-1 series lead into Saturday's game, but the home team had won every contest between the two programs. ... Baylor WR Corey Coleman entered the game with 13 touchdown catches this season and needed one more to tie Baylor's single-season record for receiving touchdowns, set by Kendall Wright in 2011.