West Virginia Mountaineers vs Texas Longhorns Match Player Stats On Nov 12, 2016

The Sports Xchange
Nov 12, 2016

AUSTIN, Texas -- Skyler Howard passed for 269 yards and a touchdown and the West Virginia defense came up with three huge stands in the final 10 minutes as the 16th-ranked Mountaineers held off Texas 24-20 on Saturday afternoon in Big 12 Conference play at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium.

West Virginia (8-1, 5-1 in Big 12) survived a season-high four turnovers -- three of them interceptions by Howard. The Mountaineers forced a fumble by Texas quarterback Shane Buechele on a sack early in the fourth quarter, had another drive-killing sack on the ensuing drive and a fourth-down stop at its own 39-yard line on the Longhorns' penultimate possession.

Texas moved to the West Virginia 27-yard line on a last-gasp drive but Buechele's pass in the end zone was incomplete as time expired.

Kennedy McKoy picked up 73 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries for West Virginia, but the Mountaineers' rushing attack was tepid at best.

D'Onta Foreman, who leads the nation in rushing yardage per game, led the Longhorns with 167 yards on 35 carries. Buechele passed for 318 yards, one touchdown and one interception as Texas (5-5, 4-4) outgained West Virginia, 536-383.

The teams traded field goals on their respective opening drives, with the Longhorns' Trent Domingue converting from 27 yards at the 12:01 mark of the first quarter and the Mountaineers' Mike Molina nailing a 44-yard kick almost five minutes later.

West Virginia took the lead with a nifty 66-yard march that culminated in an 8-yard touchdown run by McKoy and a 10-3 lead with 2:27 to play in the first quarter. It added to its advantage on its next possession when Ka'Raun White turned in a highlight-reel play, hauling in a 29-yard touchdown pass from Howard as he lay in the corner of the end zone after being shoved to the turf by defensive back Kris Boyd while the ball was in the air.

Texas landed a punch of its own on its ensuing possession, using a 32-yard run by Foreman and a 10-yard bootleg touchdown by Buechele to get back to within 17-10 halfway through the second quarter.

The Longhorns drove to the West Virginia 2-yard line in a 21-play, 84-yard march that took almost seven minutes of the second quarter but had to settle for a 19-yard Domingue field goal that cut the deficit to 17-13 at halftime.

Texas outgained West Virginia 252-221 in the first half, outrushed the Mountaineers 139-66 and ran 50 plays to West Virginia's 38. The Mountaineers owned a 155-113 advantage in passing yards and a 17:01-12:59 edge in time of possession.

West Virginia blocked a 37-yard field goal by Domingue early in the third quarter and marched 79 yards in 14 plays for a 3-yard touchdown run by McKoy to push its lead back to 11 points, at 24-13, at the 5:03 mark.

Texas' Dylan Haines picked off Howard on back-to-back third-quarter series. The first interception resulted in a 20-yard Buechele-to Collin Johnson touchdown pass at the end of an 80-yard, nine-play drive to cut the lead to 24-20 with 1:28 to play in the third quarter.

The Longhorns were forced to play all but the first two series of the game without star playmaking linebacker Malik Jefferson, who sustained a head injury early on.

NOTES: The Mountaineers have a total of 32 players with at least one game of starting experience. ... Texas has had five true freshmen start a game this season; that quintet has combined to make 23 starts. Over the past two seasons, 15 true freshmen have started for the Longhorns, the most in FBS. ... West Virginia's offense entered the game having produced 16 scoring drives of 10 plays or more -- seven of those resulted in touchdowns and nine in field goals. ... West Virginia owns a slight 3-2 edge in all-time series play, with the two teams splitting their four games since the Mountaineers joined the Big 12 in 2012. ... Texas entered Saturday's game as one of just five teams nationally to be averaging 500 yards of total offense and at least 250 yards passing and 225 yards rushing. ...Through nine games, Texas had eight receivers with at least 13 receptions, nine players with at least 100 yards receiving and six with more than 225. Eight Longhorns have found the end zone so far this season and seven players have at least two touchdowns.