Baylor emphatically made its case for a quick return to the polls by dispatching West Virginia 45-20 in Waco, Texas, on Saturday.
The Bears, who dropped from the AP Top 25 poll following their first loss of the season last week against Oklahoma State, dominated, outgaining the Mountaineers 525-362.
The game was billed as a battle between one of the nation’s top rushing teams, Baylor, and West Virginia’s stellar run defense. Instead, Baylor took to the air early and often, building a 28-10 lead off 272 first-half passing yards from quarterback Gerry Bohanon, who set a career high for passing in the opening half.
Bohanon finished the game completing 18 of 29 passes for 336 yards with four touchdowns.
The Bears (5-1, 3-1 Big 12) started the game with a bang, scoring on a 75-yard Bohanon touchdown pass to Tyquan Thornton on their second play from scrimmage.
West Virginia (2-4, 0-3) answered with a 6-play, 75-yard drive to the tie the game 7-7 on Jarret Doege’s 12-yard pass to Sean Ryan.
Baylor outscored West Virginia 21-3 the rest of the half.
Bohanon’s 10-yard touchdown pass to Ben Sims completed an 8-play, 75-yard drive. A shorter field (48 yards) set up Bohanon’s 1-yard touchdown run with 5:24 left in the first quarter.
Bohanon threw his third touchdown pass of the game, an 11-yarder to Thornton, with 9:52 to play in the second quarter, finishing off a five-play, 86-yard drive.
Thornton finished with eight receptions for 187 yards and 2 touchdowns.
West Virginia scored with 6:17 to play in the first half on a Casey Legg 29-yard field goal. Legg added a 27-yarder with 9:17 to play in the third quarter to cut the lead to 28-13.
The Bears quickly responded. Sims and Bohanon connected again on a 29-yard scoring strike with 8:43 to go in the third before the ground game got going with an Abram Smith 31-yard rushing touchdown with 4:37 to go in the third.
An Isaiah Hankins 45-yard field goal for Baylor and a Garrett Greene 13-yard touchdown run for West Virginia capped the scoring in the fourth quarter.
–Field Level Media
