Garrett Greene threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Rodney Gallagher III with 26 seconds left as West Virginia rallied for a 32-28 victory over Kansas in the Big 12 opener for both teams on Saturday afternoon at Morgantown, W. Va.
The Mountaineers overcame a late 11-point deficit behind two scoring passes from Greene. The first was an 8-yard scoring pass to Kole Taylor with 3:27 left and was followed by a trick play two-point conversion throw from Traylon Ray to Taylor as West Virginia moved within 28-25.
Greene rushed for one touchdown in addition to the two passing scores. He was 15-of-30 passing for 295 yards and was intercepted twice for West Virginia (2-2, 1-0 Big 12).
Jahiem White rushed for a touchdown and Hudson Clement had seven receptions for 150 yards for the Mountaineers.
Kansas star Devin Neal rushed for 110 yards and one touchdown on 27 carries while recording his fourth straight 100-yard outing this season. It also is the 16th of his career, leaving him one behind the school mark held by Tony Sands (1988-91).
Jalon Daniels completed 15 of 25 passes for 184 yards, one touchdown and one interception for the Jayhawks (1-3, 0-1), who also blew a fourth-quarter lead in last week’s loss to UNLV.
Luke Grimm caught a touchdown pass and scored on a reverse for Kansas. Daniel Hishaw Jr. added a rushing score.
After the Mountaineers’ go-ahead score, Kansas reached the West Virginia 39-yard line before Tyrin Bradley’s strip sack of Daniels. Bradley recovered the ball for the Mountaineers with eight seconds left to seal it.
The game was temporarily halted by a lightning-related weather delay that lasted just shy of two hours. Kansas led 21-17 when it was stopped with 10:43 remaining.
Just over five minutes after the resumption of play, Grimm took a reverse and cruised for a 32-yard scoring run to give Kansas an 11-point advantage.
Kansas scored two touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 21-17 lead.
Daniels tossed a 7-yard scoring pass to Grimm to knot the score at 14 with 9:08 left.
Michael Hayes kicked a 40-yard field goal to put the Mountaineers back on top with 7:03 remaining. The Jayhawks responded with Hishaw’s 11-yard scoring run with 4:30 left in the period.
West Virginia led 14-7 at halftime on scoring runs by White and Green. Neal rushed for the Kansas touchdown.
–Field Level Media