Nov 28, 2023 By Bob Hertzel, for the Greene County Messenger 7 min read

Make room on that Diversified Energy Terrace at Mountaineer Field.

Garrett Greene may just be on his way to having his name put up there among the West Virginia greats.

With what seemed to be an easy victory coming apart in the second half, with West Virginia teetering on the edge of the cliff of defeat and with so much good that had been done through the season about to be erased, the West Virginia quarterback once again reached deep within himself and led the Mountaineers on a kamikaze victory drive as WVU beat Baylor, 34-31, to end the regular season at 8-4.

After the Bears missed a gimme field goal that would have given them a touchdown lead, WVU took over at its own 20 with 1:14 left and no timeouts and put the game in Greene’s hands.

History will read that it was a 29-yard touchdown pass to a wide open Jaheim White streaking down the left sideline for a touchdown with 23 seconds to play.

“It was real, but it was unreal,” White said of being out there, alone, waiting for the ball to drop from the sky. “It just dropped right in the pocket.”

But it was much more than that for there were a pair of incredible efforts from freshman receiver Hudson Clement that put WVU in position for that.

And it was that 4XL heart that beats within Greene’s heart responsible for it all, just as it has been with this late season streak that has taken WVU from being looked upon as the 14th place team in the Big 12 before the season to a bowl team that finished in the top third of the conference.

Consider that just before halftime he did the same thing, taking the Mountaineers 74 yards on seven plays with no timeouts for a TD.

And, you might recall, that against Cincinnati he did the same thing in the first half and at Houston, only to have that buried by the fickle finger of fate that produced a Hail Mary pass to beat WVU. In that one, too, it was Clement who made the big play for the leading touchdown.

Coach Neal Brown was overflowing with praise for Greene and his team after it had struggled through a dismal second half performance.

“That was kind of the story of this team,” Brown said. “Garrett Greene is a dude. We had some good play calls on that last drive. He’s a player. He’s got grit. The kid’s a winner. All of the fans appreciate him because he’s about all the right things.”

It is difficult to imagine any cold water being thrown on the result of the game and the season, but in that final drive WVU’s All-American center Zach Frazier suffered a leg injury, had to be helped to the sideline and, it appeared, to the locker room.

“Zach is one of my best friends,” Greene said. “That breaks my heart, to see that happen to him. I probably won’t enjoy this win as much as I should.”

He was injured while pushing Clement up the field on the first play of the winning drive when someone rolled over on his leg. He crawled off the field to save time on the clock.

“The normal person doesn’t think of that,” Greene said.

Neal Brown seconded that and added a lot more.

“My level of excitement is subdued because of that,” Brown said. “I can’t say enough about Zach Frazier. I’m so appreciative of him and his family. That play sums up his career here. He is the best center in college football.”

There was almost too much to unload in any one story about this game, a game in which WVU dominated so completely early that they went to halftime with 365 total yards to 85 for Baylor, having compiled 207 rushing yards to 35 and with White having gone into the locker room with an injured shoulder but 113 of the 133 yards he would finish with, not counting the TD reception.

But there was an indication that something wasn’t right in that first half as Baylor did something to West Virginia that no one had been able to do since 1904 — 119 years — when Michigan beat the Mountaineers, 130-0. In that game they had a player return consecutive kickoffs for touchdowns.

It happened in the first half to keep Baylor in the game, Richard Reese taking a kickoff back for a 98-yard touchdown and then teaching the Mountaineers it was no fluke by doing it on the next kickoff, going 93 yards for the score.

WVU took a 27-14 lead at the half, but it was as if Georgia went into the locker room at the end of the first half and Georgia State came out.

The two teams might have traded uniforms as Baylor took complete control of the contest, having outgained the Mountaineers 248-74 in the second half until the winning drive. They simply roared past WVU, which had no answers offensively and defensively.

But, in the end, WVU had the strength to survive.

“It was gritty,” Brown said; “We had some guys banged up. This is a team that’s fought all year. It makes sense that it goes down to the final second.”

The first half was utter insanity as WVU whupped up on Baylor unmercifully, averaging 9.6 yards per play.

Yet they needed a dramatic drive at the end of the half to lead, 27-14.

Reese’s returns allowed Baylor to hang around even as White and Greene were gouging them on the ground and through the air.

Brown knew that the 13-point lead wasn’t any guarantee of victory, telling sideline reporter Jed Drenning at halftime that “the first possession of the second half will be critical.”

Baylor felt so, too, and came out with their first real drive of the night and scored on a perfectly thrown 38-yard TD pass from quarterback Sawyer Robertson, filling in for injured starter Blake Shapen, to Keton Jackson Jr., his first score of the season.

It now was a ball game at 27-21.

And, just as Greene broke loose on a long run rainbow of a run, Wyatt Milum was called for holding. Instead of igniting an important drive, WVU wound up punting. And what would have been a 51-yard punt ended up with Traylon Ray interfering with a fair catch.

WVU, it seemed, was intent on shooting itself in the foot … or heart, if you prefer for this wound up turning into a touchdown for Baylor that gave them the lead. There were a couple of plays in the drive that involved the officials, one was on a first-down catch that was granted to Baylor that seemed to be incomplete but there was no replay.

Then there was another play, an apparent fumble by Baylor inside the 5 that was overturned by replay, setting up a 2-yard run by Dominic Richardson that gave the Bears a 28-27 lead.

Baylor padded that with a field goal but missed two and they were to Baylor what the two touchdowns on kickoff returns were to WVU.

But, in the end, Greene and White had the last word, although Baylor did work itself into position for a Hail Mary and you can only imagine the thoughts going through the heads of the Mountaineer plays and staff.

There were some changes to the Hail Mary defense in that 6-7 tight end Kole Taylor was deep in the backfield and safety Aubrey Burks was there, having missed the assignment against Houston with an injury..

But it didn’t matter. Baylor never got the pass off and it was over.