WVU looking for first 10-win season since joining Big 12 Conference
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia University has the opportunity to win 10 football games for the first time since entering the Big 12 conference in 2012 when it celebrates Senior Day this Saturday on Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium against Baylor.
Baylor dealt with off-the-field issues during the offseason and fired head coach Art Briles due to a sexual assault scandal. Jim Grobe is serving as the acting head coach.
Despite the distractions, the Bears (3-5 Big 12, 6-5 overall) started the season 6-0 and moved as high as No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll and No. 6 in the Coaches’ Poll before losing to Texas (35-34) on Oct. 29 to start a five-game losing streak.
The Bears are without senior quarterback Seth Russell, who was injured in Baylor’s 45-24 setback to Oklahoma on Nov. 12, but coach Dana Holgorsen and his team know that Baylor would like nothing more than to come to Morgantown and spoil the party for 21 Mountaineer seniors.
“The one I probably like more than anything, and this isn’t just coach speak, is the last one, senior day, especially if you’re in a situation where you can do something that these seniors are really proud of,” Holgorsen said during Tuesday’s weekly press conference at the Milan Puskar Team Center. “Baylor is a dangerous football team. They’re a touch bunch to go against. This has been a fun series with these guys. Two years ago, we’re the reason they weren’t in the college football playoff. Our two games in Waco have not been great for the Mountaineers.”
True freshman Zach Smith will make his third career start for the Bears on Saturday. Smith is 57-of-91 for 635 yards with six touchdowns and four interceptions in two starts.
“I have a lot of respect for (Seth) Russell and it is unfortunate what happened to him with the injury,” Holgorsen said. “But they just plug in another guy that is big and can throw the ball all over the field.”
Baylor has the top rushing attack in the Big 12 at 255.2 yards per game. The Bears’ run game is No. 12 in the country.
Terrence Williams leads Baylor in rushing with 855 yards on 149 carries and 10 touchdowns. Teammate Shock Linwood has rushed for 722 yards on 132 attempts and two touchdowns. JaMycal Hasty is the Bears’ third leading rusher with 515 yards on 97 rushes and two touchdowns.
“Their rushing attack is as good as there is in college football,” Holgorsen said. “All of their guys that line up are pretty good backs. I think we run the ball pretty good, but they do it better. You are talking about a top-10 offense coming to town.”
Baylor’s KD Cannon has pulled in 68 receptions for 905 yards and 10 touchdowns. Teammate Ishmael Zamora is second on the team in receiving with 50 catches and 684 yards and six touchdowns.
Aiavion Edwards leads the Baylor defense with 80 tackles (50 solo-30 assists), 5 1/2 tackles for loss and 2 1/2 sacks. Teammate Orion Stewart leads the team in interceptions with five and has four pass breakups.
The Bears’ Ryan Reid has six pass breakups and three interceptions. Both Stewart and Reid have scored a touchdown on an interception return.
Baylor’s Chris Callahan is 9-of-14 on field goals with a long of 38 and punter Drew Galitz has an average of 41.3 per punt with a long of 60.
Tony Nicholson is the Bears’ primary kickoff and punt returner. He is averaging 18 yards per kickoff return and 11.7 per punt return.
Coaches at any level speak about the next man stepping up, but WVU is certainly following that motto this season with running backs Rushel Shell III, Justin Crawford and Kennedy McCoy carrying the load.
The Mountaineers had to burn the redshirt of freshman Martell Pettaway in last week’s game against Iowa State. Pettaway came through with 181 yards on 30 carries and one touchdown.
“Everyone talks about the redshirt, but the objective at the end of the day is to win the ball game,” WVU running backs coach Ja’Juan Seider said. “He let everyone know that he can be the guy here, too.”
Rushel Shell III has not being ruled out for Saturday’s game but the senior running back has been out three of the last four games, and had one rush against Texas on Nov. 12. Shell had back-to-back 100-yard rushing games against Texas Tech (Oct. 15) and TCU (Oct. 22) before being injured against Oklahoma State on Oct. 29.
“It has been tough for Rushel (Shell), especially with the kind of season he was having,” Seider said. “He is ready to get out there and practice, so we’ll see how it goes.”
Crawford is the team leader with 959 yards on 129 attempts and four touchdowns. The junior college transfer had a career 331 yards on 24 attempts against Oklahoma but was injured against the Cyclones.
Kennedy McCoy has rushed for 465 yards on 71 carries and three touchdowns as a true freshman, including a 127-yard effort against Kansas.
“At this point who cares who plays,” Holgorsen said. “Whoever goes in there is gonna play good so why does it really matter? I know we have four different running backs that have 100-yard games, and it should be five, because Skyler (Howard) is basically a running back, and he’s just a couple yards shy of doing that and he’s done that in the past.”
Redshirt junior wide receiver Ka’Raun White is out for the season after breaking a bone in his lower leg against Iowa State, which means senior Daikiel Shorts Jr. and fellow wide receiver Shelton Gibson (40 receptions for 927 yards, 8 TDs) will need to step up for WVU.
Shorts leads the Mountaineers with 55 receptions and is second in receiving yards with 815. He has scored four touchdowns this season and blocks well downfield.
“We couldn’t do what we do offensively without Daikiel (Shorts),” Holgorsen said. “He is the backbone of what we do, he is the hardest working kid I’ve ever seen, the best practice player I’ve ever seen. He blocks his tail off and is unselfish.”
Senior quarterback Howard will be playing his last game in Morgantown. The Texas native was not available for comment at Tuesday’s press conference. He is 220-of-352 for 3,083 yards with 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
Senior Justin Arndt, who walked-on prior to being awarded a scholarship and a starting job at linebacker, leads West Virginia in tackles with 71 (49 solo, 22 assisted), including seven for loss, three sacks and one forced fumble.
“Justin (Arndt) is a tremendous kid,” WVU defensive coordinator Tony Gibson said. “There is no doubt in my mind he exemplifies what a Mountaineer is. This kid walked on, just kept fighting, was a special teams guys, just kept fighting and last year in spring he won the job and kept it. I can’t say enough good things about him.”
Arndt never thought he would have a chance to play college football at the Division I level growing up, let alone being a starter, and is excited to get on Mountaineer Field Saturday for the last time.
“It will definitely be an emotional time playing the last game at Mountaineer Field,” Arndt said. “I never thought it would get here but I hope we can get off the field with a W. I never thought I would stay on the team after walking on, but I wouldn’t change anything.”
The Mountaineer defense has forced 21 turnovers this season (9 fumbles recoveries, 12 interceptions), thanks in part to Rasul Douglas’ eight interceptions. Douglas leads the country in interceptions and will play his last home game on Saturday.
“Rasul (Douglas has had a heck of a year,” Gibson said. “He has worked very hard this year to get where he is at and any time we need a play, it seems like her steps up and makes one.”
WVU kicker Mike Molina is 14-of-19 on field goals and 46-of-46 on PATs. Punter Billy Kinney has an average of 42.5 with a long of 55.
Gibson is the leader in kickoff return average (22.6) with a long of 51 and Gary Jennings has a long of 18 on 21 punt returns.
In addition to Arndt, Douglas, Howard, Shell and Shorts, the following Mountaineers will be honored for Senior Day: Tyler Orlosky, Noble Nwachukwu, Jarrod Harper, Jeremy Tyler, Darrien Howard, Adam Pankey, Christian Brown, Devonte Mathis, Tony Matteo, Antonio Crawford, Nana Kyeremeh, Maurice Fleming, Sean Walters, Khairi Sharif, Brendan Willis and Sylvester Townes.
Orlosky has anchored the offensive line for 40 starts, and the Cleveland, Ohio native wants to take it all in for his last home game of his college career. Orlosky has the potential to play in the NFL, but he is just focused on this week.
“It is going to be interesting my last time playing at this field,” Orlosky said. “I am probably going to take a moment after the game to sit there, take it all in, look at my five years here and be happy with what I’ve done.
“I hope that the place will be packed with fans and we can get a W, which would give us 10 regular season wins, and that would be huge for the program. In regards to playing in the NFL, we will just wait to the end of the year, test it out and see what happens if the opportunity presents itself.”