MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia rallied from an 11-point deficit with 5:30 left in the fourth quarter to beat Kansas 32-28 on Saturday afternoon at Milan Puskar Stadium.

Things weren’t looking good for the Mountaineers late in the fourth quarter after a two-hour weather delay, the second time this season, but quarterback Garrett Greene led to two late touchdown drives that resulted in 15 points as the Jayhawks took a 28-17 lead.

The decisive goal came with 26 seconds left when Greene Rodney Gallagher III in the right flat for a 15-yard touchdown.

“Long day and I’m exhausted, but a big win,” West Virginia coach Neal Brown said afterwards. “Most things work out, and we came back today and flipped the script.”

West Virginia couldn’t close out last week’s game in Pittsburgh after holding a 10-point lead with just under five minutes left in the Backyard Brawl.

Today WVU made the right choices at the decisive moment.

On its winning touchdown march, WVU took possession of the ball at its own 33 with 2:22 left on the clock, one timeout and the two-minute warning in the pocket. Greene started the drive with an 11-yard pass to Hudson ClementGallagher added 6 on a wide receiver run and then Greene rushed to 12 to give WVU a first down at the Jayhawk 29.

Kansas called its first timeout with 37 seconds left after Greene’s 4-yard run to the 25. A pass interference penalty on safety Marvin Grant on Greene’s pass to Clement in the end zone put the ball at the 10. A false start penalty moved the ball back 5 yards before Gallagher got free on the near side of the field, where Greene hit him at full speed, and he sped past the defense toward the cone.

On the ensuing drive, Kansas (1-3, 0-1) got on West Virginia’s side when Jalon Daniels completed a 36-yard pass to Lawrence Arnold at the WVU 40-yard line, but on the next play, Tyrin Bradley was free on the back end for a strip-sack fumble that he recovered at the Mountaineer 48-yard line.

Greene knelt to end the game.

Greene completed 15 of his 30 pass attempts that day for 295 yards and two touchdowns and ran 17 times for 87 yards and another touchdown.

“We’re better when he runs,” Brown said. “He’s special in the two-minute drill, that’s what I’ll say.”

Clement was Greene’s big target in the passing game today with seven catches for 150 yards, while Traylon beam added two catches for 70 yards.

The match became hectic in the second half, after both teams fought a fierce defensive battle in the first two halves.

The Jayhawks marched the length of the field on their first drive of the second half to tie the score at 14-14, taking advantage of safe passes from Daniels and a 7-yard run from Devin Neal on fourth-and-2 at the WVU 43-yard line during the drive.

Kansas finally got into the end zone when Daniels threw a 7-yard pass to Luke Grimm who was wide open in the back corner of the end zone, capping a 10-play, 75-yard drive with 5:52 left in the clock.

On the next possession, a Greene 52-yard post pass to Ray put the ball at Kansas’ 23, but two failed C.J. Donaldson Jr. runs and Greene’s incomplete pass to Gallagher in the end zone required Michael Hayes to kick a 40-yard field goal, his fifth in five attempts this season. That gave West Virginia a 17-14 lead with 7:03 left in the third quarter.

But that advantage was short-lived.

Kansas needed just four plays to get back into the end zone, and got all but 7 on the ground. A 21-yard Daniels keeper brought the ball to midfield, and then a Daniel Hishaw Jr. 32-yard run down the other side of the field brought him to the WVU 15.

Two plays later, Hishaw fired untouched 11 yards into the end zone to give Kansas a 21-17 lead on Tabor Allen’s conversion kick

The Mountaineers dodged a bullet after Mello Dotson intercepted an underthrown pass from Greene to force a run, but the offense was stifled by a false start penalty, two short runs by Greene and a short pass in the flat to Jahiem White.

Shortly after, lightning struck the area, causing a nearly two-hour delay before play resumed at 4:44 ET with 10:23 on the game clock and Kansas facing a fourth-and-7 at the KU 48.

The Mountaineers regained possession on their own 9, but immediately kicked the ball back to Kansas, who got the ball on their own 46 after Oliver Straws short, line-drive point.

Kansas extended its lead one more play after Hishaw made an 11-yard, fourth-down run to the WVU 32-yard line. Grimm took a reverse from Daniels and followed a wall of blockers down the sideline for a touchdown.

Allen’s conversion kick put the Jayhawks ahead 28-17 with 5:39 left.

Greene passed to Clement and Gallagher got the ball to the KU 33, and a personal foul on Marvin Grant on Greene’s scramble moved the ball to the 11. Two plays later, Greene threw a pass into the left flat to a wide open Cole Taylor for an 8-yard touchdown. Taylor also caught the two-point conversion on Ray’s reverse pass, bringing WVU within a field goal with all three timeouts remaining and the two-minute warning.

West Virginia used its early RPO play to get on the board first on its second possession of the afternoon. Greene completed quick slants of 38 and 39 yards to Clement on consecutive plays to move the ball to the KU 1. White used a convoy of blockers to complete the drive on the next play for his third rushing touchdown of the season.

The Mountaineers appeared to take a two-score lead when they regained possession, but Cobee Bryant intercepted a pass from Greene intended for Ray at KU’s 12-yard line and returned the pass 5 yards to the 17.

The Jayhawks kept the ball on the ground between Neal and Hishaw’s tackles, and together they racked up 55 yards, 11 of which were by Neal, ending the drive in the WVU endzone.

A big play was Daniels’ third-and-13 pass to Quentin Skinner along the far sideline that was originally ruled incomplete, but replay officials said Skinner got a foot in before going out. Daniels also completed a 17-yard pass to Grimm during the 13-play, 83-yard scoring march.

West Virginia gained the upper hand in a possession exchange when Gallagher returned Damon Greaves’ line-drive punt 16 yards to KU’s 34-yard line.

Greene completed a third-and-4 pass for 9 yards to Clement before calling his number for a 19-yard touchdown. However, center Brandon Yates was penalized for holding to wipe out the touchdown.

Two plays later, Greene threw a bullet to Ray for 18 yards to the KU 5, then caught the ball himself after it deflected off safety OJ Burroughs at the 2 to get into the end zone.

Neal was the leading rusher with 110 yards on 27 attempts and the Jayhawks finished the afternoon with 247 yards on the ground.

Daniels completed 15 of his 25 passes for 184 yards and a touchdown against a WVU pass defense that gave up more than 280 yards per game through the air. The Mountaineers made some personnel changes in the secondary and also simplified their coverages.

“We wanted to keep the ball in front of us,” Brown said.

52,428 people watched the match today.


West Virginia (2-2, 1-0) will hit pause next weekend and resume Big 12 play on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 2 p.m.^and-ranked Oklahoma State in Stillwater.


“We need a break,” Brown admitted. “We’re battered and it’s been a tough time physically and emotionally.”


Kansas plays TCU next weekend.