Garrett Greene threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Rodney Gallagher with just 26 seconds left, helping West Virginia secure a 32-28 win over Kansas in their Big 12 opener on Saturday.
The Mountaineers (2-2) came back from an 11-point deficit and managed to handle a two-hour lightning delay, scoring two touchdowns in the final 3:27. This victory followed a tough loss to Pittsburgh where they gave up a 10-point lead in the last three minutes.
“Offensively, we just found a way,” said coach Neal Brown. “It wasn’t our best day. We didn’t have our ‘A’ game, but we finished well.”
The game was still in doubt until West Virginia’s Tyrin Bradley stripped the ball from Jalon Daniels on a pass attempt and recovered it with 8 seconds remaining. Earlier, Bradley also made the team’s first interception of the season in the first quarter.
Kansas looked strong when wide receiver Luke Grimm scored on a 32-yard catch with 5:39 left, putting them ahead 28-17.
“Sometimes it doesn’t roll your way,” Grimm said. “We just didn’t execute in the final stretch. They executed and we didn’t.”
Greene, who had struggled until that moment, took control. He connected with Kole Taylor for an 8-yard touchdown and Taylor caught a two-point conversion pass from Traylon Ray.
After Kansas had to punt, Greene ran for 25 yards during the game-winning drive. A pass interference call against Kansas gave the Mountaineers first-and-goal at the 10. A false start moved them back to the 15, but Greene found Gallagher in the end zone for the winning touchdown.
“I always want the ball in my hands at the end of the game,” Greene said. West Virginia’s Hudson Clement had a standout game with seven catches for 150 yards.
Greene also had a 5-yard touchdown run, completing 15 of 30 passes for 295 yards. He was the leading rusher for the Mountaineers with 87 yards on 17 carries.
