West Virginia
Bowl-bound West Virginia seeks 8th win while Baylor tries to avoid 9th loss
West Virginia (7-4, 5-3 Big 12) at Baylor (3-8, 2-6), Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Line: West Virginia by 8 1/2, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.
Series record: West Virginia leads 6-4.
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
Bowl-bound West Virginia can get to eight wins for the first time since 2018, when the Mountaineers also last won six conference games. They went into this season picked by some to finish last in the 14-team Big 12. Baylor is playing its school-record eighth home game this season, but the Bears are only 1-6 at McLane Stadium, and the lone win came against FCS team Long Island in mid-September.
KEY MATCHUP
West Virginia freshman RB Jahiem White against Baylor’s rush defense. White erupted for 204 yards on 21 carries in a 42-21 win last week over Cincinnati. His 8.2 yards per carry leads the Big 12. Baylor is allowing 179 rushing yards per game, next-to-last in the league. The Mountaineers, second in the Big 12 and fourth nationally with 233 yards rushing per game, have at least 140 yards in 14 consecutive games, three more than any other Power Five school.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
West Virginia: QB Garrett Greene. The Mountaineers have the lowest completion percentage (53%) and passing yard totals (2,177) in the Big 12. But Greene, a junior, has had some solid play. He’s third nationally at 16 yards per completion. He’s also coming off a career-high 154 rushing yards and three TDs on the ground against Cincinnati.
Baylor: Drake Dabney already has a single-season school record for tight ends with his 529 yards receiving. He has 31 catches, including a team-high five touchdowns.
FACTS & FIGURES
Baylor has lost 12 of its last 15 games overall. While that has raised questions about the future of fourth-year coach Dave Aranda, who has a 23-24 career record, the private school would be facing a hefty buyout if it decided to make a change. He got a long contract extension after the Bears were Big 12 champions in 2021. … West Virginia CB Beanie Bishop’s 20 pass breakups are one short of matching the school’s single-season record. … Mountaineers coach Neal Brown said leading rusher CJ Donaldson, who saw limited action last week, will only play if he’s fully healed from a lower leg injury sustained two weeks ago against Oklahoma.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll
West Virginia
Examining West Virginia's lost offensive production after the 2024 season
Examining West Virginia’s lost offensive production after the 2024 season
West Virginia is in the midst of a roster overhaul as new head coach Rich Rodriguez starts to build from the ground up. In the last weeks, the Mountaineers have lost dozens of players either to the transfer portal or to eligibility loss, and we look at how much production from this past season will not be returning.
On offense, about 20 guys who recorded snaps this past season will not be returning to the Mountaineers. Nine are out of eligibility, and nine have entered the transfer portal, while that number could still increase.
On offense as a whole, West Virginia has lost 83.25 percent of the total snaps played. 64.52 percent of the snaps lost are due to running out of eligibility. Out of WVU’s top four snap totals, all four came on the offensive line.
Three of them exhausted their eligibility (Ja’Quay Hubbard, Nick Malone, Brandon Yates), and the fourth (Tomas Rimac) entered the transfer portal.
Number of Snaps Lost
Note: In the table above, under the column ‘Total Percentage Lost’, the 52.42% and 46.58% are the share of the total number of snaps played, not the total numebr of snaps played at each position
At the quarterback position, Garrett Greene does not have any remaining eligibility. Greene accounted for just about 30 percent of WVU’s rushing yards, 84 percent of WVU’s passing yards, as well as 22 percent of their scores on the ground, and 75 percent of their passing touchdowns thrown.
At running back the loss of CJ Donaldson looms large. He accounted for 29 percent of WVU’s rushing total this season and between him and others who tallied up much lesser totals, West Virginia has lost 60.21 percent of their rush yards from this past season.
At the receiver position, it’s even more drastic. West Virginia has lost Hudson Clement, DayDay Farmer, Traylon Ray, Justin Robinson, and Kole Taylor, among others who were some of WVU’s top pass catchers. The Mountaineers have lost 76.23 percent of their receiving yards from last year as well as 80 percent of their receiving touchdowns.
Offensive Production Lost
Overall, there is a significant loss on the offensive side of the ball.
West Virginia lost most of their passing game as well as their receiving game due to guys leaving the program. While it’s easy to point to Greene in the passing game because he was the starting quarterback for the majority of the year, most of the production lost at receiver was due to guys entering the transfer portal. At running back, it was roughly a 50-50 split between what percent was lost to the portal and what was lost to eligibility, as Greene as well as Donaldson, were the main contributing factors there.
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West Virginia
2 charged in death investigation, victim identified
UPDATE 11:50 P.M. 12/24/2024
MASON COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ)-Two people are facing charges in connection with a death investigation in Mason County.
Investigators found the remains of a man Tuesday who had been reported missing. The remains were found along Broad Run Road in Letart.
Authorities arrested Brandon Harbaugh and Jodi Gerlach a short time later.
Harbaugh and Gerlach are charged with concealment of a deceased human body and conspiracy, according to Mason County Prosecuting Attorney Seth Gaskins.
Investigators identified the victim as Michael S. Phalen, 65, of New Haven, West Virginia. Investigators say Phalen was reported missing Dec. 12.
Harbaugh and Gerlach were arraigned Tuesday night in Mason County are in the Western Regional Jail on a $75,000 cash or surety bond.
UPDATE 7 P.M. 12/24/2024
MASON COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -A death investigation is underway after human remains were found in Mason County, according to Mason County Prosecuting Attorney Seth Gaskins.
Investigators found the remains of a missing adult male along Broad Run Road in Letart on Tuesday afternoon.
The Mason County Prosecuting Attorney identified the victim as Michael S. Phalen, 65, of New Haven, West Virginia.
Gaskins said that two individuals have been arrested in connection with the investigation. Both are charged with concealment of a deceased human body and conspiracy, although their identities have not been announced.
Copyright 2024 WSAZ. All rights reserved.
West Virginia
Chad Scott Returning to West Virginia
Accoring to Mike Casazza of 247 Sports, West Virginia University head coach Rich Rodriguez will retain assistant coach Chad Scott as part of his staff.
Scott spent the last six seasons under former head coach Neal Brown as the running backs coach and served as the offensive coordinator the last two seasons. He was also named the interim head coach for the Frisco Bowl.
The Mountaineer rushing attack ranked ninth among Power Four schools in rushing yards per game at 192.7 this past season and WVU was one of two FBS teams that has three players who have rushed for 630 yards or more.
Scott will be entering his19th season as an assistant coach. He began his career at Troy before taking jobs at Texas Tech (2010-12), Kentucky (2013-15), North Carolina (2016-18), Louisville (2019), and landed in West Virginia with Neal Brown in 2019.
MORE STORIES FROM WEST VIRGINIA ON SI
West Virginia Contacts TCU QB Transfer, Former Four-Star Hauss Hejny
Between The Eers: Transfer Portal Movement
Former WVU Offensive Line Coach Matt Moore Hired by Rival School
Is WVU the Favorite to Land Jax State CB Transfer Fred Davis II? Here’s the Latest
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