WVU’s second half woes continued Saturday night in Morgantown, as the Mounaineers relinquished leads in the third and fourth quarters in their 47-40 OT shootout loss to the Texas Longhorns.
Paul Millard took over for an injured Clint Trickett early in the game, and although he completed only 50% of his 32 total pass attempts for 259 yards, West Virginia found themselves deadlocked at 40 when the gun signaling the end of the fourth quarter sounded.
WVU won the toss to start overtime and elected to go on defense first. Case McCoy found fullback Alex De La Torre wide open in the right flat on 3rd down from the 2 yard line, and the Mountaineers were forced to match the Longhorns 7-point first possession. After Mario Alford ran for 20 yards to the ‘Horns 5 for a first and goal, Millard chucked two straight incompletions before serving up the game ending INT to Texas linebacker Steve Edmond.
Missed opportunities and a deluge of turnovers by the Mountaineers gave Texas all the openings they needed to regain control of the game after finding themselves down halfway through the third quarter of play. The two teams traded leads for much of the second half, both keeping a near-frantic scoring pace until the final gun. It was the 5th turnover that put the nail in the Mounties’ coffin in the first OT period.
WVU has given up third quarter leads in the last four Big 12 matchups they have played, and have won only one of those games after coming back to top TCU. The Mountaineers held 3 point advantages twice in tonight’s matchup after relinquishing their 10 point lead halfway through the third quarter.
West Virginia jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a blocked punt by Jawone Snow, and Sims added a 3 yard TD run between tackles to stretch the lead to 9-0 before starting QB Clint Trickett went down late in the first quarter.
Millard entered the game and threw 5 straight incompletions before getting his legs under him, but fared well after taking very few reps this week, according to Head Coach Dana Holgorson. “He did well…I was proud of his effort.” Millard appeared to have a good grasp of the offense and was able to make some plays to keep the game close, but the WVU defense was worn down by the Longhorns relentless running attack.
