WVU Football: Senior Day 2016

The WVU Football team squared off against the Baylor Bears in their final regular season game of the 2016 college football season on Saturday. Grabbing their tenth win of the year, Dana Holgorsen has finally led his Mountaineers to a double-digit win total in the Big 12 Conference.

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows for the Mountaineers on Senior Day 2k16 at Milan Puskar Stadium. Skyler Howard started slow. His offensive line couldn’t get much going early on. And a 14-10 halftime deficit stood in the ‘Eers path for that tenth victory of the year.

Howard only completed 11 of his 26 passes, but didn’t have any turnovers and threw two scores. He also punched one in from a yard out on the ground for the eventual game-winning score in the 4th quarter. A lot of people have been critical of Howard’s play lately, and over the course of his career, but they need to be quiet. Any quarterback that can get you three scores without a turnover is a quarterback I want in my corner.

He was without his second-leading receiver in Ka’Raun White, and was working with running backs he hadn’t seen in game action a whole lot lately. Justin Crawford showed up of course, eclipsing the 200-yard mark on the ground for the second time in his short Mountaineer tenure.

This game was all about Tony Gibson and his defense, though. You’ve heard it. We’ve been saying it. DAWGS – Defense Always Wins Games. What a perfect moniker for this unit. After countless stops and a handful of Baylor turnovers, the WVU defense needed to rise to the occasion one more time.

They were up 24-21 and needed a stop. After two first downs, pre-season All-Big 12 selection Noble Nwachukwu got to the quarterback for a sack and forced a fumble. If you watched the play, it was a little goofy, but ended up being awarded correctly to the Mountaineers. This play sealed it for Holgorsen; his first 10-win season while being a part of the Big 12 Conference. Oh, and pregame, the school signed Holgorsen to a five-year deal, worth $18.6 million in total. It’s safe to say the present – and the future – are in good hands at West Virginia.