MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Garrett Greene threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Rodney Gallagher with 26 seconds left to lift West Virginia to a 32-28 victory over Kansas in their Big 12 opener Saturday.
The Mountaineers (2-2) overcame an 11-point deficit and withstood a lightning delay of about two hours with two touchdown passes by Greene in the final 3:27. It came a week after the Mountaineers squandered a 10-point lead in the final three minutes of a heartbreaking loss at Pittsburgh.
“Offensively, we just found a way,” coach Neal Brown said. “It wasn’t our best day. We didn’t have our ‘A’ game, but we finished well.”
Saturday’s outcome wasn’t decided until West Virginia’s Tyrin Bradley stripped the ball from Jalon Daniels on a pass attempt and Bradley recovered it with 8 seconds left. Bradley also had the team’s first interception of the season in the first quarter.
Kansas appeared to be in control when wide receiver Luke Grimm went 32 yards down the left sideline for a touchdown with 5:39 left for a 28-17 lead.
“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 been shaky up until that point, then took over. He hit Kole Taylor with an 8-yard TD toss, and Taylor caught the two-point conversion pass from Traylon Ray.
After Kansas was forced to punt, Greene ran for 25 yards on the winning drive. A pass interference call in the end zone on Mello Dotson of Kansas gave the Mountaineers first-and-goal at the 10. A false start pushed the ball back to the 15 before Greene hit Gallagher in the end zone for the final margin.
“I always want the ball in my hands at the end of the game,” Greene said.
West Virginia’s Hudson Clement caught seven passes for 150 yards.
Greene, who also had a 5-yard scoring run, completed 15 of 30 passes for 295 yards. He also led the Mountaineers with 87 rushing yards on on 17 carries.
“I may coach for a long time and may never have another guy that’s as competitive as he is,” Brown said.
Devin Neal rushed for 110 yards for Kansas (1-3). It was his fourth straight 100-yard game this season.
Burks hurt
Brown said defensive back Aubrey Burks was walking around and “in good spirits” and that medical tests on him were “clear” after Burks was removed from the sideline on a cart in the second quarter with what the coach described as an upper body injury. Burks initially was tended to while the West Virginia offense was on the field.
“It must have happened during a play but he didn’t have symptoms until he came out,” Brown said.
Last year Burks was injured making a tackle on a punt at TCU and had to have his neck immobilized. He missed one game with a concussion.
The takeaway
Kansas: KU has lost three straight. The Jayhawks are in a free fall after starting the season ranked.
“We’ve been in situations worse than this,” Grimm said. “We sucked when I was first here. We came from way worse than what we are right now. So we’re not worried at all.”
West Virginia: The Mountaineers showed some mettle in the comeback win, but the schedule doesn’t get any easier with the next three games against ranked opponents and three of the next five games on the road.
Up next
Kansas: Hosts TCU next Saturday.
West Virginia: Has a week off before playing at No. 14 Oklahoma State on Oct. 5.
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