West Virginia Defeats Army in AutoZone Liberty Bowl
West Virginia finishes their season with a 6-4 record and wins their first bowl game under head coach Neal Brown by defeating Army 24-21 in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
Army won the coin toss and elected to defer to the 2nd half, giving West Virginia the ball to start the game.
The Mountaineers moved the ball right down the field, mainly on the legs of Leddie Brown, but Army locked down and forced a field goal attempt on the opening drive. Kicker Tyler Sumpter missed a 37-yard field goal, but West Virginia's defense gave the ball right back to their offense just three plays later.
Junior quarterback Jarret Doege held onto the ball too long and made his first mistake of the day by throwing an interception to Javhari Bourdeau. Army had great field position starting in West Virginia territory, but the Mountaineer defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage and forced a turnover on downs.
Leddie Brown got things rolling for the West Virginia offense on their next drive with a 9-yard run on 2nd down, followed by a defensive holding call that gave the Mountaineers an automatic first down. On the next play, Doege found a wide-open Sean Ryan for a 28-yard pickup, moving the ball down inside the Army 17-yard line. Once again, the Mountaineers offense stalled out and had to trot out Tyler Sumpter for another field goal attempt. This time, Sumpter knocked it through from 31 yards to notch the game's first three points.
Army finally found their footing offensively by running the ball on the outside instead of into the teeth of the West Virginia defense. The Black Knights ate up over seven minutes off the clock on a 14-play, 74-yard scoring drive that resulted in a one-yard rushing touchdown by quarterback Tyhier Tyler.
West Virginia pieced together a nice ensuing drive in response geared by Doege and the passing game. True freshman Sam Brown had his coming out party, catching three passes on the drive for 42 yards. The 2nd catch was intended for Winston Wright Jr. but was thrown a tad high, tipped off his hands and into Brown's. Later in the drive, Doege dropped one in the bucket to Wright while moving toward the line of scrimmage, which went for a gain of 18. Three plays later, Doege connected with T.J. Simmons in the end zone to get the Mountaineers back on top, 10-7.
Army was unable to move the ball, so Neal Brown used all of his timeouts to stop the clock and get the ball back one last time before the half. Unfortunately, it backfired for the Mountaineers due to a Jarret Doege fumble inside the 10 that was recovered by Ryan Duran. It only took two plays for Army to regain the lead, thanks to a 6-yard rush by quarterback Tyhier Tyler.
Army led West Virginia at the half, 14-10.
The Black Knights continued to execute on the offensive side of the ball and chewed off the first eight minutes of the 3rd quarter gashing West Virginia's defense run after run. Tyhier Tyler ran in his third touchdown of the day to give Army its biggest lead of the day, 21-10.
After going 15/25 and turning the ball over twice, WVU head coach Neal Brown benched Jarret Doege for Austin Kendall. The move appeared to be the right decision as Kendall led the offense right down the field for a touchdown. He found tight end Mike O'Laughlin on a short pass near the goal line to make it a one-score game. Down five, Brown elected to go for two to make it a three-point deficit. West Virginia shifted the offensive line to the left to set up a screen for T.J. Simmons, but he dropped the pass, keeping the game at 21-16.
Knowing that time is precious in the 2nd half, Brown called for an onside kick following the touchdown, and West Virginia safety Alonzo Addae hopped on top of it to get the ball right back. Kendall took a shot down the field to Sam James on the first play and threw it a little too far. Leddie Brown rushed for a gain of two on 2nd down, and Kendall tried to hit Wright along the sideline on 3rd down, but he landed out of bounds.
On West Virginia's next drive, Kendall took a shot downfield to Bryce Ford-Wheaton on 3rd down and drew the defensive pass interference penalty to keep the drive alive. Then, Kendall was faced with yet another 3rd and long and completed a 13-yard pass to Sam James for a 14-yard gain. Kendall remained in sync and found T.J. Simmons in the corner of the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown to put the Mountaineers back on top 22-21. Neal Brown went for two to make it a three-point game, and it was successful. Kendall took off to the left and tossed the ball to freshman receiver Reese Smith who took it back right and into the end zone. With 5:10 remaining, West Virginia had a 24-21 lead.
Following the score, the Mountaineers gave the Black Knights terrific field position with a free-kick out of bounds. After pounding the football seemingly all game, Army opened up the passing game on a pass from Christian Anderson to Chris Cameron for a huge gain of 32. West Virginia strapped down once again and forced Army to kick a 39-yard field goal, which was missed by Quinn Maretzki.
Army came up with a stop defensively and used all three timeouts to get the football back with less than two minutes left. However, linebacker Josh Chandler-Semedo came up with the game-sealing interception to win the game for West Virginia.
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