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MORGANTOWN -- If America was looking for something exciting to do on a Thursday night, it found it on FS1 as West Virginia and Baylor made everyone forget about the opening of hockey season, the NFL, the baseball playoffs.
The game had everything except a Mountaineer defeat as WVU survived one of the wildest, weirdest games that 42-year-old Mountaineer Field has ever seen, beating the Bears, 43-40
"The people who came out here tonight saw a hell of a football game. Those who didn't come out didn't," coach Neal Brown said.
The crowd was 45,293.
In many ways is was like the 2012 game that introduced the Mountaineers to the Big 12 against the same Baylor team; that game ending 70-63 as the teams traded thrills almost every series.
This was no different, with the two teams combining for 1,090 yards, Baylor owning 590 of them and WVU 500.
But, with all that offense, it was a 22-yard field goal by Casey Legg that won it, a game-winning field goal that never would have been kicked were it not for a courageous West Virginia defense.
The Mountaineers scored on a 65-yard fumble recovery return by Jasir Cox, by a PAT block by Dante Stills that was scooped up by Jacolby Spells and returned 87 yards for two points, a couple of fumble recoveries and an interception.
"Defensively, so proud of those kids, man. We had about four guys lost for the game and we just kept fighting, made some turnovers," Brown said, his first Big 12 win of the season tucked away among a record that jumped to 3-3.
But that does not take away from the offense, that turned to its running game to survive, rushing for 217 yards against a Baylor team that had allowed only 98 rushing yards coming into the game.
Tony Mathis rose to new heights in the second half, rushing for 163 yards in 22 carries with two touchdowns, including a 34-yard touchdown that gave WVU the lead at 40-37.
"We challenged Tony to be the Tony Mathis he was at the end of last season," running back coach Chad Scott said.
"Our guys showed some grit," Brown said.
Mathis was joined by Justin Johnson Jr., who gained 45 yards and a touchdown on the ground; it eased the absence of CJ Donaldson, who missed the game with a concussion.
Directing it all was quarterback JT Daniels, who completed 24 of 37 passes for 283 yards and touchdown.
The Mountaineers survived a first-half bombardment from Baylor quarterback Blake Shapen, who passed for more than 300 yards despite having to leave the game with an injury after he was tackled by cornerback Andrew Wilson-Lamp, who was ejected for targeting.
It wasn't a passing fancy for Shapen. It was fancy passing.
By halftime, he had 294 yards and Baylor led, 24-17.
That's halftime … and while this comes from an accomplished QB -- he was the MVP in the Big 12 Championship Game last year -- he isn't known as one of those Texas gunslingers who have given the conference its reputation for obscene quarterback statistics.
"What Shapen as done is not turned the ball over. He gets the ball out of his hand fast and he's a capable runner," Brown said prior to the game.
But what his main traits are have nothing to do with picking apart the Mountaineer defense.
"They like him because he's got some toughness and some leadership capabilities," Brown said.
It seems, however, that every quarterback becomes an Air Raid quarterback against the Mountaineers depleted and deleted secondary.
After his first pass of the game was incomplete on third down, turning the ball over to WVU where they looked extremely sharp going down for their first score on a tough 7-yard run by Mathis, he went to work.
Upon getting the ball back Shapen completed three first-down passes while driving to a field goal, then opened the second quarter with a 56-yard strike to Gavin Holmes, who would wind up with four catches for 157 yards before halftime.
That set up a 1-yard touchdown rush by 260-pound tight end Ben Sims and Baylor had a 17-7 lead.
WVU countered with a field goal from the automatic Legg to cut it to 17-10 and then brought the Mountaineer crowd to life on a rare big early play by the defense, Sean Martin knocking the ball loose while sacking Shapen.
Linebacker Jasir Cox scooped it up and motored home 65 yards for a touchdown that well may have changed the game.
Instead, it only angered Shapen and Baylor and it took them just 1:14 to go 75 yards to get the lead touchdown on a 36-yard pass to Holmes for the score.
But there was another half to play and WVU got the ball and began down the field on one of those long drives that have become their trademark.
In the midst of it, misfortune hit Baylor as that 358-pound nose guard Siaki Ika was buried on a running play by WVU's own All-America center Zach Frazier and guard James Gmiter and was laid out on the field.
After being down for a while, he got off under his own power but was suffering on the sideline.
And that's where he was when WVU tied the game, 24-24, on a 24-yard slant over the middle from Daniels to Kaden Prather.
This one may have been in the third quarter but it was like they were starting over as Baylor, picking a fourth-down conversion and with a trio of big plays moved deep into WVU territory when their worst dream came true.
Shapen rolled right and slid, only to be hit head on by cornerback Andrew Wilson-Lamp. The play drew a flag for roughness with targeting added on. Wilson-Lamp left the game and will miss the first half against Texas Tech.
But Shapen also left the game and headed to the locker room. While he was there, his back up, freshman Kyron Drones wound up facing a fourth-and-3 on the 3.
Undaunted, he hit Hal Presley for the touchdown and Baylor was back on top at 31-24.
Things were just heating, though. Daniels wasn't about to take a back seat to Shapen or his replacement and he led the Mountaineers on another scoring drive, this one capped off with a 19-yard dash up the middle by Jackson Jr. for a score and it was tied again.
Drones wasn't playing like a freshman as he marched the Bears right down the field in what was becoming more a video game than real football, ending with Qualan Jones taking it the final four yards for another go-ahead score.
It was now 37-31 with the conversion coming, but it was hardly automatic as Stills broke through to block it, Spells grabbing it and streaking down the sideine 87 yards to give the 2-point conversion to WVU, narrowing the Baylor lead to 37-33 early in the fourth quarter.
WVU now started a drive of their own, moved into Baylor territory but faced a fourth-and-1, tried Mathis and Baylor stuffed it, taking over just on its side of midfield.
Things now looked dark for the Mountaineers, but it took them only two plays to get the ball back, Cox recovering Jones' fumble.
All of a sudden WVU was a turnover machine after having no success all year in that area.
Daniels went to work immediately, helped out by a pair of 10 degree of difficulty catches by Bryce Ford-Wheaton and Prather, then gave the ball to Mathis who broke loose on the left and hustled 34 yards into the end zone to put WVU up, 40-37, with 7:06 left to play.
Baylor tied it with a field goal before Legg took them out of their Morgantown misery, having lost all six of their trips here.