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AUSTIN, Texas - A year ago, West Virginia quarterback Will Grier saw his season come to an end when he suffered a broken finger on his throwing hand in WVU's 28-14 loss to Texas in Morgantown.
Fast forward to last night's rematch featuring a No. 13 (CFP) West Virginia squad (7-1, 5-1 Big 12) in need of a victory over a No. 17 ranked Texas team (6-3, 4-2 Big 12) looking to keep its hopes alive for a berth in the Big 12 championship game.
As expected, the game was a back and forth affair with the Longhorns grabbing a 41-34 on a Sam Ehlinger 48-yard scoring toss to Devin Duvernay with 2:34 left on the clock.
But that proved to be more than enough time for Grier and Company.
Taking over on its 25 the Moutaineers put together seven-play, 75-yard drive to pull within one, 41-40, when Grier found senior Gary Jennings Jr. in the back of the end zone from 33 yards out to set up some frantic moments on the ensuing extra point.
Grier ran in the 2-point conversion to give the Mountaineers the lead.
"That was an easy decision," WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen explained about his decision to go for two points instead of going for the tie and overtime. "When you have No. 7 (Grier) out there and you have No. 13 (David Sills V) on offense it makes those decisions easy."
The duo made their veteran head coach look smart when Grier, who completed 28 of 42 attempts for 346 yards and three touchdowns, hit Sills with their patented slant pass.
However, just before the ball was snapped, Texas coach Tom Herman called time out negating the go-ahead two-pointer.
"I just knew I had to do it," said Grier. "Staying on my feet helped. But the line blocked through the whistle. It (scoring the two-point conversion) was just a great way to end it."
Texas did get one last opportunity to pull out a win when WVU was flagged for an unsportsmanlike penalty, forcing sophomore kicker Evan Staley to kick off from the Mountaineers' 20-yard line.
UT's Lil' Jordan Humphrey hauled in Staley's kick at his 20 and returned it back to the Longhorns' 41. But, Ehlinger's pass fell incomplete leaving only one tick remaining on the clock and WVU's prevent unit was more than prepared for the hosts' hook and lateral attempt on the game's final play.
"We knew it was going to be a crazy game," Holgorsen said. "They needed to win this one, but we found a way how to do it (Saturday)."
The first half of football was a game of attrition.
That fact was never more evident than Saturday afternoon at Darrell K. Royal-Memorial Stadium as No. 13 West Virginia looked to keep itself in the hunt for a first Big 12 championship against a No. 17 University of Texas squad needing a victory to keep its hopes of a berth in the Big 12 championship game alive.
UT's Davante Davis was the first to see his day come to a close when the Longhorns' senior cornerback suffered a shoulder injury while attempting to bring down the Mountaineers' Kennedy McKoy.
Next it was Texas All-American candidate Breckyn Hager sent to the locker room early with a shoulder injury.
Then, it was West Virginia's turn to lose a player, but not to injury. The Mountaineers had just scored on a 60-yard Will Grier to David Sills V completion to retake the lead. Following Evan Staley's successful PAT redshirt senior Yodny Cajuste was flagged for an unsportsmanlike penalty and ejected from the game by the officiating crew.
Lost in the midst of all of the penalties - WVU 12 for 95 yards, UT 6 for 54 - was a pretty good back-and-forth showdown. The visitors had 348 yards of total offense in the opening 30 minutes while Texas finished with 266 total yards and a 28-27 lead at the intermission.
"Yea, I'd say so,"Holgorsen said while heading in to the locker room at the half. "Big 12 football at it's best here. We had some things go against us, but our guys have hung in there."