The first time Baylor visited Mountaineer Field, fans’ heads shifted back-and-forth in a manner more befitting tennis than football. Offenses soared and huge plays piled up as West Virginia pulled out a 70-63 win in that 2012 game.
The Baylor program that visits Thursday night is nowhere near the same in more ways than one. Gone is Art Briles’ high-octane offense. But also gone is Briles’ blindness towards a spate of sexual assaults that shook the team and the campus to its core.
The rebuild of every aspect of the program is in its second year under former Temple coach Matt Rhule, and the Bears are making progress.