West Virginia defeats No. 25 Virginia 38-27 in Duke’s Mayo Classic

West Virginia defeated No. 25 Virginia 38-27 in the Duke’s Mayo Classic inside Bank of America Stadium on Saturday night in Charlotte, North Carolina. West Virginia improved to 3-0 for the first time since 2018. In that same season, West Virginia won 40-14 against Tennessee in Charlotte. Michael Hawkins finished the game with 313 total yards and five touchdowns, with three of them coming on the ground. West Virginia received the opening kickoff and quickly went three-and-out. Virginia took a 7-0 lead with 6:19 in the first quarter after running back Jekail Middlebrook scored from eight yards out. The drive lasted 12 plays for 62 yards, with 39 coming on the ground. Virginia became the first team to score on West Virginia in the first half this season after two weeks of play. West Virginia responded on its next drive with Cam Cook and Hawkins leading the way. After a pass interference by Virginia, Cook broke through traffic and ran for 23 yards. Then, on 3rd and 5 from Virginia’s 36-yard line, Hawkins ran for 17 yards on a quarterback keeper. Hawkins then scored West Virginia’s first touchdown of the game from 13 yards out, tying the game 7-7 with 4:09 remaining in the first quarter. With seven seconds remaining in the first quarter, Virginia took a 14-7 lead after running back Xavier Brown scored a 47-yard touchdown. Hawkins started the second quarter by finding wide receiver Jaden Bray for 29 yards, before West Virginia converted a 4th-and-1 four plays later. After an illegal formation penalty pushed West Virginia from 3rd-and-2 to a 3rd-and-7, Hawkins responded by finding wideout DJ Epps for a 29-yard score. The game was tied 14-14 with 11:49 left in the second quarter. After multiple punts by both squads in the second quarter, West Virginia broke the tie with 26 seconds to go in the second quarter. With 1:44 left in the second quarter and no timeouts, West Virginia’s offense had to drive 70 yards to score. Hawkins found Epps on a 41-yard pass, and then capped the drive off with a 15-yard quarterback keeper. West Virginia led Virginia 21-14 at halftime, and Hawkins had three total touchdowns and 184 total yards. West Virginia had 250 yards of offense and limited quarterback Beau Pribula to just 43 passing yards in the first half. In the second quarter, the defense allowed just 32 yards of offense after surrendering 136 yards during Virginia’s first three drives. At the 7:09 mark of the third quarter, Virginia tied the game at 21 after Pribula hit Middlebrook for a 1-yard touchdown. Virginia converted a key 4th-and-10, setting up the game-tying touchdown. The Mountaineers took a 28-21 lead with 12 seconds left in the third quarter after Hawkins found Epps for his second passing touchdown of the game. The pair connected for a 21-yard score on 3rd-and-7 from Virginia’s 21-yard line. The drive was highlighted by a 17-yard completion to John Neider on the first play and an 11-yard rush by Cook, setting West Virginia up at Virginia’s 24-yard line. A missed 39-yard field goal by Virginia kicker Will Bettridge with 9:13 left in the fourth quarter kept the score 28-21 for West Virginia. On the play before, linebacker Ashton Woods sacked Pribula, setting up the 4th-and-16. West Virginia capitalized on Virginia’s misfortune and took a 35-21 lead with 5:24 remaining in the fourth quarter. Hawkins ran in his third rushing touchdown of the game from five yards out. Virginia was forced into four-down territory and the West Virginia defense took a stand, sacking Pribula on 4th-and-5. Kicker Jack Cassidy drilled a 21-yard field goal with 1:57 left in the game, giving West Virginia a 38-21 lead. With 21 seconds in the fourth quarter Pribula found John Rogers for a touchdown, making it 38-27. A failed two-point conversion kept the score the same. The Mountaineers return home to take on Oklahoma State with kickoff set for 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sep. 26. Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan Like us on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok