Baylor 62, West Virginia 38: Five things we learned

The Mountaineers are anchored by a strong secondary, even without safety Karl Joseph, who was lost for the season with a knee injury two weeks ago. WVU allowed 6.2 yards per pass attempt through the air entering the game to rank 31st in the country. Cornerback Daryl Worley was one player getting a lot of love, and Corey Coleman made him look foolish. 

Coleman had 98 yards and a score just five minutes into the game and finished with 10 catches for 199 yards and three touchdowns. Russell threw for 380 yards and averaged 11.1 yards per pass attempt. Jarrett Stidham threw a 9-yard touchdown on his only pass attempt.

Don't feel too bad, though, WVU. Baylor has scored 50-plus in each of its six games this season.

Coleman is just 5-10, but his route-running skills and speed are at such a higher level that the guys guarding him that he could be a foot shorter and still dominate.

Coleman had 10 catches for 199 yards and three scores without playing much in the final quarter. He had catches of 50, 41, 33 and 33 yards and just one pass in his direction fell incomplete.

Coleman broke Baylor's single-season record for touchdowns catches with 15, and is on pace to break Troy Edwards' (La. Tech, 1997) Division I record of 27.

Empty red zone trips will kill you. Against Baylor, you may as well be digging your own grave. Opponents were attempting just .5 field goals per game against the Bears this season, lowest in FBS. That's because you can't beat Baylor with field goals, unless you can stop its offense. And you can't do that.

West Virginia settled for two field goal attempts in the first half, from 25 and 35 yards out, and missed the second. It entered the locker room down 27-17 and had the Mountaineers gone for and converted on just one of those two possessions, it would have been a one-score game.

We know Baylor is going to make big plays. The Bears rank in the top 10 in the FBS in offensive plays of 10-plus yards, 20-plus, 30-plus, etc.

But the defense was a little too susceptible to giving up big plays Saturday. Skyler Howard threw for 271 yards on his first 27 attempts (15 completions), then struggled down the stretch to finish 18 of 37 for 289 yards and four touchdowns.

Howard completed passes of 70, 41 and 35 yards in the first half.

The Bears are an absurd 38-18-1 against the spread since the start of 2011, the best mark in the country. Instead of sitting on leads, Baylor scores, and more often than not, it covers point spread by doing so.

West Virginia hung tough for much of this game, but an eight play, 70-yard drive followed by a one play, 52-yard drive at the end of the third quarter put the Bears in a position to win by at least three scores — oddsmakers set the Bears as 21-point favorites. And even with a late score, WVU couldn't cover the number and Baylor improved to 4-1 against the spread this season.