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LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) -- West Virginia will finish its season in a bowl game.
Sure beats Saturday night inside mostly empty Memorial Stadium in Kansas.
Jarret Doege threw for 170 yards and three touchdowns, Leddie Brown ran for 156 yards and another score, and the resilient Mountaineers held off the Jayhawks 34-28 to reach the six-win plateau that qualifies them for the postseason.
"It's not something we talked about with our team because when we hit the reset there during the bye week, I really felt like it was a week-to-week deal," said Mountaineers coach Neal Brown, whose team won four of its last six.
"Now we have a chance to finish the year with a three-game win streak," Brown added. "We have a chance to send the guys exiting out in the right manner. We have a chance to set the tone for next year."
Winston Wright Jr. had two TD catches and Tony Mathis Jr. added 118 yards rushing for the Mountaineers (6-6, 4-5 Big 12), who also got two picks in the end zone from Josh Chandler-Semedo in beating the Jayhawks for the eighth straight time.
Jalon Daniels gave Kansas (2-10, 1-8) a chance with his touchdown run with 1:46 left, but the Jayhawks had no timeouts left and were forced to try an onside kick. The Mountaineers recovered it and ran out the clock.
Gavin Potter had a pick-6 for the Jayhawks that made it 21-all in the second half. But the Jayhawks made too many mistakes on the other side of the ball, getting stopped three times on fourth down and finishing 3 of 6 in the red zone.
The Mountaineers finally took control late in the third quarter, though. Brown coasted 44 yards for a go-ahead score, then they stuffed the Jayhawks on fourth down and added a pair of field goals for a 34-21 lead that proved to be just enough.
"Credit our kids for finishing," Brown said. "We found a way."
THE TAKEAWAY
West Virginia played poorly enough that Brown is probably for the extra bowl practices. The Mountaineers were just 5 of 14 on third down, squandered a red zone chance of their own and gave up too many chunk plays on defense.