Grier leads WVU against young Texas Tech QB
West Virginia launched a Heisman Trophy campaign for Will Grier over the summer and the senior quarterback for the No. 12 Mountaineers has certainly backed it up.
So has Alan Bowman, the true freshman for No. 25 Texas Tech who got thrust into action because of injury early in the season opener. He is 3-0 as the starter and leads Division I with 389 passing yards per game under the tutelage of Red Raiders coach and former record-setting quarterback Kliff Kingsbury.
“Not surprisingly, he found himself another young quarterback that is as good as advertised from what I’ve seen,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. “Ever since he stepped in against Ole Miss, they’ve been playing at a very high level offensively. Kliff is doing a great job of mentoring that kid, training him, getting him ready to go, protecting him.”
After that season-opening loss, the Red Raiders (1-0 Big 12, 3-1) finished the non-conference schedule with 77 and 63 points in wins before starting Big 12 play with a convincing 41-17 victory at then-No. 15 Oklahoma State. Bowman has completed 72 percent of his passes with 10 touchdowns and two interceptions.
Holgorsen was an inside receivers coach for the Red Raiders during Kingsbury’s last three seasons as their quarterback.
The two coaches were later on staff together and roommates at Houston, and now face each other as Big 12 head coaches for the sixth time today. The Mountaineers (1-0, 3-0) have won the last four in the series, including a comeback 46-35 win last October. Grier threw five touchdowns, four in the final 20 minutes, as WVU scored the last 29 points to overcome an 18-point deficit.
Grier has thrown 14 TDs this season while throwing for 372 yards per game.
Pitt at UCF
Unbeaten and uninvited last year, UCF could still find its way into this year’s College Football Playoff.
That is, if the Knights keep winning.
CFP executive director Bill Hancock said that the Knights – who have the nation’s longest winning streak at 16 games – will again get evaluated the same way as every other team does when the committee that will ultimately decide the four playoff-bound teams this season gathers to crunch numbers and pick a field.
“Yes, there is a path,” Hancock said. “UCF got full consideration from the committee last year. I believe the committee at the end of the season had ranked UCF higher than the sports writers and the coaches had. So they got every consideration and they had a wonderful season.”
It just wasn’t wonderful enough.
UCF appeared in all six sets of CFP rankings last season – always as the lowest-ranked unbeaten.
UCF was behind four twice-beaten teams in the first rankings a year ago, then eight in the second set of rankings. Eventually, the CFP selectors had UCF behind three-loss teams and ended up putting the Knights at No. 12 in the final ranking.
The Knights are 3-0 this season and host Pitt (2-2) today.
Pitt is coming off a disappointing Atlantic Coast Conference road loss at North Carolina and is playing a ranked opponent for the second time in five games.
UCF’s McKenzie Milton-led offense against a Pitt defense that’s allowed 396.2 yards and 28.8 points per game.
The Knights scored touchdowns on eight of 12 possessions during last week’s 56-36 rout of Florida Atlantic and are averaging 587.7 yards and a nation-leading 50 points per game under first-year coach Josh Heupel.
The Panthers are playing a team with the nation’s longest winning streak for the second time over their last six games dating to last season. Pitt beat Miami 24-14 to stop the Hurricanes’ 15-game winning streak last November.