MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — For the first time in seven weeks, West Virginia takes the field following a win for Saturday’s noon matchup with Colorado.
The Mountaineers (3-6, 1-5) look to continue building momentum down the stretch in a contest airing on TNT and TruTV, while the Buffaloes (3-6, 1-5) are out to steady the ship after losing consecutive contests by a combined total of 81 points.
“Our guys know what the situation is and we have some good teams on the schedule. All we have to worry about right now is us,” West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez said. “That’s what we’ve done the last couple weeks. We’re worried about us coming off the ball and doing what we’re supposed to do. Trying not to make a lot of mistakes.”
A pair of true freshman quarterbacks will lead their respective offenses.West Virginia’s Scotty Fox Jr. set to make his fourth career and consecutive start, while Colorado is turning to heralded recruit Julian Lewis after he played extensively in last week’s loss to Arizona.
Fox has progressed well over his last two outings, having completed 41-of-63 passes for 458 yards with three touchdowns and no turnovers. Fox also rushed for 65 yards and a pair of scores in West Virginia’s 45-35 triumph last Saturday at Houston, which bounced back Friday with a three-point win at Central Florida to improve to 8-2.
West Virginia found its footing on the ground early and often against the Cougars, largely controlling the line of scrimmage to pave the way for tailbacks Diore Hubbard and Cyncir Bowers to combine for 173 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
Considering Colorado ranks last by a wide margin in the Big 12 with 215.8 rushing yards allowed on average, that figures to again be a focal point for WVU, which is second in the conference with 400 rushing attempts and seventh with nearly 184 yards per game.
The Mountaineers’ defense will try to make things tough on Lewis, a five-star recruit getting the nod after inconsistent play from Kaiden Salter and discouraging recent play from Ryan Staub, who was intercepted on both passing attempts against the Wildcats.
Against Arizona, Lewis completed 9-of-17 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown, but bright spots have been few and far between lately for CU, which won nine games a season ago and has struggled in Deion Sanders’ third season as head coach.
“I’m not happy by any means. We’re underachieving and I have to fix it,” Sanders said.
Perhaps Lewis can offer hope for the present and future.
“He got the ball out and saw what was coming or happening in certain situations,” Sanders said. “He tried to apply the information he was receiving through the headset. He was more talkative to his teammates. What I mean by that, is you have to communicate with your linemen, backs and receivers and let them know that you’re in control, because they’re looking for leadership.”
Salter trails tailback Micah Welch by just 20 yards for team leader in rushing, and Welch, who has rushed for 313 yards on the season, has been limited to 63 on 26 carries over the last three games.
Wideouts Omarion Miller and Joseph Williams have both been productive, combining for 55 receptions, 907 yards and nine touchdowns to aid a passing game that produces more yards than only WVU and Oklahoma State among Big 12 teams.
“They’ve had a couple tough games,” Rodriguez said, “but if you look at where the program was when he got there a couple years ago and the profile they’re at right now, he’s done an amazing job to get Colorado to that level.”
Whereas West Virginia has a solid plus-4 turnover margin after finishing with that same figure against Houston, the Buffaloes are in the bottom 20 nationally in that category at minus-6, having forced only eight turnovers all season.
“Defensively, we can play a whole lot better, but we created some turnovers that made a difference in the game,” Rodriguez said. “Part of the lesson is you don’t have to play perfect. You’re going to make mistakes and things are going to happen, but if you play with great effort and conviction and everybody is into the game, it gives us a shot.”
