Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Big 12 showdown features ex-SEC QBs
FORT WORTH, Texas — TCU senior quarterback Kenny Hill and West Virginia’s Will Grier took similar paths to the Big 12 and face off in the only game between two Top 25 teams today.
Before becoming the starter last season for eighthranked TCU (4-0, 1-0 Big 12), Hill had to sit out a year after transferring from Texas A&M. Grier also first started in the SEC in five games as a redshirt freshman at Florida. Then he sat out a year before his debut this season with the 23rd-ranked Mountaineers.
Grier and Hill are both good passers who can also run in high-scoring offenses and are backed by the Big 12’s top two rushing teams.
“[Hill] was fortunate to be able to be at A&M and play at a high level … but then he had to go through some transition, which always kind of sets people back,” West Virginia Coach Dana Holgorsen said. “Not a whole lot different than what we would get out of Will Grier a year from now.”
Now a junior, Grier has thrown for 344 yards a game with 13 touchdowns at West Virginia (3-1, 1-0 Big 12).
“He’s a smart quarterback, he knows what he’s doing,” TCU safety Niko Small said. “He’s in a good offense for himself. He’s a mobile quarterback. … Just containing him will be the best thing for us.”
Hill, who threw for 3,208 yards with 17 TDs and 13 interceptions last year, has been efficient this season for the Horned Frogs. He has thrown for 241 yards per game with 9 TDs and only 3 picks.
“They’re running the ball a good bit, they’re not asking him to sit back there and throw the ball 90 percent of the time. He’s got a lot of good people around him but he is managing it extremely well,” Holgorsen said of Hill. “A very, very, very efficient quarterback at this point.”
TCU leads the Big 12 with 232.2 yards rushing per game, just ahead of West Virginia’s 231 per game. Mountaineers senior Justin Crawford is the league leader at 113 per game, while Frogs sophomore Darius Anderson has emerged with top returning rusher Kyle Hicks already missing two games, and is third in the league at 106 yards per game. Crawford and Anderson are tied for the Big 12 lead with six rushing TDs each.
The first three games between the Mountaineers and Frogs as Big 12 teams were all decided at the very end, twice in overtime. TCU won the 2012 game on the road in double overtime, West Virginia had an overtime victory in Fort Worth the next year, and the Frogs won on a game-ending field goal in Morgantown in 2014. The home teams won more decisively the last two years: TCU by 30 points in 2015 and West Virginia by 24 last year.
After opening the season unranked, TCU starts October in the AP Top 10. The Horned Frogs insist they don’t listen to the hype any more than they listen to the critics. Coach Gary Patterson makes sure they think that way.
“He lets us know that the same people that will hype you will tear you down,” Small said. “We try to make it not affect us whatsoever.”
Since a season-opening loss to Virginia Tech, the Mountaineers have scored at least 56 points while winning their last three games.
WVU’s David Sills V has seven receiving TDs to tie for the national lead.