MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - If you haven't already done so, it might be a
good idea to get your ticket for Saturday's West Virginia-Oklahoma State showdown at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Why?
Well beyond the obvious, it's going to feature a rare matchup between two high-profile, NFL-caliber quarterbacks in Oklahoma State's Mason Rudolph and West Virginia's
Will Grier.
Milan Puskar Stadium has provided a venue for many top-notch college quarterbacks since it first opened in 1980, but there have not been that many featuring two pro-level passers on this field at the same time.
In 2012, West Virginia's Geno Smith matched up against Oklahoma's Landry Jones and the two treated WVU fans to a combined 99 total points and more than 1,400 total yards in the Sooners' last second, 50-49 victory.
A year earlier, Louisville's Teddy Bridgewater and Smith battled it out here at Milan Puskar Stadium.
Before that, the other marquee quarterback matchups were fairly sparse.
There was Marc Bulger vs. Michael Vick for one half in 1999, Bulger against Donovan McNabb in 1998 and Bulger vs. Chad Pennington in '97, although both were young and unestablished at the time. Prior to that, we were looking at 1982 when Jeff Hostetler faced Maryland's Boomer Esiason, Boston College's Doug Flutie and former Penn State teammate Todd Blackledge, who will be part of ABC's broadcast team on Saturday.
That's it.
As of Monday morning, West Virginia football sports information director
Mike Montoro said he has already credentialed eight NFL scouts for Saturday's game, and he expects to receive more requests throughout the week.
When you've got an opportunity to see two guys of this caliber on the same field, it makes it worth your while to make the trip to Morgantown.
And these two guys make it worth your while.
"Obviously there is a lot more information on Rudolph as opposed to Will," West Virginia coach
Dana Holgorsen said earlier today. "We've been competing against this guy for four years, it seems like. Mason is really mature. He's a big, tall, good-looking dude that throws the ball extremely well.
"He has a great knowledge of their offense, and he has a really good relationship with probably one of the best receiving corps in college football."
Grier, in only seven games at WVU so far, is already breaking records left and right for the 5-2 Mountaineers, ranked 22
nd in the country this week. His seven consecutive 300-yard passing games to begin his WVU career are a record, as are his back-to-back five touchdown passes against Texas Tech and Baylor.
"He's had a lot of success," Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said of Grier. "His completion percentage and his touchdown-to-interception ratio and such are very good. He has fit well into their system and he's playing with a lot of confidence from what it looks like to me when I watch him on video."
The former Florida transfer's numbers through seven games are very impressive: 177-of-267 for 2,467 yards with 26 touchdowns and just five interceptions.
This week, Grier ranks first in the country in touchdown passes, first in touchdowns responsible for, fourth in passing yards and fifth in passing efficiency.
One of the guys Grier is chasing is Rudolph, a Rock Hill, South Carolina, resident who grew up not too far down the road from where Grier grew up in Davidson, North Carolina.
In 2017, Rudolph is putting the finishing touches on one of the most accomplished passing careers in Big 12 history.
Entering Saturday's game, the 6-foot-5-inch, 230-pounder has thrown for more than 11,000 yards with 74 touchdowns and a completion percentage better than 63 percent.
This season, he ranks first in the country in passing yards, first in passing yards per game, second in yards per completion, third in passing efficiency and fourth in points responsible for. That breaks down into 161-of-242 for 2,650 yards with 19 touchdowns and just four interceptions.
Rudolph has the Cowboys ranked 11
th in the country this week and has them right there in contention for one of two spots in this year's Big 12 Championship game being played in Arlington, Texas.
Standing in Rudolph's way is
Will Grier and Co., also in the hunt to reach Arlington.
"With Will, it's still new to him," Holgorsen said. "It's still year one for Will. He's got a lot of experience obviously. They're both very seasoned guys, though. They're both older guys – very mature guys – but Will is still trying to establish his timing with more than just a couple of guys.
"We know it exists with Gary (Jennings Jr.) and with David (Sills V), and we're trying to get it with a couple of other guys. That's what Oklahoma State has right now that we're still lacking."
Indeed, these are two big-time college quarterbacks meeting for the first time on Saturday afternoon in Morgantown.
It could be the first of many future meetings down the road.