Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Tony's Take - Football Friday
October 01, 2021 07:00 PM | Football, Tony's Take
Radio play-by-play announcer Tony Caridi provides periodic commentary on the Mountaineer football program for WVUsports.com. Be sure to follow him on Twitter @TonyCaridi. Tony's Take is presented by Encova.MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Want to be the smartest guy or girl in your group while watching the Mountaineers and Texas Tech on Saturday? Pull up a chair; I got something for ya.
Just sprinkle in a few of these fancy-dancy factoids that will make you the undisputed sage of your gridiron tribe.
Let them know the first time WVU and Texas Tech played the Mountaineers took a train from Grafton to El Paso, Texas. Grafton used to be THE epicenter of train travel. You can look it up. The long choo-choo trip didn't faze the Old Gold and Blue, and the Mountaineers beat the Red Raiders in the Sun Bowl by a final score of 7-6.
WVU great Harry "Flash" Clarke rolled up 132 yards on the ground. West Virginia attempted just nine passes and ran the ball 53 times. That, my friends, is what you call old school.
If becoming the class historian doesn't wow your people, how about this one?
Texas Tech's Neal Brown beat the Mountaineers with Jarret Doege's brother at quarterback in their first-ever meeting as Big 12 members. Brown, serving as offensive coordinator, called the plays as Seth Doege threw six touchdown passes in a 49-14 romp over No. 5 WVU.
How about hitting them with this little gem? Mountaineer quarterback Skyler Howard was undefeated against current NFL superstar and former Red Raider Patrick Mahomes. Howard, who didn't receive a single FBS scholarship offer coming out of high school, was 2-0 against the future Super Bowl champion.
But wait, there's more.
Tell your buddies about the time WVU scored 17 points with less than six minutes remaining to beat the Red Raiders on a walk-off 55-yard field goal. That 2014 game in Lubbock featured seven Mountaineers (Adam Pankey, Quinton Spain, Mark Glowinski, Kevin White, Nick Kwiatkoski, Karl Joseph and Daryl Worley) who are still on NFL rosters.
If you haven't wowed them yet, I'd be surprised.
But here's your mic-drop info nugget.
Let them know that a WVU head coach left Morgantown to become the head coach at Texas Tech. After spending four successful seasons in Morgantown (1966-69) Jim Carlen became the head coaching of the Red Raiders. Carlen, who led WVU to the Peach Bowl in 1969 with a 10-1 record, took the Red Raiders to four bowls in five seasons before departing to become the head coach at South Carolina.
What interesting fact will come out of this Saturday's game? Let's find out together, we'll see you on the radio.
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