Welcome, WV Mountaineers.

[Duhwayne]

Just leaving a marker for visiting Mountaineers fans. We hope you’ll stick around and we can trade info on our teams since neither has probably seen the other play much this year. 

Top question for me is the status on Grier. Heard he is a stud but injured. What happened and what’s the prognosis?

 

[SalUteopia]

Status uncertain.

https://www.si.com/college-football/2017/11/20/will-grier-injury-broken-finger-west-virginia

[MountaineerLegion]

Greetings Utes!

Duhwayne – Yes Grier is a stud. He transferred in from Florida where he won his first 6 games as a freshman. He then was dinged by the NCAA for an illegal substance that was in an over the counter supplement. He is without a doubt the best QB we’ve had since Geno Smith and arguably further back than that.

#8 YPG
#15 YDS
#7 TD (He was #1 when he broke his finger)
#7 QBR

Those rankings include the fact he’s played 1-2 fewer games than other leaders.

He has very good arm strength and throws an accurate deep ball.

He broke the middle finger of his throwing hand while diving for the end zone pylon. No one in our fanbase knows for sure if he’ll play but those who stayed in a Holiday Express last night are saying he will not play. My guess is no one, not even his doctor, will know until closer to the game.

I wouldn’t describe the injury as gore, more like ugly, but I didn’t want to get on the wrong side of the mods so I didn’t post the picture but they’re all over the internet.

Our back up QB, Chugunov, simply doesn’t have the same talent. He’s gutsy and by no means a bad QB but we will definitely be at a disadvantage without Grier.

[Tony (admin)]

Welcome @MountaineerLegion and thanks for the comments. Keep ’em coming. Feel free to ask us about our team/players. You’ll get some good information, albeit some sarcastic responses as well.  Tell your friends to drop by and join the discussion.

[Virginia Ute]

Thanks for the info. I’m looking forward to this game against WV. After a lackluster season for us, I am very pleasantly surprised with this bowl game and matchup. 

[EagleMountainUte]

I love this stuff and you should be talking this up more. Man this Grier kid has big balls. Took it like a man walked over and let them reset it.

https://youtu.be/9INUjZ01gLc

Nothing but respect for that young man. 

[FtheY]

Whoa. Tough kid. 

I haven’t followed WV at all, but it looks like they were 7-3 at that point. I would assume they lost the rest of their games because Grier was out? 

[MountaineerLegion]

Yes he is a tough kid, and a true competitor. Coach Holgs has been trying to reign him in all year. He routinely took hits he probably shouldn’t have. Just the way he is wired. Holgs has been piling praise on him too. There were several threads on our board about whether he would leave early for the NFL. I would guess that he’ll be back to prove the injury hasn’t affected his throwing.

He broke it about half way through the Texas game. I think we would have won that game with him but we were never going to beat OK.

[MountaineerLegion]

A quick look at the numbers.

All Time Win %
23 West Virginia Win % 0.59945, Games Won 737, Games Lost 485, Games Tied 45, Games Played 1267
27 Utah Win % 0.59154, Games Won 663, Games Lost 453, Games Tied 31, Games Played 1147
Very similar over our histories.

This Year
Scoring Offense
WVU #19 (36.3)
Utah #58 (29.5)

Rushing Offense
WVU #72 (160.42)
Utah #70 (161.25)

Passing Offense
WVU #12 (324.48)
Utah #43 (256.4)

Total Offense
WVU #16 (485.2)
Utah #46 (417.7)

Scoring Defense
WVU #92 (31.6)
Utah #42 (23.9)

Rushing Defense
WVU #105 (204.75)
Utah #36 (139.83)

Passing Defense
WVU #101 (247.8)
Utah #54 (214.0)

Total Defense
WVU #111 (452.5)
Utah #32 (353.8)

Sure looks like an offensive team vs a defensive team. Although our QB situation may negate any advantage we may have had on offense.

[Tony (admin)]

Very interesting information.  Thanks for posting.