Rich Rodriguez Praises WVU QB Scotty Fox Despite Loss to TCU

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Despite a 23-17 loss to TCU on Saturday, WVU freshman quarterback Scotty Fox had a productive day and earned praise from head coach Rich Rodriguez during his postgame press conference.

Fox threw for 301 yards on 28-41 passing with two touchdowns. He even tied the program record for passing touchdowns by a true freshman in a single game, first established by Fred Wyant in 1952.

While Fox played well for the most part, Rodriguez emphasized the need for a better rushing attack. The Mountaineers ran for just 41 yards on the day.

“I thought he made some nice throws. There were some freshman stuff that was out there, but, uh, he’s a true freshman, you know?  He battled, competed,” Rodriguez said. “You ain’t gonna win the game if you can run it for 40 yards. Are you kidding me? But, but there’s also a lot of stuff that we can take from here and, you know, grow from.”

The game against TCU marked Fox’s second start of the year, with his first being last weekend against UCF. With Fox having such little experience, Rodriguez hopes to expand his “menu” of plays as he settles in.

“Obviously, as he gets more comfortable, with experience, there’ll be more things that we can do with him, If that makes sense,” Rodriguez said. “We still have a very small menu with our quarterback situation.”

Rodriguez added it is important for more plays to become incorporated in the game plan. Even so, he said the Mountaineers will need to run more efficiently to help Fox.

“Scotty gets more experienced,  he’ll get a bigger menu,” Rodriguez added. “And we’re going to have to, the way teams are playing us. But again, we got to help him out by being able to run the ball better.”

Even while mentioning the need for a wider variety of plays, he said execution is a more important aspect than play-calling when it comes to offense.

“We have too much of a menu anyway. I always tell everybody, ‘Everybody wants to be the smartest coach in the world and have 20,000 fancy plays.’ It ain’t what you call, it’s what you can execute… So we got a big enough menu. I’m not worried about that,” Rodriguez said.

Pending a change at quarterback, Fox will get another shot next Saturday when the Mountaineers play at Houston.

Find more coverage of Rich Rodriguez, Scotty Fox and the WVU football program at WV Sports Now.