MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After TCU became the seventh FBS team to score 80 points since 2000, is a 100-point game inevitable?
“I don’t think so,” said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen, who evaluated TCU’s 82-27 win over Texas Tech in preparation for Saturday’s matchup. “I mean, 82 is awful high. There’s things that have to exist on all three sides of the ball to hit a number that is that high.”
Mathematically, the quick-striking Frogs had a shot at the century mark. They piled up 785 yards, had four touchdown drives of 46 seconds or less, and three more that required under 2 minutes. Yet despite the record output for a Big 12 conference game, TCU’s offense wasn’t perfect: It settled for three field goals and punted twice.
And while the Frogs generated four turnovers, they did not benefit from any defensive scores.
So the prospect of a high-functioning, uptempo team putting up 100 seems plausible, even though Holgorsen said, “I don’t think coaches would do that.”
Nine years ago, Holgorsen was a Texas Tech assistant when the Raiders scored 80 against Sam Houston State 80-21. The complete list of teams that cracked 80 since Y2K:
2012: Oklahoma State defeated Savannah State 84-0
2010: Wisconsin defeated Indiana 83-20
2008: Arkansas State defeated Texas Southern 83-10
2014: TCU defeated Texas Tech 82-27
2013: Florida State defeated Idaho 80-14
2005: Texas Tech defeated Sam Houston State 80-21.
2001: West Virginia defeated Rutgers 80-7
“It takes a very special situation with both teams going fast and one team not playing very well,” Holgorsen said. “I know it sounds like it’s getting close to (100), but I don’t anticipate it happening.”
Crest update: The timing of William Crest’s shoulder injury seems fortuitous because it happened early enough in the season to preserve a medical redshirt. Yet Holgorsen said the staff preferred to have the freshman available and taking reps.
“I would rather have practiced him,” the coach said. “I wish we could get him out there. We made the decision he was going to be our backup quarterback and he was on pace for being the backup quarterback.
“If William didn’t have shoulder issues right now he wouldn’t be redshirting.”
Crest returned to throwing last week, albeit as part of a month-long rehab to strengthen his shoulder muscles.
Weekly winners: Mountaineers coaches named Wendell Smallwood (offense), Dravon Henry (defense) and Justin Arndt (special teams) as its in-house weekly champions.