West Virginia Football: 3 takeaways from Mountaineers’ thrilling win over Texas

1. Will Grier is a darn magician

Getting the ball back after a huge go-ahead touchdown pass from Sam Ehlinger to Devin Duvernay with 2:34 left in the game, Will Grier stayed focused and didn’t panic.

The senior quarterback had been in the situation before with West Virginia needing a big touchdown late, and he remained calm and the offense fed off his energy. Not only did he engineer a long drive, he melted the clock perfectly while getting the Mountaineers in the perfect position to score.

Grier looked great all afternoon long, finishing with 346 yards and three touchdowns on 8.2 yards per attempt and it was his throw with 16 seconds left in the game that really opened some eyes. It looked like an awkward flat-footed toss to Gary Jennings in the end zone with a rush coming, but it turned out to be a perfectly-placed ball to bring the Mountaineers within one.

Then, he hit his favorite target, David Sills V, on a slant route for a two-point conversion in one-on-one coverage, but Tom Herman called a timeout before the play and negated the go-ahead score. Instead, he kept the ball to himself on the two-point try after the timeout, putting the game away.

If the Heisman race is still open, Grier should be moving up the list. This kid is a magician and when it looked like the Mountaineers were down and out, he delivered.