West Virginia quarterback Scotty Fox. Jr. signs an autograph for a fan after the Mountaineers beat Colorado in an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025, in Morgantown, W.Va. (AP Photo/John Raby)

There were a couple of storylines for West Virginia-Colorado. It was Deion Sanders and Rich Rodriguez’s first time facing off as head coaches, and the loser was out of bowl contention. But, the biggest one was that both were starting true freshman quarterbacks — a rarity in college football.

This was nothing new for WVU. True freshman Scotty Fox was making his fourth start of the year against the Buffaloes. Sanders announced Tuesday during his weekly press conference that true freshman Julian Lewis would make his first start when they headed to Morgantown.

Both had their ups and downs, but Fox managed to lead his team to victory 29-22, securing his second-straight win as the starter, and if you don’t count the quarterback carousel game against UCF, he’s 2-1 as WVU’s QB1.

Fox made some impressive throws, like a 69-yard shot to Diore Hubbard down the sideline. He was 17-for-28 passing for 202 yards and had a lone touchdown pass to tight end Ryan Ward.

“I thought he did some really good stuff,” Rodriguez said. “There’s a couple things he wanted to have back.”

In Fox’s past three starts, he was winning people over by winning games, of course, but Fox wasn’t turning the ball over, like most true freshmen do. Fox was a game manager and did whatever he was asked to get the win. Against Colorado, Fox turned the ball over twice, showing his age a little.

“He was probably mad,” Rodriguez said. “What do you expect his demeanor to be? Jumping jacks on the sideline and give everybody a hug, or do you think he’s going to be pissed and go back in there and play? One of them, the ball got tipped, and it wasn’t his fault. The other one he shouldn’t have thrown.”

On some of Fox’s mistakes, whether that’s the wrong read on a run/pass option or not throwing the ball away, it’s on Rodriguez. Rodriguez will tell Fox before a play is called what the defense will probably do, so Fox zeros in on that. Which is good, but when that doesn’t happen, Fox doesn’t know what to do.

“He’s so concentrated on being ready for that; if they don’t do that, then I probably over-coached it. If that makes sense,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a very, very, very coachable guy and a great competitor. We needed to throw the ball to move it at times today. He made some nice throws.”

The running game’s production also helps Fox. Against Houston, WVU rushed for 246 yards, so there wasn’t much pressure on Fox to win the game through the air. Colorado stopped WVU’s rushing attack for most of the game, so Fox was asked to do more.

Lewis outdueled Fox because Colorado’s rushing attack couldn’t do anything. Lewis threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns in his first career start. He also had some nice deep shots, keeping Colorado in the game.

“Their freshman quarterback played outstanding,” Rodriguez said.

Fox led his team to the win, though, which is definitely more important. There’s still much to learn as the quarterback continues to grow. Fox has two more games to improve, starting next week in another winnable game against Arizona State on the road, which two weeks ago looked tough, but without starting quarterback Sam Leavitt, is winnable.

Then, Fox faces a tough Texas Tech defense, which will definitely teach him a lot.

“They are going to have freshman moments,” Rodriguez said. If they learn from them, they’ll keep getting better.”