Photo courtesy of BlueGoldNews.com West Virginia quarterback Scotty Fox (15) tries to evade the UCF pass rush on Saturday afternoon.

MORGANTOWN — Rich Rodriguez said earlier in the week, leading up to the UCF game, that Scotty Fox Jr. and Khalil Wilkins would both split reps and battle it out to see who the starter would be for West Virginia.

Quarterback Nicco Marchiol was out for the year, and Texas A&M transfer Jaylen Henderson was doubtful and eventually ruled out. It was up to the youngsters for UCF.

Despite the competition, everyone who covered the team and the fans all thought it was going to be Wilkins who’d start. Wilkins started against BYU and showed flashes, and Fox played well at times, but made rookie mistakes. Wilkins looked the best out of the two in the limited time.

Just before the game, reports flooded the timeline that Fox would actually start. The insider sources were right, Fox trotted out in the opening drive of the game.

“I got to make a decision based on practice,” Rodriguez said. “The two young guys are the only two who are healthy. Scotty got the first shot just based on what practice was like the last two weeks.”

His day didn’t last long. Fox had three drives and came up with nothing. He was sacked, and Rodriguez seemed furious with him on the sideline after his third drive for holding the ball too long and taking a tackle for loss.

In came Wilkins. Fortunately, the defense stopped UCF on fourth down inside its own territory. Wilkins didn’t pass but drove the Mountaineers down the field for its first score of the game, making it a one-score game 14-7, stopping the onslaught and instantly making it a close and new game.

Wilkins was more efficient with his legs and didn’t pass often. He scampered a couple more times and connected nicely with Cam Vaughn before the half, setting up a 44-yard field goal. WVU missed the field goal, but Wilkins orchestrated a strong sub-minute drive.

It wasn’t perfect for Wilkins. After UCF scored out of the half, Wilkins dropped back to pass and was swallowed. He coughed up the football, and Keli Lawson scooped it up and ran it into the end zone, which was ultimately the dagger.

Later in the game, Fox came back to provide a spark, or just because he’s got a bigger arm, because the clock was against them. WVU was down 28-7 with under five minutes to play. Then, again, Wilkins went back out in the fourth quarter after Fox couldn’t get it done.

“Just trying,” Rodriguez said. “Got to give everybody a shot. Do it based on what they’ve done in the game, but also what they’ve done in practice.

Neither quarterback could get anything through the air. WVU passed for a total of 79 yards. Wilkins rushed for 48 yards and was 5-for-10 passing. Fox was 6-for-17 and threw for 47 yards and a garbage-time touchdown.

“You can say we are playing young quarterbacks,” Rodriguez said. “There are growing pains with that. That doesn’t explain everything.”

All season long, there’s been a revolving door at quarterback. Rodriguez talked this week about how if you don’t have a starting quarterback that it’s hard to be successful. WVU hasn’t had one all season. Marchiol looked the best, but he’s done for the year, so someone will have to step up.

No one has, and at this point, with a 2-5 record, you might as well stick with the young players and get them some reps, but like Rodriguez said, it’s hard to win games without the “guy,” so rotating them in and out, like against UCF, won’t get WVU back in the win column.

Wilkins looked better out of the two, so maybe it’s time to turn the keys for the rest of the season over to him. However, he ended the game on crutches, so by force, Fox might have to play the rest of the season. Rodriguez said Wilkins just had the wind taken out of him, so he should be back to battle, but he’s said that about some other players, and they’re done for the year.

“It’s a lot on them,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a lot more on them when the pieces around them aren’t helping. We have to figure out a way for that to happen.”