MORGANTOWN — There are only a handful of true freshmen starting quarterbacks in the country, and even less who are slightly successful. An even smaller number have a ranked win, and probably three have a ranked win on the road.

West Virginia is one of the very few schools that have a true freshman quarterback to win a ranked game on the road this year. Scotty Fox Jr. led the Mountaineers to a 45-35 upset win over No. 22 Houston on the road in his third start of the season.

“Our freshman quarterback is growing up,” Rich Rodriguez said. “He’s really poised. Proud of the way he played.”

Houston just scored before the end of the third quarter, making it 31-28 with a full quarter left. WVU faced a fourth-and-4 on the Cougars’ 34. Rodriguez called a run-pass option, meaning it was on his freshman to make the call. Fox snapped it, looked and then decided to take off. He ran 34 yards into the end zone for the touchdown, ultimately putting the game out of reach for Houston.

“He read it right,” Rodriguez said. “They really lightened the box up and went out and doubled our wideouts. He made a great decision.”

Fox didn’t torch Houston through the air, though. He was 13-for-22 for 157 yards and one touchdown. He made a couple of nice throws. Fox hit Rodney Gallgher in stride over the middle of the field to set up points, and then hit Cam Vaughn on a deep 24-yard touchdown.

It was more important that Fox, who is still learning, didn’t put the ball in harm’s way. Through three starts, Fox hasn’t thrown an interception.

“Took care of the ball,” Rodriguez said. “Didn’t throw into harm’s way. Was seeing the field. Quarterbacks make so many decisions in our offense in the run game, the pass game. You’re not going to be 100 percent.”

Fox helped more in the run game, which is where the offense dominated. He ran for two touchdowns and 65 yards on the ground, averaging 6.5 yards per carry.

He was banged up against TCU last week and hobbled a little against Houston, but the youngster battled through it.

“You got to stay on top of your body,” Fox said. “The medical staff is giving us treatments. If you just stay on that for the whole week, you should be good to go by game time. No, it doesn’t really affect me. Just play through it. Just hard edge football, that’s what I like to say.”

Fox wasn’t Rodriguez’s first choice to start the season. He was listed fourth on the depth chart, and there wasn’t a real shot he’d play at all this season. Rodriguez was probably looking to redshirt the true freshman. But after one quarterback was injured, and another, and another, Rodriguez had no choice but to start Fox because he was the only scholarship QB left.

Fox is only 1-2 as a starter, and Houston was his first win, but he’s won the past two outings in the fight to be QB1 for WVU in the future, because that was the immediate question once Nicco Marchiol was injured.

Fox has a couple more opportunities down the line to keep proving he should be the starter going forward, starting with Colorado, which is a winnable game at home.

“For a young guy, he was pretty solid,” Rodriguez said. “He ran the ball well. But he’s got next-level arm talent. You see that. There’s not a throw he can’t make. He made some phenomenal ones today.”