Bearcats to start Collaros in big one vs. WVU
It must not be a bad thing to be University of Cincinnati football coach Brian Kelly right now. After all, Kelly is looking at a potentially unbeaten season (with a possible shot at a BCS National Championship Game), which is going to mean either a huge raise at Cincy or possibly the offer to become Notre Dame’s new head coach next season. Oh, and Kelly’s toughest on-field decision is deciding which quarterback to start: Tony Pike, who was a Heisman contender before getting hurt, or Zach Collaros, who is off to one of the best starts by a freshman in history.
Well, Kelly made the call this week that Pike would be the starter when he was 100 percent healthy.
Apparently that isn’t yet the case.
Collaros, who in three starts has a 78.7 completion percentage, 1,100 yards passing, 281 yards rushing and 12 total touchdowns and is coming off a Big East record 555 total yards (480 passing) in Saturday’s 47-45 win over UConn, is going to line up with the first team in Friday’s huge game with West Virginia.
The Bearcats are 9-point betting favorites on WagerWeb.com. However, Pike will see some action, but it will mostly be limited to handoffs and short throws to sharpen his rhythm in anticipation of a start next week.
“Zach will start this Friday night against West Virginia,” Kelly said. “Tony Pike is expected to play, and we are really focusing on the Illinois game for Tony’s first start back from the injury.”
Kelly wouldn’t discuss where, when or how he’d use Pike and said he wanted to maintain a “tactical advantage.”
What Collaros brings that Pike doesn’t is mobility. But he’s just 6-feet tall. Pike is a 6-foot-6 pro-style QB. The old adage is that a starter can’t lose his job just because of injury, and it’s not like Pike wasn’t playing well when he hurt his left forearm. But at worst, Kelly has Pike’s successor in place.
“What’s unique is he sees a lot of things well beyond his [three] starts,” Kelly said of Collaros. “Here’s a guy that makes plays on the perimeter but is savvy and smart enough to throw the ball away and not put our football team in a position where we’re going to turn it over. [He has the] ability to do some things that a seasoned player would only know, and he’s got it after only a couple of starts.”
NCAA Betting at WagerWeb.com
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