Sep 30, 2022 4 min read

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Beating Towson and Virginia Tech is one thing.

Beating Texas is something else.

The Towson game for West Virginia looked like Secretariat running against a pony out of a state fair.

The Virginia Tech game was a step up in class, it was in as hostile an environment as you can walk into, it was a trophy game … but walking into Austin on a Saturday night to face a Big 12 contending team that played Alabama to the wire?

Call this exploratory surgery on the Mountaineers to find out what they are made of.

The fact that in mid-week no one know if opening day quarterback Quinn Ewers or his backup Hudson Card would play didn’t seem to matter to anyone ought to offer up a clue to the kind of talent the Longhorns have, but above it all looms the shadow cast by running back Bijan Robinson, who may just be the …

Well, let’s just put college football analyst Kirk Herbstreit’s assessment forward to finish that sentence:

“This kid may be the best player in the sport. This kid is big-time.”

“The best player in the sport”?

Maybe. Texas is certainly pushing him for the Heisman Trophy. They devote endless words to Robinson in their game notes, maybe even more words than the 2,244 career rushing yards he has compiled or the 2,903 career all-purpose yards he has to rank third in NCAA football among active players.

What do they say about Robinson and to whom do they compare him? This is how the PR factory at Texas approaches it:

“Texas has a strong Heisman tradition when it come to the running back position with two of the greats – Earl Campbell (1977) and Ricky Williams (1998) hailing from the Forty Acres. Additionally, the Longhorns have had 10 running backs or fullbacks place in the Top-10 in Heisman Trophy voting, most recently D’Onta Foreman in 2016…”

To the flaks in Austin, they hint to compare him to the all-time greats in the Big 12.

“Current Big 12 Conference programs have produced five Heisman Trophy Winners from the running back/ tailback position: Campbell, Williams, Billy Vessels (1952), Billy Sims (1978) and Barry Sanders (1988),” they write.

And, they note so no one thinks you can’t win the award as a running back before your senior year, they add “the last three running backs named as the Heisman Trophy winner have been sophomores or juniors: Reggie Bush (2005), Mark Ingram (2009) and Derrick Henry (2015).”

You better be something to be mentioned in the same breath as Earl Campbell, Ricky Williams, Billy Vessels, Billy Sims, Barry Sanders, Reggie Bush, Mark Ingram and Derrick Henry.

He may just merit it, too. Certainly, Neal Brown knows if he wants to control Texas, he has to deal first with Robinson.

“Bijan Robinson, you can make a strong argument that he’s the best player in the country,” Brown said this week, calling Robinson a “five-tool running back, borrowing a baseball term to stress in can run inside, outside, catch the ball block and make play calling a lot easier for the coaching staff.

Numbers back up the words.

The junior is leading the Big 12 Conference in all-purpose yards (141.50 ypg), rushing touchdowns (7), total touchdowns (8), scoring (12 ppg) and total points scored (36), while ranking second in rushing yards (412) and rushing yards per game (103.3), third in yards per reception (19.25) and fourth in yards per carry (6.15).

Last year, when WVU defeated Texas in Morgantown, they didn’t have to face Robinson, who was out with injury.

As a freshman, Robinson gained 113 yards during the Longhorns’ victory in Austin.

Now, to the quarterback situation. Ewers, an Ohio State transfer, won the starting job and was having a big game against Alabama when injured, opening the door for Card.

“There’s probably more similarities between those two than differences,” Brown proclaimed. “So, it’s not like you have a real runner and a real thrower and there’s a stark difference. How we prepare is not going to be much different depending on who plays.

“Whoever plays, they’re going to play at a high level at quarterback.”