Pike to start versus West Virginia

At his Tuesday afternoon press conference, Bearcats coach Brian Kelly indicated that Tony Pike will start at quarterback for UC against West Virginia this Friday, provided that he is healthy.

Kelly said that it was a difficult decision, but that he chose Pike because his entire body of work outweighs what Zach Collaros has done in relief the past 3 weeks.

I agree with this decision to a point. On one hand, a starter who is performing as well as Pike was before his injury should not lose his job because of injury. On the other hand, the team is on a roll and very comfortable with Collaros. I would hate to see another QB change disrupt team chemistry. I don't think it will.

What I would love to see is an offense like Florida used to run with Tim Tebow and Chris Leak where both Pike and Collaros would share time behind center. This would force defenses to game plan for both quarterbacks and switch tactics on the fly. You could even line both of them up side-by-side in the shotgun. The defense wouldn't know who was getting the ball. If it was Pike, Collaros is athletic enough to be an effective receiver out of the backfield. If Collaros took the snap, defenses wouldn't know if he was going to run or pass.

Brian Kelly has often been called an offensive genius. I can't see him completely benching Zach Collaros with the way he's played and the versatility he brings to the position. We will find out on Friday.