The defense beat he offense, getting stops and pressure and turnovers, but the story remained the offense and when and how West Virginia will use its quarterbacks.

Also, fortune cookies.

“This might sound corny, but I got a fortune cookie one time,” he said. “I kept it. It’s still by my bedside. It said, ‘A great pleasure in life is doing what others say you cannot.’ It stuck with me.”

Howard remembers opening it when he was a sophomore in high school, when he was playing receiver for Brewer High, in Fort Worth, Texas, though he was obsessed with becoming a college quarterback.

It only made the game’s first pass that much more interesting. Crest is a quarterback who wants to play receiver.

He worked out an arrangement with coach Dana Holgorsen this week to split his practice time at both positions, which meant dividing his game time Saturday. Howard’s status is clear, but so, too, is Crest’s value to the team.

“The thing about him is he wants to play,” receivers coach Lonnie Galloway said. “That’s what he told Coach Holgorsen. ‘I want to play.’ Well, this is how we can get you on the field right now. He’s still a quarterback, but we can do so many different things with him.”