Super Bowl Monday_ From the Persian Gulf to the Shores of West Florida - Adam Lazarus [17]
The transfer meant that Hostetler would not be allowed to play during the 1981 season. West Virginia already had a starter in place, senior and Phi Beta Kappa candidate Oliver Luck, so playing time would have already been limited. He spent that fall practicing with the team and going to classes. Suffering no drop-off as a result from the transfer, Hostetler earned a 4.0 his first semester, virtually the same grade-point average he achieved during three semesters at Penn State.
Coach Don Nehlen viewed Hostetler as a worthy replacement for Luck, and not just in order to keep the team GPA steady.
“He was our scout-team quarterback [in 1981] and we knew we had a big league quarterback,” said Nehlen, who would become Hostetler’s father-in-law within three years. “The great quarterbacks, when they walk in the other guys know ‘we’re gonna get it done.’ And that’s what Jeff brought to the table. And our kids knew that long before he was even eligible. They knew that when he was on the scout team.”
After West Virginia won the Peach Bowl in December, Hostetler was ready to assume command of the team. He made it through spring camp with the quarterback job (as well as a sore knee) and started the season opener at Oklahoma.
The Sooners were coming off a down year (7-4-1), but since 1970, Oklahoma had lost only one non–Big 8 Conference game at Norman. In the previous meeting between the two schools, the Sooners crushed West Virginia 52-10. Head coach Barry Switzer was already a college football deity, having won back-to-back national championships in the mid-1970s.
Even after the Sooners scored a pair of first-quarter touchdowns, Hostetler was unconcerned by the Oklahoma mystique. Trailing 14-0 at the start of the second period, he tossed two touchdown passes and marched his team into the locker room at halftime ahead 20-14.
The teams traded blows throughout the second half. With eight minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Hostetler hit Rich Hollins on a forty-two-yarder, then connected with Wayne Brown in the back of the end zone. Hostetler’s fourth touchdown of the day put the Mountaineers ahead for good.
“The Oklahoma game resonated coast-to-coast,” Nehlen said three decades later. “All of a sudden people started to say, ‘Hey, who are these guys?’ And that was the beginning of West Virginia’s run at being a very highly respected football program.”
The win kicked off a great year. An 8-2 regular-season record earned a trip to the Gator Bowl: never before had the university appeared in consecutive bowls. Although Hostetler’s passing statistics (47 percent completion percentage, 1,916 yards passing, ten touchdowns) didn’t earn him votes in the Heisman Trophy race or consideration as an all-American, he had become the team’s unquestioned leader. According to Darryl Talley,
Jeff was a great football player, because in my opinion, he was what he thought a quarterback was supposed to be. He was tough, he was smart . . . he would lead a lot by example by saying, look, I’m willing to sit there and take these shots if you guys are willing to catch the ball down the middle of the field at the spot where I have to throw it. That I think endeared him to his offensive linemen because he was like one of the linemen. Back then, it didn’t seem like he wanted a whole lot of publicity around him. He just wanted to go out and do his job and win football games.
By 1983, both West Virginia and Jeff Hostetler peaked. Winning their opening six games—including a victory against archrival Pitt—gave way to a number four ranking in the national polls. Hostetler became prominently mentioned as a Heisman candidate. Impressive passing numbers contributed to the attention. So did the school’s aggressive