Rich Rodriguez didn’t exactly turn his opener into a passing showcase, and that was the point.
West Virginia leaned hard on the run game in Week 1, lining up behind a retooled, experienced offensive line and the nation’s leading rusher. Even when some of those rushing snaps started as pass calls and Hawkins ended up taking off, the appetite to throw the ball never really showed up.
Hawkins wasn’t missing reads or struggling to find receivers. The plan simply wasn’t built around airing it out.
That’s why some fans have wondered whether Rodriguez was keeping the offense under wraps for Virginia, which West Virginia will face in a couple of weeks. There’s some logic to that idea, especially with UT Martin coming next week and not requiring much from the playbook.
But the bigger concern isn’t necessarily hidden plays. It’s tendencies.
By running the ball 81% of the time, West Virginia gives Virginia a lot less to study about when the Mountaineers actually want to throw, when they’ll attack downfield, and how they operate in certain situations. That kind of imbalance can matter more than any single route concept.
Rodriguez also sent a clear message late in the first half. With more than 40 seconds left and two timeouts available, he still chose to kneel it out while up 24-0. That decision fit the same theme: if he didn’t need to show the two-minute offense, he wasn’t going to.
So Virginia will have limited tape on West Virginia’s passing game and basically nothing from a hurry-up situation. That doesn’t guarantee anything, but it does make the prep work tougher.
Even when the game tightened late in the fourth quarter, Rodriguez stayed committed to pounding the ball. With an older offensive line and a proven back, he believed that approach would be enough to finish the job.
Prince Strachan’s absence may have made it easier to stay on the ground, but it wasn’t the only reason West Virginia threw just 14 times.
The offense should look different by the time the Mountaineers get to Charlotte. It may not change much this week, but by September 19th, West Virginia will need to let Hawkins do more, because he can.
In Other News...
WVU Added A New DB But One Key Question Still Looms
West Virginia added another defensive back to its future plans this week when former Georgia defender JaCorey Thomas committed to join the program beginning in the 2026 season. Thomas got a look with the Carolina Panthers at rookie minicamp after going undrafted, but he did not sign an NFL contract, leaving his next stop pointed toward Morgantown instead.
For the Mountaineers, the move adds more depth to a position group that never stops needing it, even if Thomass exact timetable on the field is still unsettled. His arrival does not push anyone out of the current rotation, and the remaining question is when, not whether, he will actually suit up once he gets to campus. [Read more 🡒]
WVUs Defensive Breakthrough Came With One Immediate Concern
West Virginia opened the season with the kind of defensive performance Zac Alley had been chasing, squeezing Coastal Carolina on the ground and sending constant heat at the quarterback. The Mountaineers produced 39 pressures, their most in Alleys 13 games, a notable jump for a defensive line that entered the year with plenty of inexperience and still managed to look disruptive from the start.
The problem for West Virginia is that the breakthrough came with a major health scare attached. Darius Wiley went down with a lower-body injury during the game and had to be carted off the field, leaving the Mountaineers waiting for an update on his condition. For a defense that finally flashed the activity and edge it wanted, the next question is whether it can keep that momentum if Wiley is forced to miss time. [Read more 🡒]
WVUs Schedule Just Got More Interesting After Week One
Week Zero did not do West Virginia many favors on the schedule front, and the early returns across the Mountaineers upcoming opponents already have a different feel to them. The roundup of recent game performances showed how much can change in a hurry, with several future foes opening their seasons by setting the tone for what should be a more revealing stretch once the schedule gets rolling.
Oklahoma State and Cincinnati in particular now sit on opposite ends of the early conversation, which matters for a West Virginia team trying to judge where the real trouble spots might be. The Cowboys opener raised immediate questions about their polish, while Cincinnatis debut suggested a much higher ceiling at quarterback than some may have expected. For the Mountaineers, the bigger picture is still forming, but the first week at least gave a few upcoming matchups a little more edge. [Read more 🡒]