West Virginia opened its season the right way, then spent the second half making things a lot more interesting than they needed to be.
Cam Cook set the tone immediately with a 72-yard burst on the first play from scrimmage, then punched it in one play later as the Mountaineers jumped on Coastal Carolina early. On the other side, West Virginia’s defense kept the Chanticleers from finding any real rhythm, even while allowing some easy pitches and catches. Through two quarters, Coastal had only 114 total yards.
Then the game changed after halftime.
Rich Rodriguez’s offense looked far more cautious in the third quarter, and the Mountaineers kept leaning into the run against a crowded box instead of opening things up. Mike Hawkins Jr. wasn’t the issue.
He completed all three of his passes in the third quarter and finished 4-for-5 in the second half. The problem was the approach, not the quarterback.
Coastal worked its way back into the game, leaving Milan Puskar Stadium with a much different feeling than West Virginia expected after such a fast start. All weekend, fans wondered whether Rodriguez had intentionally held things back with Virginia coming up in Charlotte in two weeks. He didn’t say that, but he did own the fact that the second half was called differently.
"We got a little conservative there. There was some times where they were bringing everybody at the end of the game, and I could have just thrown a pass and probably would have scored a touchdown, but at that time, I was made that they were just scrambling around on us, so I'm like, let's get this game over.
Some of it is, sometimes you got to run against numbers and see if you can still get some positive yards. Did a little bit of that.
And some of it is, okay, let's kill the clock and try to get a first down. If you run the ball every time, you're going to take two and a half minutes off the clock.
We let them get back in the game too much, and something that should have been very comfortable, we could have put it away at the end of the first half or early in the third quarter, and we didn't do that."
The heavy dose of running also fit with a bigger purpose up front. As noted in the postgame show, the same five offensive linemen played all 76 offensive snaps, with Malik Agbo and Josh Aisosa logging three snaps apiece in the heavy package.
That group has a lot of career mileage - over 5,000 combined snaps - but had never taken a snap together before this season. If West Virginia wants this offense to hit its ceiling, it has to be able to move the ball on the ground even when the defense knows what’s coming. Getting that starting five work together, and seeing whether it could create push against a loaded box, was part of the plan.
Rodriguez’s choice to keep hammering away wasn’t about distrust in the passing game. It was about testing the offensive line, building cohesion, and trying to get to the finish line.
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 🡒]