West Virginia’s path forward is pretty clear, at least in Rich Rodriguez’s eyes: stop trying to do too much and start doing the basics better.
That message has been hanging over the Mountaineers all season, and it’s even louder now with three games left. However much fans may want changes to the staff or the roster, Rodriguez made it clear the group that opened the year is the group that will finish it.
The biggest issue has been impossible to ignore. WVU’s defense has been the reason this season hasn’t turned into something special, and the numbers back it up. The Mountaineers are 137th in FBS in total defense at 501 yards allowed per game and 131st in scoring defense at 34.6 points allowed per game.
“You can’t win doing what we did at the end of the game offensively,” Rodriguez said, “And that I’m not so much concerned with, but you can’t win playing defense like that, and that’s been the story all year, so it’s very frustrating.”
So what changes now? Rodriguez’s answer points back to a theme he’s returned to throughout the season: simplify.
He expanded on that idea Monday night on his radio show, speaking more broadly about college football but clearly hitting on the same issue that has dogged his own team.
“If you look across college football, there’s more coaches getting fired and assistants getting fired, and coordinators getting fired before the season is even over. And usually, it’s not because the coach is not trying hard or not working hard; he might just be doing too much.
And not too much from a work standpoint, but too much from a schematical standpoint. It’s all worked before, but maybe it’s all worked before because you had guys that grew up in your system and they knew what was coming next.
Right now, you got a bunch of new freshmen, and they ain’t getting it. I still think the game comes down more to fundamentals and playing really hard and playing with passion before that other part takes precedence.
That’s my job, and it’s our job to make sure that our coaches and our players understand that. I’m not trying to be the smartest guy in the room.
I just want to be the best in the room. I don’t want to have to worry about a player that says, ‘I can play 25 different coverages.’
No, I want you to be able to play one or two really good. That would be helpful.”
That’s the heart of it for WVU right now. Not more complexity, but less.
Not more disguise for the sake of disguise, but cleaner execution. Rodriguez’s point is that college football keeps tempting teams to get cute - especially on defense - and when the roster is full of newcomers, that kind of approach can unravel fast.
For the Mountaineers, the next step isn’t about reinventing everything. It’s about making the final stretch manageable enough to give themselves a chance to win a couple of games.
In Other News...
West Virginia Has A Bigger Problem Than The Texas Tech Loss
The Texas Tech loss stung because it looked like the kind of game West Virginia needed to seize if it wanted to build real momentum, but the bigger concern still sits on the other side of the ball. The offense has taken a step forward from last season, enough to suggest there is something to work with, yet the defense remains the teams glaring problem and, by every measure, the worst in college football.
So even as the Mountaineers sort through the fallout from a missed chance, there is a more pressing roster conversation happening behind the scenes. West Virginia is in ongoing contract discussions with Mike Hawkins while also trying to keep Maliek Hawkins moving in the right direction, and the staff is still looking for help through the transfer portal. The loss matters, but the larger job is fixing a defense that has left the program with too much to clean up. [Read more 🡒]
Rich Rodriguez Just Put West Virginia's Defensive Concerns In Focus
Rich Rodriguez used his 10th coaches show of the 2026 season to take stock of where West Virginia stands after the loss to Texas Tech, and the conversation quickly turned to the issues that have been nagging the Mountaineers on defense. He also offered injury updates on Amare Grayson and Jacob Bradford while looking ahead to Kansas, but the bigger takeaway was his candid assessment of a unit that has had trouble handling deep passes and, at times, maintaining the right mentality when plays start to slip away.
Rodriguez also pointed to the progress of Taron Francis and Keon Hutchins as a small bright spot, even as he stressed how much roster turnover has forced the staff to simplify things across the board. He said the broader trend of mid-season assistant coach firings around college football is part of the backdrop, but for West Virginia the immediate challenge is making the defense cleaner and more consistent before the next test arrives. [Read more 🡒]
West Virginia Has One Game Left To Settle Its Bowl Fate
West Virginia has one more chance to settle its postseason picture, and the stakes are simple enough: beat Kansas and reach six wins, the threshold that would make the Mountaineers bowl-eligible. At five wins, there is still plenty left to sort out, but the path is clear enough for a team that has spent the season with its bowl fate hanging in the balance.
Until that result is in, the projection game will keep spinning. Different outlets have floated a range of possible destinations for West Virginia, with potential matchups against teams such as Auburn, Army and Arizona State among the possibilities. For now, though, all of that remains secondary to the final regular-season test, because the next game will determine whether those bowl scenarios become real or just remain speculation. [Read more 🡒]