Rich Rodriguez isn’t treating West Virginia’s defensive issues like a problem that can wait for January.
After the Mountaineers’ loss to Texas Tech, the WVU head coach made it clear he wants fixes now, not later, even if the season has already slipped away from the College Football Playoff and the Big 12 Championship race.
“Our players had put ourselves in a position to win the game, a huge game on the road... and it’s coaching. It starts with the coaching,” he said.
“We should have had some things... we could have finished them off. We made the one big play on special teams with Matt (Seig) with the punt return, but other than that, our special teams was just okay, but that wasn’t the difference.
We’ve got to come up with a way to try to put all three phases together. It’s frustrating, but our guys are trying.
I don’t think anybody’s pointing fingers, and I won’t let anyone point fingers on our sideline, but my job as a coach internally with our program is to point all the fingers, and it starts with pointing at ourselves. What can we do better as a coaching staff so we can fix that problem?
You can say, ‘Oh well, we’ll fix it in the offseason.’ No, we’ve got too much at stake; let’s fix it now.”
For now, though, don’t expect a shake-up on the coaching staff during the season. The questions have been pouring in, and the answer appears to be that any staff changes are a down-the-road conversation, not a midseason move.
The immediate focus is on making the defense simpler. With so many new faces on the roster, the idea is to strip things down and give that unit the best possible chance to function.
West Virginia sits at 5-4 overall and 3-4 in Big 12 play, which means the bigger prizes are out of reach. But Rodriguez’s point is that the season still has value. Players are still being watched, whether by other programs or by scouts at the next level.
The Mountaineers may not be headed to Jerry’s World, but that doesn’t mean the final stretch should be wasted. There are still wins available, beginning this weekend against Kansas.
A win there would lock up bowl eligibility. Then comes another shot next week against a ranked Houston team. If WVU pulls that one off, it would be sitting on seven wins with two games left and a chance to double last year’s total.
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 🡒]