West Virginia gets its second shot at a 2-0 start in the Rich Rodriguez era on Saturday afternoon, and the matchup comes with a familiar label but a very different look. The Mountaineers host UT Martin at Milan Puskar Stadium, looking to build on last week’s 31-24 win over Coastal Carolina and avoid the kind of early stumble that has kept them from opening 2-0 since 2018.
That opener gave WVU plenty to like and plenty to clean up. The Mountaineers stormed to a 24-0 halftime lead, then watched Coastal Carolina claw back by scoring 24 of the game’s next 31 points.
West Virginia’s defense was breaking in nine new starters, so the expectation is that the group will settle in with more reps. The offense is still sorting through new faces too, but it already has a clear engine.
That would be quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. and running back Cam Cook, who shared Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honors with Arizona State quarterback Cutter Boley. Cook wasted no time making his presence felt, ripping off a 72-yard run on his first carry and finishing with 30 carries for 142 yards and two touchdowns.
Hawkins added 103 rushing yards and a touchdown while going 11-for-14 through the air for 142 yards and another score. Between them, the two were involved in 64 of West Virginia’s 75 offensive plays.
The numbers were good enough to win, though not clean enough to satisfy anyone in Morgantown. After controlling the first half, the Mountaineers were outgained 425-413 by the end of the game.
Rodriguez said earlier this week he wants to put more on Hawkins’s plate as the quarterback and coach keep growing into the offense together. He also wants to get backup Scotty Fox Jr. some snaps.
Fox played in nine games last season and put together the best statistical season by any true freshman quarterback in school history.
West Virginia also got meaningful work from a number of freshmen last week, including starting left tackle Kevin Brown. He became the first true freshman offensive lineman to start for the Mountaineers since Zach Frazier in 2020.
UT Martin arrives with more game tape than WVU, having already played twice. Jason Simpson’s team opened with a 36-24 loss to Central Arkansas in week zero before rolling past Chicago State 42-7 last weekend.
The Skyhawks have used two quarterbacks, senior Julian Calvez and redshirt freshman Tate Surber, and West Virginia has to be ready for both. Surber handled the Chicago State game as more of a pocket passer, completing 69.6% of his 23 throws for 222 yards.
Calvez brings more of a run threat, with 57 yards on 13 carries, though his passing numbers have been modest: 51.9% completions on 27 attempts for 186 yards. Neither quarterback has thrown a touchdown pass yet this season.
UT Martin lists them as “ors” on the depth chart, so WVU will have to prepare for a split workload at the position. The Skyhawks were also the preseason pick to win the OVC, collecting six first-place votes and edging Southeast Missouri. The league also includes Lindenwood, Gardner-Webb, Charleston Southern, Western Illinois, Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State.
Simpson is in his 20th season at UT Martin and enters the day third in OVC history with 130 career wins. He’s the longest-tenured coach in the conference and sits 24 victories behind Boots Donnelly for second place all-time with 154.
West Virginia’s history against FCS opponents is hard to miss: the Mountaineers are unbeaten in 23 straight such games, including last year’s 45-3 win over Robert Morris. WVU has played at least one FCS opponent every year since 2008, and today’s meeting is UT Martin’s first-ever trip to Morgantown.
There are plenty of other numbers hovering around this one. West Virginia is 69-31 over the last 10 years when it rushes for at least 100 yards, and it rolled up 281 on the ground against Coastal Carolina.
Cook forced nine missed tackles in the opener, the most by any Big 12 running back and fourth-best in the country. WVU’s five sacks last week rank fifth nationally, and the defense has recorded at least nine tackles for loss in three of its last four games dating back to last season.
The Mountaineers also rank eighth nationally in punt return defense.
Rodriguez, in his 29th season overall, is five wins away from 200 for his college career. He owns a 65-34 record at West Virginia across his two stints from 2001-07 and 2025-26, and he ranks third among active power conference coaches with 195 victories.
Kickoff is set for 1 p.m., with ESPN+ carrying the broadcast. Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage begins at 10 a.m. with the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show, followed by regular network coverage at noon. Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning will have the call, and fans can also listen through WVUsports.com, the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.
On paper, the matchup tilts West Virginia’s way in a few obvious spots. The Mountaineers are averaging 31.0 points and 413.0 yards per game, while UT Martin is scoring 33.0 and averaging 392.5 yards.
WVU has been far stingier against the run, allowing 52.0 rushing yards per game, compared with UT Martin’s 133.0. The Skyhawks, though, have been sharper in a few areas, including first downs and third-down defense.
It adds up to a Saturday that should tell a lot more about where West Virginia is headed after one week.
In Other News...
West Virginia's Hot Start Was Overshadowed By An Ugly Blue Lot Scene
West Virginias fast start on game day was supposed to be all about the football, but the atmosphere outside the stadium took a sharp turn before kickoff. In the Blue Lot, a tailgate scene turned physical as multiple fans were involved in an altercation, with one man thrown to the ground while others looked on and tried to make sense of what was unfolding.
The confrontation was captured on video and spread publicly, turning a routine pregame setting into the kind of unwanted headline Mountaineer fans would rather forget. A shirtless fan stepped in during the chaos, but it remains unclear whether anyone was arrested or injured in the incident, leaving the postgame conversation focused on the scene in the parking lot instead of the early buzz around the team. [Read more 🡒]
Former Mountaineers Son Is Rising At Ohio State With A Powerful Story
Chris Henry Jr. has already found a role in Ohio States offense as a freshman wide receiver, and his rise carries a familiar name for anyone around West Virginia football. He is the son of Chris Henry Sr., who starred for the Mountaineers before going on to the Cincinnati Bengals, giving this latest chapter a clear link back to the programs own history.
His story reaches well beyond football, though, because Henry Jr. was raised by his mother and by Adam Pacman Jones, his fathers former teammate who later became a legal guardian and mentor. For West Virginia fans, it is another reminder of how tightly the sports past and present can overlap, even as Henry Jr. begins building his own path in Columbus. [Read more 🡒]
Travis Trickett May Be More Vital To WVU's Offense Than Fans Realize
Rick Trickett has spent a 53-year career around offensive line rooms, and his football family has deep West Virginia roots through sons Travis, Chance and Clint. At WVU, though, Travis Trickett is the one most directly shaping the Mountaineers' offense in the present tense. He serves as a senior offensive assistant and works closely with Rich Rodriguez, who handles the play-calling but leans on Trickett for the kind of in-game offensive insight that can help a staff stay a step ahead.
What makes Trickett especially important is that his value goes beyond one job title. He has built a reputation as a recruiter, and around the program there is growing speculation that his background and feel for the game could eventually make him a head coach somewhere down the line. For now, WVU benefits from having him in the middle of the operation, even if his influence is easy to miss from the outside. [Read more 🡒]