West Virginia gets a chance Saturday to keep a pair of streaks rolling when it hosts UT Martin at 1 p.m. at Milan Puskar Stadium. The Mountaineers are aiming to stay perfect against FCS opponents, and they also have a shot to do something they have not done in eight years. ESPN+ will carry the game.
Both teams have bigger tests coming after this one. West Virginia heads to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a neutral-site matchup with Virginia to wrap up non-conference play. UT Martin stays on the road for a meeting with Memphis, the only program in the state with a better winning percentage since the start of the 2010 season.
The Skyhawks arrive with some momentum and a few eye-catching numbers. They have scored zero touchdown passes in a 1-1 start, but they have also allowed zero sacks.
Their ground game has been a force, led by Tommy Ansley, who has five rushing touchdowns and is tied for the FCS lead. UT Martin has also blocked eight kicks last season, the most in the FCS, and has already added two more this year.
Jason Simpson’s team has been built on consistency for a long time. Simpson has been at UT Martin for 21 seasons, and the Skyhawks have won four straight Ohio Valley Conference titles from 2021-24.
They were picked to win the league again this season. Their scoring profile has been strong in a key spot, too, with a plus-18 margin in the second quarter, 31-13.
Last week’s 42-7 win over Chicago State ended with UT Martin scoring 42 unanswered points. The Skyhawks also enter this one with four straight road games on the schedule and a roster that includes 14 FBS or FCS transfers.
West Virginia, meanwhile, has plenty of fresh faces settling in. The Mountaineers had 19 players make their first start with the team this season, and 44 players on the roster have at least one college start. Seven true freshmen played in the opener against Coastal Carolina: N/S Jayden Ballard and Miles Khatri, LT Kevin Brown, RB Amari Latimer, S Matt Sieg and DL Noah Tishendorf and Yendor Mack.
A few numbers from that opener jump off the page. WVU had five sacks, which is tied for No. 5 in the FBS, and recovered a fumble for the fifth consecutive game.
Kicker Jack Cassidy went 6 for 6 on touchbacks. Quarterback Mike Hawkins completed eight passes in as many attempts on third down.
The Mountaineers also converted nine of 18 third downs, a sharp note after last season’s struggles, when WVU ranked No. 132 out of 134 in conversion rate and never had a game with more than seven conversions.
Running back Cam Cook added one of the game’s biggest plays with a 74-yard run against Coastal Carolina. That was the only rushing play this season longer than that one. Cook has also forced nine missed tackles this year, according to Pro Football Focus, a total that ranks No. 8 in the FBS.
There is also a historical angle for West Virginia on this date. The Mountaineers have six wins in seven games played on Sept. 12, including a two-game winning streak against the FCS. Overall, WVU has won 23 straight games against FCS opponents.
UT Martin has had some success against FBS competition in the past, but the numbers still tell a tough story. The Skyhawks have 29 losses in 31 games against FBS teams, with wins over Kennesaw State in 2024 and Memphis in 2012.
Saturday gives both sides another chance to stack more numbers before tougher games arrive next 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 🡒]