The first year (take two) under Rich Rodriguez is officially in the books for the West Virginia Mountaineers, who finished the season with a 4-8 record. WVU struggled throughout a season that had relatively high (certainly higher than a 4-8 record) expectations, even with a new head coach and a roster made up of 81 new players.
The Mountaineers had a season riddled with injuries, a quarterback carousel, and an offensive line that struggled all season long. It’s not that we want to make you relive a trying season for West Virginia, but let’s take a trip down memory lane using one word to describe each of the Mountaineers’ 12 games this season.
Game 1: Robert Morris
Sloppy
While the Mountaineers collected a 45-3 win over Robert Morris, it was not a victory that came in the prettiest of fashions. WVU fumbled the ball four times in the first half, and three of them resulted in turnovers. Additionally, entering game day, Rich Rodriguez had not named a starting quarterback, but as many expected, it was Nicco Marchiol getting the start for the Mountaineers. Marchiol impressed, converting on 17-of-20 through the air to go along with a passing touchdown. He carried the ball 13 times for 56 yards and a touchdown. Jahiem White led the way with 93 rushing yards and 2 touchdowns.
The Mountaineers were able to “get away with” such a sloppy performance because they were playing an outmatched Robert Morris team. After the conclusion of this one, there was certainly no indication of the kind of season that West Virginia would have; it was just good to start the season off with a blowout win.
Game 2: Ohio
Troubling
On September 6, WVU took a trip to face off with the Ohio Bobcats in Athens. They fell to the Bobcats by a final score of 17-10. This was a troubling result for the Mountaineers in a number of ways. Firstly, one of the major concerns heading into the season was regarding the WVU offensive line. For the first time (and certainly not the last), opposing defenses took advantage of a weak unit up front. West Virginia ran for just 72 yards, 32 of which came on a single carry in a Jahiem White touchdown run. The Mountaineers gave up four sacks and seven tackles-for-loss to the defending MAC champions. This was not a good sign of what was to come.
Secondly, West Virginia sustained a pair of gut-wrenching season-ending injuries to star running back Jahiem White and starting wideout Jaden Bray. The efforts of these two talented players were missed throughout the entire season.
Overall, for West Virginia to struggle (and lose) this badly against Ohio strongly indicated future trouble for the Mountaineers. But the following week’s Backyard Brawl left many thinking that WVU had in fact, found a quick solution.
Game 3: Pitt
Epic
After falling to Ohio, WVU reportedly missed out on the opportunity to host ESPN’s College Gameday against Pitt. In a thrilling come-from-behind victory that went to overtime, a name that will forever be remembered in the Backyard Brawl burst onto the scene. West Virginia running back, Tye Edwards, ran for 141 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries, after not picking up a single carry in the team’s first two games. While an injury sidelined Edwards for the remainder of the season (aside from two carries against BYU), the Northern Iowa (FCS) transfer will forever be remembered for his brilliant performance against Pitt.
This game saw a little bit of everything. West Virginia jumped out to an early lead, Pitt scored 21 consecutive points and West Virginia had a furious comeback to force overtime, where they would ultimately win the game by a final score of 31-24. There’s more: Nicco Marchiol was benched in the second half in favor of true-freshman Scotty Fox Jr., who engineered a scoring drive before throwing interceptions on back-to-back possessions. This was followed by Jaylen Henderson getting a turn at quarterback before Nicco Marchiol checked back in with the Mountaineers trailing by two scores, even though he was last on the field with WVU up by two scores.
The 2025 edition of the Backyard Brawl was epic for the Mountaineers. The fans at the packed house at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown did not have a whole lot to cheer for this season, but they were undoubtedly at their loudest during the comeback victory over Pitt.
Game 4: Kansas
Punched
West Virginia hit the road to begin Big 12 Conference play against the Kansas Jayhawks. Although Kansas scored on its opening possession, West Virginia’s defense earned three consecutive stops that forced the Jayhawks to punt. Unfortunately, the WVU offense was unable to get anything going, and the Jayhawks' offense started to heat up in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, where they scored 27 of their 41 points. Although the total yardage differential (Kansas - 388, West Virginia - 323) wasn’t as lopsided as other WVU games, it felt as if Kansas punched West Virginia in the mouth to open up conference play.
West Virginia’s lone touchdown came with backup quarterback Jaylen Henderson in the game on a 95-yard drive that he engineered primarily using his legs with the Mountaineers trailing 34-3 at the time. Though it came in “garbage time,” the drive by Henderson left fans feeling that he had earned the right to start the next game at quarterback. Although it wasn’t known at the time, this would be Marchiol’s final game of the season after he elected for season-ending foot surgery to a lingering injury.
Game 5: Utah
Embarrassing
With Marchiol ruled out, Jaylen Henderson did get the start against Utah with West Virginia donning its throwback uniforms from 1965. The first home game in Big 12 play was a major disappointment for Rich Rodriguez and his team. The talented Utes team jumped out to a 28-0 lead in a flat-out embarrassing first half. Simply put, Henderson and the offense couldn’t move the ball, and West Virginia had a hard time stopping Devon Dampier and the Utah offense. Dampier finished the game with an efficient 21-of-26, 4-touchdown performance. Utah had 532 yards and 33 first downs compared to just 346 and 14 first downs for West Virginia.
West Virginia was dominated from start to finish. In a similar fashion to what occurred against Kansas, a backup quarterback showed signs of life for WVU. This time, it was Khalil Wilkins who connected with Cam Vaughn for a 39-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. This left many WVU fans one again wondering, “Could Khalil Wilkins be the answer at quarterback?”
Game 6: BYU
Explosive
West Virginia did not force BYU to punt until under the 2-minute mark in the 4th quarter. The Mountaineer defense struggled from start to finish, though the Cougars hurt themselves with 3 turnovers. Zac Alley’s WVU defense gave up way too many explosive plays to hang with BYU in Khalil Wilkins’ first career start.
West Virginia allowed pass plays of 47 and 54 yards in the first quarter, and they allowed completions of 85, 35, and 20 yards in the second quarter.
In the 3rd quarter, BYU found another way to score that didn’t rely on explosive plays. Their opening drive was a 15-play, eight-minute drive that featured a fake field goal to convert a first down, followed by an eventual 37-yard field goal to give the Cougars a 21-point lead and consumed over half of the third quarter clock. But then in the final quarter, BYU saw gains of 21, 20, and 13 yards by the BYU offense.
Although Khalil Wilkins completed just 7-of-15 pass attempts, he was the focal point in the WVU offense with 23 carries for 89 yards. The redshirt freshman quarterback showed grit and toughness in the 38-24 loss to the then 23rd-ranked BYU Cougars.
Game 7: UCF
Discouraging
The seventh game for the Mountaineers saw the fourth starting quarterback in as many games for WVU, with true freshman Scotty Fox Jr. getting the first start of his career. In a lot of ways, this may have been West Virginia’s most disappointing game of the season, and could certainly be classified as the low point of the season. Both UCF and WVU entered the game with a 0-3 record in Big 12 play, but the Knights outplayed the Mountaineers as if they were at the top of the conference standings. West Virginia fell to UCF by a final score of 45-13. UCF racked up 578 total yards of offense compared to just 210 for West Virginia. Fox Jr. completed just 6-of-17 attempts for 47 yards. Entering the game, all signs pointed to a competitive game between two struggling teams. The way that UCF dominated this one left WVU fans feeling rather discouraged.
Game 8: TCU
Familiar
For the first time since the victory over Pitt in the Backyard Brawl on September 13th, Mountaineer fans were engaged in a close contest in the fourth quarter. After trailing by two scores for the majority of the game, West Virginia was one third down stop away from getting the ball back with less than two minutes to play and trailing by six. This narrow loss, in a lot of ways, felt like familiar territory for Mountaineer fans and while we’re not one for moral victories, at least this game was competitive, unlike the ones that had come in the weeks prior.
Scotty Fox Jr. threw for 301 yards and 2 touchdowns in a standout showing in his first start at Milan Puskar Stadium. However, the rushing attack was non-existent as WVU managed just 41 yards on the ground, something that was largely disappointing to Head Coach Rich Rodriguez.
Although it was a close game, West Virginia fell to 2-6 overall and an 0-5 start to conference play.
Game 9: Houston
Outlier
There is no doubt that West Virginia’s best overall performance of the season came on the road in a victory over the then 7-1 Houston Cougars. Scotty Fox Jr. and company won the game as a double-digit underdog, 45-35. While Conner Weigman and Amare Thomas connected for 99 yards and 3 touchdowns through the air, Weigman did throw a pair of costly interceptions, one of which was returned for an 80-yard touchdown by Jordan Scruggs.
Entering the matchup, there was a considerable concern regarding West Virginia’s ability to run the football against the talented defensive front of Houston. West Virginia ran it very well en route to 246 yards and four touchdowns on 53 carries. Diore Hubbard led the way with 108 yards on 29 attempts. Scotty Fox Jr. added 65 yards and two rushing touchdowns.
This game should be considered as the outlier on the season. This was an upset win for West Virginia in a game in which they proved a lot of naysayers wrong. A road win over a ranked opponent while the Mountaineers entered the game with a 0-5 conference record, was certainly a pleasant surprise.
Game 10: Colorado
Opportunistic
Deion Sanders and the Colorado Buffaloes came into Morgantown limping. They were coming off losses to Arizona and Utah, in which they allowed 105 points and managed to score just 24. Talented freshman Julian Lewis got the start for Colorado and played pretty well considering West Virginia’s defense had seven sacks and 15 tackles-for-loss. Diore Hubbard once again shone for WVU with 158 total yards. Additionally, an already depleted running back room saw Curtis Jones Jr., WVU bandit, see some time at running back in goal line situations. He scored two touchdowns.
This was not Scotty Fox Jr.’s best game as he threw two interceptions, but it was a Mountaineer team as a whole that capitalized on multiple opportunities to get by a struggling Colorado team by a final score of 29-22.
Game 11: Arizona State
Effort
Riding a two-game winning streak and seeking to keep their fight for bowl eligibility alive, WVU visited the Arizona State Sun Devils. After trailing 22-10 at half and the score remaining the same after three quarters, WVU put together consecutive scoring drives in the 4th quarter to take a late 23-22 lead. This was highlighted by a Cyncir Bowers catch and run for 90 yards on a 3rd & 27 that gave West Virginia the lead with six minutes to go. On the ensuing Arizona State possession, a 49-yard field goal gave the Sun Devils the lead with 2:44 to play. The following WVU drive got near midfield before Fox Jr. threw an interception on 4th & 4, allowing Arizona State to kneel out the clock.
While the winning streak would be stopped at 2, it was a very encouraging second half effort by the Mountaineers. Fox Jr. threw for 353 yards while the offense managed just 68 yards on 39 rush attempts. West Virginia out-gained the Sun Devils 421-330.
Game 12: Texas Tech
Pitiful
The performance that WVU put forth against one of the nation’s best teams in Texas Tech, was one to forget. West Virginia was shut out in a 49-0 contest that the Red Raiders dominated from the opening possession.
Against the best run defense in the nation, WVU managed just 37 yards on 22 carries. While no one was expecting West Virginia to win, it was still a largely disappointing performance from the Mountaineers, but in a lot of ways, an appropriate way to end a nightmare season (in a lot of ways) for West Virginia football.