MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Almost every player on Rich Rodriguez’s West Virginia football team will create new memories on Saturday afternoon as the Mountaineers face Robert Morris.
With a lineup featuring 79 new players, first-time experiences are unavoidable throughout.
Rodriguez mentioned earlier this week he anticipates his players will feel anxious, just as he will when he steps out of the tunnel for the first time since coaching the Mountaineers in 2007
Isn’t it wild that this marks my 28th year as a head coach and a total of 40 years overall? However, there are likely just as many, if not more, nerves in this initial game since it’s the first match with numerous uncertainties, he clarified. “Right now, you’re probably thinking, ‘Wow, are you still anxious?'”
“However, I believe it’s alright to feel nervous for a short while,” he quickly added. “I believe it’s fine for our players to feel a bit anxious because it shows that it matters to them, right?” “However, you need to stay focused as well.”
“I desire for them to feel anxious, but I also want them to have fun while playing, and I believe they will.”
Rodriguez recalls clear memories of his inaugural college game under Hall of Fame coach Don Nehlen at West Virginia University in 1982. Across the field stood another Hall of Fame coach, Barry Switzer, whose ninth-ranked Oklahoma squad was heavily favored to beat the Mountaineers that sweltering September afternoon in Norman, Oklahoma.
Switzer held a 90-13-3 record before the match, and when West Virginia visited Norman four years earlier, the Sooners won easily with a 52-10 score.
“After analyzing the footage of that game, Nehlen once remembered that most of their starters had removed their shoulder pads by the second quarter.”
In ’82, Rodriguez served on special teams and was a secondary backup focused on mitigating one of the quickest teams in college football.
“I didn’t participate my freshman year since many of us were redshirted, and we actually played in JV games,” he noted.
“My initial game playing was during my second year at Oklahoma, and it was a significant upset victory for us.” “I recall the thrill of traveling to Oklahoma, the joy of playing against them and winning, and then returning home,” he stated. “I believe we arrived at the Blue Lot, and a crowd of fans was there for us, shaking the bus while the coaches were uncertain about letting us exit.”
“They inquired about our next steps, and we replied, ‘Release us from this cursed bus.'” It was quite thrilling. “I genuinely had a quite unforgettable experience during my first game here,” he mentioned.
Even though he was young and inexperienced, Rodriguez felt assured heading into the game due to the team’s excellent preparation beforehand. The coaches excelled in preparing them for the heat and OU’s impressive speed.
And they did an even more effective job of burying it in the media.
“We are unable to halt their offense,” Nehlen informed The Daily Oklahoman, the local newspaper of OU. The wishbone is the most dynamic offense in college football, requiring six players on one side and six on the other to counter it.
“Regardless of how you calculate it, that’s 12, and there’s no chance we can have 12 players on the field simultaneously, which is the only method we know to prevent it.”
The article was lacking only the winks from Nehlen.
“They executed that option play, and we had a solid strategy for it that we practiced throughout camp,” Rodriguez recalled. “I believed we had a solid football team, but I was simply pleased to be on the travel roster, and I participated in special teams.” I entered the game early at safety, and on my initial play, I was pursuing someone when one of their large linemen hit me, saying something like, ‘Welcome to college football!'”
That was Rodriguez’s entry into major college football, and he quickly proved to be a rapid learner.
“I’m thinking, ‘Alright.'” “Later, perhaps three or four plays after that, they featured ‘the best that never was’ at running back Marcus Dupree,” Rodriguez stated. “We had heard of him, and he was supposed to be this and that, so they executed a small option play, and I tackled him, perhaps a bit late, and pushed him out of bounds.”
“I recall his goggles being slightly askew, and I rose up like a pro and declared, ‘Welcome to college football!'”
That was the expression he had just picked up four performances ago!
After lagging early, West Virginia surged back to tally 20 points in the second quarter and ultimately forged ahead with an impressive 41-27 win to start the season.
The victory was so surprising that thousands of Mountaineer supporters gathered at the stadium to welcome the team when they arrived late Saturday night.
“Following the match, we triumph and everyone is thrilled, and here I am, a small kid from Grant Town, West Virginia, competing at Oklahoma, and we defeated Oklahoma in a huge surprise.” “That was quite unforgettable.”
Certainly, it was.
