Rich Rodriguez is Starting to See the WVU Offense He Envisioned

After three games, West Virginia's offense looks full of playmakers.

Sep 19, 2026; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Rich Rodriguez celebrates after defeating the Virginia Cavaliers at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Just 9 months ago, West Virginia had no offensive identity and very few dynamic playmakers, if any, if we're being honest.

Now, they have one of the nation's most explosive attacks, entering Week 4 leading the Big 12 in rushing yards per game and third nationally (264.0), while having a quarterback in Mike Hawkins Jr., who is leading the nation in yards per completion (18.3).

It's been quite the turnaround in such a short period of time, and the cool part about it is they're only three games into the season; they will continue to get more comfortable in the system and improve.

“Yeah, I got more confidence," WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez said on his radio show Monday night about the offense. "Ever since camp, I’ve had confidence, but I hadn’t seen it in the games consistently like I saw sometimes in practice. There were moments in practice I’m like, man, this really looks like how it’s supposed to look. Even in this past game there there were a couple times like, man, that didn’t look how we practiced. So I still think there’s a lot of growth to do, and part of it is because a lot of them are new and starting for the first time in our system, but we took steps against a quality opponent, a veteran team, to give us more confidence.”

All offseason long, we talked about Hawkins' star potential, Epps' dynamic ability, the revamped offensive line, and the proven commodity that is Cam Cook. I felt pretty good about the offensive side of the ball coming into the season, but, like Rich Rod has said himself on numerous occasions, you just don't know until you get a few games in.

Mistakes are bound to happen. It's football. But Hawkins has done an exceptional job of taking care of the ball to this point, and when you have a decisive and accurate quarterback who can also beat you with his legs, and you pair that with one of the top running backs in the country, you have something that every coach wants — an offense that can beat you in multiple ways.

We have heard Hawkins, Cook, and Epps' names a ton through the first three games, but there are more pieces who will get involved the further we get along and can help take this offense to another level. Think of freshman RB Amari Latimer, redshirt freshman WR TaRon Francis, and USC wide receiver Prince Strachan, who just returned from injury. With all of those weapons, WVU's offense will be a nightmare to prepare for if you are on the other side.

“Here’s what happens: you win a game, and you have your plays, and all of a sudden you’re like, ‘Okay, now we can do more.’ And that’s probably the worst thing you can do," Rodriguez said. "Instead of adding more stuff that you could do, let’s find out what we didn’t execute well. If it’s not something we can execute, let’s throw it out because we’ve got a whole lot of plays that we want to use going forward. A lot of it will look similar to the fans, but it’s different in smaller ways. There’s a lot more offensively that we need to do, and that we’re going to have to do to win conference games.”