Rich Rodriguez: 'You Can Win a National Championship at West Virginia'

Rich Rod has his eyes on the big one.

WVU Athletics Communication

Rich Rodriguez had the West Virginia Mountaineers one win away from playing in the national championship game 17 years ago.

WVU entered as 28.5-point favorites over heated rival Pitt and with a win, they would punch their ticket to the big game. The Mountaineer offense was humming and looked unstoppable. Not a single soul in the country saw what happened next coming. Pat White went down early in the game, injuring his non-throwing hand and not returning until late. Pitt stunned the Mountaineers and knocked them out of the championship game.

Most feel like that was West Virginia's last real chance to win the big one, but Rich Rodriguez still believes it' possible.

"You can win a national championship at West Virginia," Rodriguez said during an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday.

“It’s always out there," Rodriguez said when asked about that 2007 game against Pitt. "But you cant think like okay, we’re going to win a national championship and then it magically appears. It’s like, okay, what do we need to do tomorrow to win? Every decision I make in this program, every decision that the coaching staff makes, every decision that the players make…does it help us win? If it doesn’t help us win, it ain’t the right decision. That’s kind of the mindset we’re going to have from day one."

"You can win a National Championship at West Virginia..

You can win a National Championship at West Virginia" ~ @RealCoachRod #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/iivA2lPI9Z

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 13, 2024

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