For the first time since 2018 the West Virginia Mountaineers are 2-0 and are looking to be 3-0 which they also haven’t done since the 2018 season. To do so they need to beat the 25th ranked Virginia Cavaliers this Saturday night in the Duke’s Mayo Classic in Charolette, North Carolina!
It took a few seasons, but after winning 11 total games in his first three seasons, head coach Tony Elliott won 11 games last year, and are looking to take the Cavaliers to the ACC Championship and a playoff appearance.
This is an experienced team, especially on the offensive line, as well as being a team that brought in a lot of talent in the transfer portal. Their headline acquisition was former Penn State and Missouri quarterback, Beau Pribula.
This is a well coached team that is going to want to try and do a lot of things the Mountaineers want to do. Here are some things WVU fans want to keep an eye out for on Saturday night’s game!
Who is Winning in the Trenches
Often times, if you consistently win in the trenches, you will win a lot of football games. If you need an example, watch last year’s Mountaineer team and you’ll see why they struggled. The offensive and defensive lines are two areas that WVU has put considerable time, effort, and resources into improving. They completely overhauled both units, and brought in a flurry of high school recruits and portal transfers in to improving. Through two weeks, we have seen both units being improved, especially on the offensive line. WVU wants to win ball games becaus eof the efforts of these lines.
Virginia also wants to win through the efforts of their offensive and defensive lines. Their offensive line is their difference maker. They have a starting lineup of fifth, sixth, and seventh-year players. That is completely absurd. They are also returning players, so while they did add newcomers in the portal to be depth, they did not have to put together a completely new starting lineup like West Virginia did. On the defensive line, they have been spectacular against the run, only giving up 2.38 yards per attempt in two games. They lost a key starter in defensive tackle Josh Hammond, but they have depth.
In order for either team to win this game, their offensive line will have to inflict their will on the opposing defensive, while the defensive lines have to plug up holes and have to contain these mobile quaterbacks. Speaking of which…
Can Either Quarterback Exhaust the Defense
West Virginia and Virginia both brought in very similar quarterbacks this offseason. Both Michael Hawkins Jr. and Beau Pribula were dual-threat prospects coming out of high school, both quarterbacks transferred from an SEC school, and both quarterbacks have had a good start to the season.
They both seem to do the same things, and have done so with good efficiency so far. Hawkins has only thrown the ball 21 times so far and is 16/21 for 287 yards, 3 TDs and no INTS. Pribula has only thrown the ball 25 times and is 21/25 for 317 yards, 5 TDs, and an INT.
Hawkins has carried the ball 26 times for 199 yards and 3 TDS. Pribula has carried the ball 17 times for 102 yards and no TDS.
Both quarterbacks play a similar style, and both have not yet had a true challenge (with all due respect to NC state). It feels like in this one, both QBs are going to be asked to “win the game” late in the fourth quarter. Whether that be winning it on the ground with their legs or through the air with their arm I’m not sure, but one of them will have to be the reason their team is 3-0 when the game is over Saturday night.
Coaching Come Through
This is not going to be the biggest game in Rich Rodriguez’s career. I don’t think this will be Tony Elliott’s most important game in his career with. But this game will be a big one to determine both of these teams’ seasons.
For West Virginia, this win would be the second year they win on the road against a AP top-25 team and would break an eight year drought of being undefeated in your first three games. They would also be halfway to bowl eligible, and would set them up to start conference play.
For Virginia, a win would keep the momentum going and would get them ready for conference play in an ACC were the only competition comes from Miami, SMU, and Louisville (with all DISRESPECT to Pitt). For a program that has not had consistent success, being able to find it in this day and age would be extremly beneficial going forward, especially at a basketball school.
It’s up to Rich Rodriguez and Tony Elliott to be prepared. Both coaches have coached and been apart of big games. A good chunk of their players, especially high schoolers and JUCO guys have not been in games like this. It is up to these coaches and their staffs to have their players prepared and ready to go. Hopefully for the Mountaineers, RichRod has the edge.
