The vibes around the WVU fan base were the highest I’ve seen in a very long time heading into the 2026 football season. We were coming off a magical run to the College World Series by the baseball team. We spent a ton of money on the offensive line, quarterback, and running back in the portal. Rick Trickett joined the coaching staff. The year 2 Rich Rod bump felt inevitable. But consecutive losses to first year Big 12 coaches have all but killed the mood around Morgantown, and sent the fan base into a dark
place where seat temperatures and buyouts are starting to be whispered once again. Is it an overreaction? Probably. Can you blame them? Probably not.
The reality is that in Rich Rod’s first year he went 4-8 and lost to 2 other first year head coaches at Ohio and UCF. Not ideal, but also forgivable. We all expected his first year to be rough given roster turnover and how bad the first year was under Rich on his first stint at WVU. This forgiveness came with the expectation that we we would see improvement in year 2. We are now in year 2 of the Rich Rod sequel and back to back losses to first year Big 12 coaches at Oklahoma St. and Iowa St. have cast a lot of doubt on if we are actually seeing that improvement. The Iowa State loss is particularly troubling as that is program and coach that is facing significant challenges in the wake of Matt Campbell going to Penn State and taking the majority of their talent from last year with him. By most accounts they spent significantly less on their roster this year than we did. Now it should be said that Iowa State’s only 2 losses have come to good teams in Iowa and Utah. The argument that Iowa State might actually be a good team and Jimmie Rogers is working magic in his first year might be valid. But that argument also comes with the admission that we are not a good team, and Rich Rod is not certainly not a pulling rabbits out of his hat in year 2.
It’s literally just the Defense though
Through 5 weeks the 2 best offenses in the Big 12 are:
- WVU
- Whoever WVU plays that week
As it turns out, all of those reason we had to be excited about this season were legit. The quarterback and running back we got in the portal look like home runs and have produced every game. The offensive line while not perfect by any means is definitely improved from last year. The problem, and this seems obvious in hindsight, is that for all those reasons we had to be excited, none of them had to do with the defensive side of the ball. Name our 2 highest rated portal additions on the defensive side. I’ll wait.
I have no way of knowing the exact break down, but if someone was to tell me that 75% of all our money for this years roster was spent on offense, I would believe it. It’s very possible that at the end of the year we look back and say that our 2 best players on defense are Jacorey Thomas and Jason Chambers. Two players that just become just became eligible this week.
With all that said, I refuse to believe that we have less talent than that Iowa State team, and even if we do that might be bigger indictment on this staff. We have the worst defense in Power 4 football. No matter the root cause, the coaching staff has to take the blame for that, and while the buck stops with the Head Coach the offensive improvement we have seen his year supports the claim that this is a Zac Alley problem more than a Rich Rodriguez one.
Is there any hope?
As bad as it seems after consecutive losses to open up conference play, the reality is that we still only have 2 losses on the season and a lot of games left to be played. Cincinnati, Kansas, and TCU are very winnable games. Texas Tech and Houston have both looked mortal in every game they have played this year. The road to 6 or even 7 wins is still there. It’s a curvy road, filled with potholes, but it’s still there. Our offense is good enough to give us a chance in every game. Can Zac Alley turn around this defense? If he could do it why hasn’t he already? The signs have been there that this defense was a problem in every single game this season. Is there a world where the addition of Jacorey Thomas and Jason Chambers helps him turn this thing around?
We will find out this week against Arizona. They bring a great passing attack and overall offense with them to Morgantown. They are significantly better than Iowa State on the offensive side by almost every single metric. They just destroyed an undefeated Cincinnati team 34-7.
I can still see a path to 6 wins even with a loss to Arizona, but we have to see significant improvement on the defensive side to believe there is any hope for the remainder of the season. To be honest, this Arizona game is coming at a terrible time for us. I’d rather play anyone but Utah on our remaining schedule than Arizona next week. We can significantly improve on defense and it won’t show against an offense this good.
It’s time for Rich Rod to pull a rabbit out of his hat.
How are you feeling after the Iowa State loss? How much blame to you put on Rich versus Zac Alley? Let me know if the comments.
