WVU’s Rodriguez focusing on 1 game at time
AP Photo
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — You don’t have to travel too far into the past to find the last bowl game Rich Rodriguez coached in. 2023 would be the year, where Rodriguez was in Year 2 at Jacksonville State, and the first year the school was in the FBS. Rodriguez had the 8-4 Gamecocks in the New Orleans Bowl and played Louisiana. Jacksonville State won that game 34-31.
You have to travel a lot further to find Rodriguez’s last trip to a bowl game in Morgantown. It was the 2006 Gator Bowl on New Year’s Day of 2007. Fullback Owen Schmitt had two touchdowns and 109 yards, while quarterback Pat White had two passing touchdowns and another on the ground.
WVU won the Gator Bowl over Georgia Tech 38-35.
Twenty years later, Rodriguez is on the verge of bringing WVU back to a bowl game. The Mountaineers head into the Texas Tech game at 5-3 on the year, which is a win away from the six-game requirement to be bowl eligible.
Rodriguez is trying to keep it quiet around the facility.
“I told the guys, I don’t bring it up a lot because every game’s important and has a life of its own,” Rodriguez said.
When Rodriguez first arrived at WVU in 2024, he said in the lead-up to his first season, he believed he could bring a conference championship to Morgantown. The Mountaineers went 4-8 in Year 1 — a far cry from that goal. Even coming two games short of a bowl game.
Coming two games shy, when three games are out of conference, is disappointing. Rodriguez had excuses, and some were valid. It was Year 1, and he had huge roster turnover. He received a pass.
But, in Year 2, especially with how coaches were turning teams around frequently in the first few years, it was now at least the expectation. Rodriguez, despite saying a Big 12 championship was the first milestone, knows that a bowl game and being .500 is the bare minimum.
“Now that you’re at five, you get to six to be bowl eligible; we don’t talk a lot about goals before the season anyway, but that is something you want to be every year at least,” Rodriguez said. “That’s not the top of the list goal-wise, but it is one of them to play in a bowl game.”
Bowl games have certainly lost their luster over the years. Playing in a bowl game used to really mean something. After players started to opt out for the NFL Draft, and the higher expectations with the expanded College Football Playoff, not a lot of people care.
It depends on the fan base. The Mountaineer fanbase shows up and gets excited about every game. Just look at the hype around the College Basketball Crown, and especially since it would be Rodriguez’s first since coming back and it’s been a few years since WVU went to a postseason game.
There are many players on the team who haven’t experienced a bowl game, and all the glam and glitz that it comes with. WVU has a massive freshman class, who will certainly benefit from playing in a bowl game against higher competition.
“I still think the bowls themselves are great for the fans. It’s great for the players,” Rodriguez said. “Maybe it’s been diminished a little bit with the playoffs and stuff like that. But still, it’s out there.”
As of this week, WVU is projected to play in the Puerto Rico Bowl, facing UMass, and the Independence Bowl against Washington, according to ESPN projections.
WVU still has to win its sixth game before getting excited to head south. The Mountaineers would need to upset No. 15 Texas Tech to make it happen. It’s more likely the team reaches bowl eligibility the following week at home against a struggling Kansas team.
“Now that we’re at five, next one we get is six, and it would be great for us to be able to go to the bowl game in our second year back,” Rodriguez said. “More than anything else, for our fans and our players to enjoy that experience because some of our guys have never been to one, and to go to one would be nice.”