Rich Rodriguez radio show summary 9-15
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez appeared on his weekly radio show Monday evening and WVSports.com provides a summary of what was said.
The Mountaineers are coming off a 31-24 overtime win over Pittsburgh and will travel to Kansas this weekend to open Big 12 Conference play.
–Rodriguez said that it was a good weekend to be a Mountaineer. Really proud of how hard his players played and coaches prepared well. It was a great day all the way around and the atmosphere was next level and the crowd was great and made an impact. Anything like that helps in recruiting and for a lot of them it was their first time here so it’s a double win for them.
–Rodriguez said the reason he was calmer on Tuesday and Wednesday practices were because they were pretty good. Every day is the same with how they practice and that’s the challenge throughout the season to get them like that every day. The next play in practice is the most important play in the world to them and for most people that’s hard for them to fathom. You have to take that approach if you want your team to get better over the course of a season.
–West Virginia had 97 plays and 28 first downs. He didn’t realize they had that many but the longer it goes the better because that’s how they train and it should be to their advantage.
–Rodriguez had never seen so many players get hurt in a game. And after a couple plays they came back into the game. The NCAA knows its a problem and if they fall down after the ready to play it’s going to cost them a timeout but they’re going to fall down immediately. So he thinks they should sit out time to make sure they’re OK for when they go back in. Did they do that on purpose? One hundred percent yes, but it’s hard for an official to determine that.
–Rodriguez learned that his team didn’t panic. He thinks the game helped to bond the team but everything that’s been done the last seventh months has helped too. When you have so many new players you hope there are times that bring them together. This helped his team believe in themselves and some of the stuff that they’re doing.
–The quarterbacks sometimes people overanalyze it. Worrying about the psyche of it, but they’re not worried about it you run the play the best you can and if you don’t somebody else will do it. Nicco Marchiol played the first half, then they tried Scotty Fox to give them a spark. He did and then he gave them a spark and then didn’t so they went to Jaylen Henderson. He gave Nicco Marchiol about a minute before to let him know and that’s the mentality he wants to have. There’s going to be moments in every game that even Marchiol looks like a freshman because he is in the system. He didn’t learn anything about Marchiol that he didn’t already know about him.
–Pitt does what they do defensively and they missed some shot plays early. He was concerned with their athleticism.
—Tye Edwards ran really well and showed Rodriguez that he can be a guy that carries the ball 15-20 times. He started to run more physical. He is a guy they can trust in their run scheme and with pass protection, same with Clay Ash and they need Cyncir Bowers to continue to grow.
–West Virginia is so multiple on defense and every week is a learning process for them. Kansas had a week off and they’ve had two weeks to prepare for the game. The Jayhawks do a lot of shifts and motions and early in the game they have to be really disciplined defensively.
–Tight end Jacob Barrick got cut tackled and rolled up so he might be a longshot to play and wide receiver Preston Fox got banged up but they’re hopeful on him.
–Rodriguez did ask the official the exact rule number on the penalty before the half. He just wanted to know which one it was and he never got that. He’s still perplexed that a penalty was called and nothing was enforced and he’s still waiting for that.
–Rodriguez said the 3:30 p.m. kickoffs are nice and good for the fans. He likes the noon ones and you can wake up and play and you’re home.
–Rodriguez said they used the heavy formation some at Jacksonville State. They’ve been working on it since camp and the nine offensive linemen can’t wait to use it. The more big people you have that can move other big people the better you are. It’s just downhill. Everybody wants to make football complicated but this is easy. There are some other stuff that they can do out of it. They could do the heavy package at any time not just in goal line formations.
–Rodriguez said different programs do different things when it comes to size up front. He isn’t as particular with certain measurables but they want the most athletic they can get and go from there. Offensive linemen are 320-325 pounds and athletic and defensive linemen are the same. They’ll take a smaller guy if he is a better football player.
–Rodriguez told the team they were going to enjoy the Pitt win for 24-hours but it’s only one quarter of the season. The rest are conference games.
–Rodriguez said that win Saturday was in the top five. It was more emotional and fired up than some others because it was important to them and anybody that has been involved but it also was important to the fans and the state of West Virginia. All the games are important but we all have the same feelings about Pitt so if we can brag about it for a year or two, whatever it is, let’s do it.
–Rodriguez said you want everybody to enjoy watching football players play hard but when you’re playing your rival it’s personal. One thing that he does hope comes out of it is the fans realize that the fans do make a difference. They had a true homefield advantage on Saturday.
–Rodriguez said he thinks that wide receivers sometimes get a hot hand as well like running backs. Rodney Gallagher had that Saturday.
–Rodriguez said he knew that Oliver Straw made a really good catch on the bad snap, but then he saw a picture of it and it was an incredible catch. Straw did a good job with his placement and preventing them in the return game.
–The challenge is now to carry over that determination into Kansas. That is the challenge and it’s an every day thing not just during games. They are playing a really good team, heavy underdogs on the road and they have to play with the same mentality.
–Rodriguez said that defensive lineman Jimmori Robinson will play against Kansas. He practiced some last week and is in good shape but it will be his first game in the system.
–Marchiol got more confident as he kept going in the game and lead them to the win.
—Justin Smith-Brown is a new guy that came in and is a talented guy and you’re going to see him more and more. They’re going to need a lot of guys like him throughout the rest of the year.
–Rodriguez said every recruit that was there had a great time and for a lot of them it was their first game and they really enjoyed it. Winning helps everything but winning with the atmosphere they had and the passion the fans had helps.
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