3 Things That West Virginia Coach Rich Rodriguez Said Entering Oklahoma State’s Trip to Morgantown

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Rich Rodriguez is back at West Virginia, but these past two years have been his first in the Big 12.

Oklahoma State travels to Morgantown this weekend for a game at 6 p.m. (Central) Saturday against Rodriguez’s Mountaineers.

Rodriguez met with the media on Tuesday to preview the game. Here are three things he said.

1. On OSU Thus Far

The Cowboys’ young season has already had a peak (Oregon) and a valley (Tulsa), but what stands out about OSU to Rodriguez is what stands out to a lot of coaches — Drew Mestemaker.

“The quarterback is a great player,” Rodriguez said. “There was a lot of hype coming into the season, and he shown that. He gets rid of the ball so quickly. It’s like an average of 1.8 seconds or something. So, it’s hard to sack him, whether it’s RPO game or their pass game, he doesn’t take sacks, he gets rid of the football.”

Rodriguez then shared with the West Virginia media what Oregon coach Dan Lanning shared after the Cowboys’ big win over the Ducks, that OSU’s win was not an accident.

“If you watched the Oregon game, it was not one of these, like, got a couple breaks and won the game,” Rodriguez said. “They kinda dominated the deal from start to finish.”

Later the Tulsa game was circled back to with the duality of beating Oregon but losing to Tulsa.

No stranger to building a program, Rodriguez emphasized that first games can be tough.

“I think the first game is always the hardest, especially if you got — like they did — a whole bunch of new players,” Rodriguez said. “You’re still figuring out what you got and what you did, and to their credit, after they lost the first game and you’re thinking, ‘Golly, what’s going on?’ And they come out the next game and just from the jump, jump all over Oregon. It tells you a lot about how they’ve turned that program into where it is.”

2. Rodriguez Has Had a Run-In with Skyler Cassity

This game will be the first time Rodriguez has crossed paths with Eric Morris, but back in 2024, he ran into an even younger Skyler Cassity while OSU’s defensive coordinator was at Sam Houston.

Rodriguez was coaching Jax State then, and his Gamecocks beat Sam Houston 21-11. It marked Jax State’s third-lowest scoring game of the season, trailing only the 14 points the Gamecocks scored against Louisville and 17 they scored against Western Kentucky. Jax State averaged 36 points a game that season.

“Very, very sound,” Rodriguez said of Cassity’s defense. “They don’t make any mistakes. They’re in the right spot. Well coached. They always have a good plan for every, kind of, scheme you’re doing. They’ll know your quarterback run game and all that. He’s always done a really good job everywhere he’s been as a coordinator and did a good job against us a few years ago when we played them.”

Although he hasn’t had a run-in with Morris, it sounds like Rodriguez has liked what he’s done from afar.

“I don’t know that we’ve ever competed against each other from a game standpoint, but got a lot of respect for what he’s done,” Rodriguez said. “He’s won everywhere he’s been. They’ve done a great job of putting this team together in a short period of time that he’s been there. I think they’re doing a fabulous job.”

3. Injury Update

The Mountaineers got a little banged up this past weekend in their big win against Virginia, but it sounds like a lot of those guys should be good to go by the time the weekend rolls around.

Former Oklahoma State receiver Jaden Bray was one of the guys who went down, coming off after a big grab on third down. Rodriguez said Bray, who was at OSU from 2021 through 2023, should be good to go by Wednesday.

“Jaden is such a competitive guy, too,” Rodriguez said. “And is kind of the leader in there. He made a couple of really big plays, and got banged up. But he’s a tough guy.”

Nick Krahe, WVU’s starting left guard, exited after 36 plays on Saturday, but Rodriguez said he should be good to go.

Prince Strachan, another big-bodied receiver, made his season debut against the Cavilers, returning from injury. The 6-foot-5 USC transfer played only seven offensive snaps, but look for that to increase Saturday.

“Last week was kind of the first week back fully, and he played a bit,” Rodriguez said. “But he’ll have a full week to practice this week and expect him to be in there a little bit more. He’s a big, physical guy and a good football player. That was kind of the first game for him, and I think he’ll keep getting better. And his role is going to increase, of course, I think starting this weekend.”