By: Landon Scott | WV Sports Chat
Two games, two wildly different opponents, yet many of the same trends emerged from West Virginia’s opening two contests of the 2026 season. Coastal Carolina and UT Martin came to Morgantown, each leaving with a loss to their name. WVU approached both games mostly the same, but with fairly different outcomes. However, the scores can be misleading. A deep dive into the statistics weave a better story of the season thus far.
743 Total Yards Surrendered – WVU’s defense has left plenty to be desired through eight competitive quarters of play against a G6 and FCS opponent, respectively.
The second half against Coastal saw Deuce Bailey, a freshman QB, gouge the Mountaineers for over three-hundred yards and three touchdowns. In all, the offensive breakout propelled The Chanticleers to an overall yardage advantage on the Mountaineers for the day. After only allowing five first downs in the entire first half, Zac Alley’s unit gave up five on their opening second half drive alone.
Fast forward one week, and the first half of the matchup against UT Martin bared some resemblance to the prior game. Of UTM’s three-hundred and eighteen yards, the majority came in the first half. After the break, WVU’s defense found its footing they had previously shown in the first half against Coastal.
The Mountaineers carried a shutout into the fourth, only for it to be broken up by a scoop and score following a fumble by the Mountaineer offense. However, numerous UTM explosive plays were negated by penalties. A touchdown, as well as three other plays of thirty-or-more yards, were negated due to flags. Unfortunately, the 52-7 score is misleading, signaling a much stronger defensive performance than what actually occurred, at least as far as yardage and first downs are concerned.
9 of 26 on Third Down – The defense has forced a healthy chunk of opposing drives into third down situations, preventing a first-down on around two-thirds of these instances. Good defenses get off the field, and so far, WVU has been a little better than average at forcing punts thus far.
In the Coastal game, the Chanticleers only faced third-down ten times. When Coastal got the chains moving, they often did so on first or second down. However, when Coastal did face these third downs, they only converted twice. The Mountaineers are formidable on their third down defense, but at times can be inconsistent at forcing these situations.
10 Tackles – Kamari Wilson is currently second on the team with tackles, trailing only Isiah Patterson, who has fourteen of his own. The stat is especially impressive considering Wilson departed the UTM contest early with an injury. While the Senior Memphis transfer was adamant he could continue, the training staff shut him down as a precaution.
The safety has been a consistent presence around the ball while on the field, also leading the team with two deflected passes in his narrow showing. A healthy Wilson will be an instrumental piece on a defense that aims to improve as the season progresses.
9 Explosive Plays – Since Will Grier, Gary Jennings, and David Sills last graced the field for The Mountaineers, WVU has struggled to flip the field in a single play. Through two weeks, Rich Rodriguez’s offense has executed nine plays of twenty-five or more yards, with six of them resulting in touchdowns. The season opened with a seventy-two-yard scamper by Cam Cook; a mark he will spend all season trying to top.
Six of these nine explosive plays occurred against UT Martin, as did five of the previously noted touchdowns. However, WVU had a near half-dozen plays against Coastal that approached the twenty-yard threshold, just missing out on the explosive play benchmark of twenty-five yards. The offense has moved the ball effectively for most of their possessions so far.
26 Pass Attempts – The Mountaineer offense has executed nearly one-hundred and forty plays so far in 2026, and only twenty-six have been through the air, a clip of only eighteen percent. West Virginia, as expected, is a run-first offense, but the mix is far more run heavy than the prior year squad through their first two matchups.
The good news is that West Virginia is already over half-way to a thousand rush yards on the season, averaging around five-and-a-half yards per carry. With over a hundred rush attempts on the year, WVU has already faced defenses loading the box, yet have continued to move the ball on most occasions. The play action has been enormously successful, generating three touchdowns for Michael Hawkins, with two of them coming as explosive plays.
The success for the running game hinges on a strong offensive front that, thus far, has managed to perform well despite a whole new collection of starters.
148 Receiving Yards – DJ Epps leads The Mountaineers in receiving thus far, accounting for forty-three percent of the limited passing yards gained in 2026. Epps has over twice the yardage of his closest teammate (Armoni Weaver-Bomar). The senior has been explosive for The Mountaineers thus far, making his claim as the top receiver on an offense that will lean more on the pass throughout the rest of the season.
100% Touchback Rate – After years of Neal Brown corner kicks and a season of weak-legged kickoffs in 2025, Irishman Jack Cassidy has brought the iron foot back to Morgantown. Eleven touchdowns, three field goals, as well as two half-opening kickoffs have sailed into the endzone. The 6’6 senior is a weapon WVU will utilize on special teams to their advantage.
2-0 Record – West Virginia has started the season with two consecutive wins for the first time since 2018. Admittedly, the difficult non-conference scheduling since 2018 has not made this task easy.
Realistically, this translates to a positive fact for WVU fans: Their beloved Mountaineers are only four wins away from bowl eligibility already.
15-5 Combined Record – West Virginia’s remaining opponents, which are all Big 12 members or Virginia, have begun the season strong in their own right. The Mountaineers’ schedule may shape up to be more difficult than once imagined, especially after two weeks of UVA slaughters and an Oklahoma State stunner over sixth ranked Oregon. Four of WVU’s remaining ten foes are currently ranked.
Of these ranked matchups, one will take place Morgantown, one will take place in Charlotte this weekend at a neutral site, and the last two will be true road contests. While the top 25 rankings will likely look wildly different by November, WVU’s performance in these four games (as well as any other potential ranked games) will be the barometer to measure the success of this season. Afterall, years of blowouts against quality teams has relegated The Mountaineers to “afterthought” status in the Big 12.
Conclusion – West Virginia has an offense capable of scoring points with most teams remaining on their schedule. The offensive line is a step (or two) above 2025’s unit that ultimately handicapped the team in three different close losses (Ohio, TCU, and Arizona State). However, Rich Rodriguez’s squad has already shown a propensity for temporary losses in production. Part of Coastal Carolina’s resounding second-half depended on WVU’s three consecutive three-and-out possessions in the third quarter. These quick setbacks are prone to put a reeling defense right back on the field.
Speaking of the defense, most conjecture surrounding it thus far has fallen somewhere between “horrible” and “bend but don’t break”, with the latter referring to defensive units who give up yardage but not touchdowns. Currently, that is mostly who they are, except for when the offense fails to allow them time to regroup. When the offensive production slowed against Coastal, the defense suddenly found themselves struggling, even in obvious passing situations.
Despite the result of the game, a 31-24 Mountaineer win that seemed too close for comfort, WVU led the contest 31-14 with just over three minutes left in the forth. The defense had broken some in the third, but not totally. The last ten points could be attributed to garbage time, but it doesn’t change the fact that if Coastal didn’t settle for a field goal with thirty seconds left, WVU could have surrendered four touchdowns to a first-year head coach and freshman QB in their very first time with their G6 school.
In many games, the defense may continue to “bend but not break”, especially against unranked foes. However, in these aforementioned ranked matchups, the onus will be on the offense to simply outscore the other team. The 2026 Mountaineers could be similar to many Dana Hongorsen teams from the mid-2010’s, at least as far as the score board is concerned.
Score baby score.
Photo Credit: WVU Athletics
