Rich Rodriguez Breaks Down Why WVU Struggled With Fumbles in Season Opener
After a closer-than-expected start to the season against Robert Morris, West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez offered a detailed explanation for his team’s biggest issue in the opener: fumbles—four of them, all in the first half.
The Mountaineers had opportunities to pull away early, but repeated turnovers kept the game closer than it should’ve been. In the postgame press conference, Rodriguez was clearly frustrated, especially by the fact that three fumbles happened in rapid succession, something he said he had never witnessed before in his coaching career.
During his weekly coach’s show on Monday night, Rodriguez provided more insight after reviewing the game film.
“There are different types of turnovers,” Rodriguez said. “Some happen because of bad decisions, poor ball security, or just carelessness. Others are caused by good defensive plays. I think one of the fumbles was forced with a solid tackle, but even then, we could’ve avoided it if we had lowered our shoulder. The rest came down to simple fundamentals—we weren’t carrying the ball high and tight the way we teach it.”
Rodriguez emphasized that although mistakes are part of the game, this kind of ball security issue can’t be repeated—especially with tougher opponents ahead.
“Luckily, it happened in a game we still managed to win,” he added. “But these are things we’ve got to fix, and it’ll absolutely be a major focus in practice this week.”
He also pointed out that one of the fumbles could have easily been recovered had more effort been made by teammates following the play.
With a trip to face Ohio coming up next, the room for error shrinks significantly. Rodriguez made it clear that from this point on, nothing will come easy on the schedule, and ball protection is non-negotiable.
The silver lining? Fumble issues are correctable. Just because WVU had four in the opener doesn’t mean it’s destined to be a trend. But the team has to prove it by cleaning things up—fast.
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