Mountaineers Set to Open Their 2025 Season

In just a few days, West Virginia will play host to Robert Morris in their first-ever match against an FCS opponent. WVU will look to build on its 25-0 record against FCS opponents and start the new Rich Rodriguez era off strong. As we see the Mountaineers set to open their 2025 season, we take a look at the opponent and what we might expect from the new-look Mountaineers.

Mountaineers Set to Open Their 2025 Season

On Saturday, August 30, at 2:00 in the afternoon, the Mountaineers are set to open their 2025 season with a big win in a tune-up game. ESPN+ will televise the game. The Colonials hail from Moon Township, just 70 miles from Morgantown. While West Virginia has played a few of the Colonials’ FCS conference opponents–most recently Duquesne–over the years, the two schools have never faced off on the gridiron.

We do not expect much drama for this first meeting between the two games, at least not on the scoreboard. We will certainly see the drama of one of West Virginia’s prodigal sons returning to the sideline for his alma mater. There will be some drama in who earns the start at signal caller, and how long before the plug gets pulled in favor of his backup, and then his backup after that.

Similarly, we do not expect to learn too much about how the Mountaineers might fare this season from this opening matchup. That said, we will certainly see some glimpses of how differently the offense runs from Neal Brown’s offenses of the last few years. We will also see a much different defensive philosophy at work as Zac Alley dials up his scheme. Those things will be little more than mechanical, though.

West Virginia Runs Away Early

We say that because it is hard to imagine West Virginia taking much time at all to turn up the heat and put the Colonials away. Nicco Marchiol and Jaheim White should lead the way to a few early touchdowns in between some nice plays by Alley’s defensive unit. That should pave the way for some early looks at some of the newcomers, like Jaylen Henderson and Max Brown. Whether we also see a redshirt freshman signal caller depends on how quickly the Mountaineers put this away.

One thing to look for is how Alley dials up his pressure on defense. Rodriguez put such a high premium on paying up for Alley as defensive coordinator because Alley comes in as a highly-touted defensive mind. Brown and his staff spent hours every year telling us just how hard they were working to dial up pressure, rarely seeing the efforts come to fruition. Alley’s defense should dial it up early and often, rotating two or three at each position early to tune the unit up. That said, we would still expect to see vanilla play-calling. After all, the staff should not need many gadgets to prevail this weekend.

Newcomers Who Might Make a Splash

It may be too early to tell if some of the players recently ruled eligible by the United States District Court will contribute. They have not practiced through most of Fall Camp. As a result, we exclude them from our picks here.

We think the Oregon State transfer Oluwayesi Omotosho may prove what we say about Alley’s pressure. This is particularly true until we have more certainty on Jimmori Robinson’s eligibility. To date, Omotosho has tallied eight-and-a-half sacks, and we anticipate him adding one this weekend. Michael Coats, Jr., should also help shore up a completely rebuilt se condary, and he offers enough versatility to maximize what Alley wants to do. Don’t forget about Jacksonville State safety transfer Fred Perry here, either.

Moving to the other side of the ball, tight end transfer Grayson Barnes should help define fans’ expectations for the tight end position under Rodriguez’s tutelage. Barnes has the versatility to take the position to a new level, pushing away from a solely blocking focus to more of a receiving role. Cam Vaughn should also thrive in Rodriguez’s offense in Morgantown, just as he did in the same offense at Jacksonville State. We expect both to make some early contributions this weekend, with the Mountaineers set to open their 2025 season.