MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia football coach Rich Rodriguez has remarked several times his desire for the Mountaineers to utilize more players than any team in college football.
Saturday would seem to be an ideal time to make major progress in that regard as the Mountaineers welcome Tennessee Martin to Milan Puskar Stadium for a 1 p.m. matchup that can be seen on ESPN+.
There was hope and perhaps an expectation for more WVU (1-0) players to see action a week ago in the team’s season opener against Coastal Carolina, but after building a 24-point halftime lead, the Mountaineers fell flat in the final two quarters of a 31-24 victory.
“We wanted to get more guys in the last game, and it was weird how it happened in the second half,” Rodriguez said. “We’re going to have to play a lot more people going forward — not just this week, but the rest of the year. Because eight straight games with no open dates is a pretty good stretch and hopefully we don’t have any injuries or what have you, but we’re going to have to get a lot of guys ready.”
Seeking their first 2-0 start since 2018, the Mountaineers are also attempting to maintain the program’s all-time unbeaten mark of 23-0 against FCS-level opponents.
WVU has defeated a FCS team annually since 2008, but has never faced the Skyhawks.
Veteran head coach Jason Simpson is in his 21st season guiding UT Martin and has enjoyed a wealth of success with the Skyhawks, including five Ohio Valley Conference championships, which the program attained annually from 2021-24. Simpson is the father of former Alabama and current Los Angeles Rams quarterback Ty Simpson, a first round NFL Draft pick back in April.
“I’ve known coach Simpson for a long time. I have a lot of respect for him,” Rodriguez said. “They’re a really good FCS program. They’ve won their league a bunch of teams the last four or five years. They played Oklahoma State pretty solid last year and it was a pretty close game for most of the game. This is a big game for them, so we have to be ready to get their best effort. They do a lot of [run-pass option plays]. They’re very well-coached and he does a great job. He’s been there 20 years, so his program is kind of entrenched into his methods and how they go about doing their stuff.”
The first road game this season for UT Martin (1-1) comes one week after the Skyhawks’ first win against Chicago State, 42-7. Nine days prior, they lost their season opener against Central Arkansas, 36-24.
“The team is growing a little bit trying to create an identity, so it was good to get a win at home,” said Martin.
The Skyhawks are 2-29 against FBS opponents. The victories came against Memphis in 2012 and Kennesaw State in 2024 when the Owls were in their first season competing at the FBS level.
Quarterbacks Tate Surber and Julian Calvez have split time behind center early in the 2026 campaign, though the Skyhawks have yet to throw a touchdown on 50 pass attempts.
Tailback Tommy Ansley has been the most productive offensive player with 179 rushing yards and five touchdowns on 26 carries, while fellow running back Chris Franklin has 108 yards and a pair of scores on an equal number of rushing attempts.
“They’re challenging. They’re going to shift, trade, motion, different personnel, make you line up right, find things and try and attack you,” Mountaineer defensive coordinator Zac Alley said. ”They’ll have two things going that way and two things going back that way at the same time. Make sure your eyes are disciplined and try and move you off the spot and create havoc for communication and what not. They’ve done a great job for a long time of really using what they have and putting guys in position to be successful.”
West Virginia’s run defense held up well against the Chanticleers, but struggles defending the pass were prevalent throughout the second half when Coastal quarterback Deuce Bailey threw for 293 yards and three touchdowns.
Despite recording five sacks and consistently applying pressure throughout, the Mountaineers had great difficulty containing Bailey as the game progressed.
“Sometimes I have to remind myself, it was the first game starting for a lot of guys, and the whole secondary was starting for the first time,” Rodriguez said. “So I would expect, like every other team, the more you play in games, the more the communication will be better, the more they get used to playing with each other.
“Football is such a team sport whether you’re talking about the offensive line or secondary. One mistake makes the whole secondary look bad or the whole offensive line look bad when it’s really just one guy trying to do something we have to get corrected. Our guys are really conscientious and have been that way all camp and even going back to the spring, so I think they’ll fix a lot of the problems we had in the second half. We’ll have some new problems that pop up I’m sure, but our coaches are working hard to fix it.”
The UT Martin defense will be tasked with trying to slow a WVU ground game that churned out 281 yards last week, all but 36 of which came from tailback Cam Cook and quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr.
Cook rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns and Hawkins added 103 yards and a rushing score, while that duo accounted for 50 of the team’s 61 rushes.
“It’s a huge challenge and that creates some history together, some bonding together,” Martin said. “So we need all those things as we move forward. It’s weird to say I’m excited about it, but it’s needed for this team.”