CHARLOTTE — West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez played coy throughout the offseason as to who would start at quarterback for the Mountaineers.
The nation now knows why he settled on Michael Hawkins Jr.
Hawkins, an Oklahoma transfer, was the most productive player at Bank of America Stadium on Saturday night and put together another efficient effort in which he passed for 190 yards and two touchdowns and rushed for 123 more and three scores to lead the Mountaineers to a 38-27 win against No. 25 Virginia.
“Mike is a dynamic player and he’s going to keep getting better,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just his third game in the system. The plays he made, but his composure and seeing what was out there, he grew a lot and the offense grew a lot in certain moments. Mike is electric and he showed today he has a lot of really good football in front of him, too.”
Both of Hawkins’ touchdown passes went to slot receiver DJ Epps. The first covered 29 yards on third-and-7 and tied the game at 14, while the second came with 12 seconds remaining in the third quarter on another third-and-7 play and gave the Mountaineers the lead for good at 28-21.
“Both of us came in January, learned each other, what he likes and what I like. During the week, getting on the same page in the film room and that’s the biggest thing going into the games,” Hawkins said.
After WVU (3-0) took its second seven-point lead of the matchup, the Cavaliers (2-1) moved into the red zone and were in position to get even until Ashton Woods broke through the line and sacked Beau Pribula for a 9-yard loss on third-and-7. Will Bettridge then missed a 39-yard field goal attempt that allowed the Mountaineers to remain in front by seven.
West Virginia then put together an all-important drive to gain the first two-possession lead of the outing. It featured Hawkins’ 38-yard pass to wideout Jaden Bray, with the receiver making a contested catch after the quarterback got the pass off while under an abundance of pressure. That series ended with Hawkins’ 5-yard rushing touchdown, allowing the Mountaineers to lead by 14 with 5:24 remaining.
“The key was we ran it when everybody knew we were going to be able to run it to seal the game,” Rodriguez said.
Any hope that remained for Virginia vanished a short time later when Pribula was sacked by Geimere Latimer on fourth-and-5, allowing WVU to take over at the Cavaliers’ 21-yard line.
Jack Cassidy knocked in a 21-yard field goal on the first play after the 2-minute warning that made it a three-score game, before Virginia scored an inconsequential touchdown with 21 seconds left on Pribula’s 2-yard pass to John Rogers.
“We were heavy run early and with a lot of the exotic pressures and things, we probably led more with a controlled passing game as opposed to downfield shots,” Virginia coach Tony Elliott said. “Once we got behind, it’s hard, especially when they’re getting shots on your quarterback. They mixed it up, played some man coverage, bailed out of there and played some cover 2.”
The Mountaineers overcame a discouraging start to complete non-conference play unbeaten.
After WVU went three-and-out on the first series, Virginia drove 62 yards and scored on Jekail Middlebrook’s 8-yard run that left the Cavaliers with a 7-0 lead.
West Virginia offered an ideal response to its first deficit this season, and two plays after Hawkins broke off a 17-yard run on third-and-5, the quarterback kept it again and crossed the goal line on a 13-yard run to pull his team even.
Following an exchange of punts, Virginia regained its lead when Xavier Brown broke free for a 47-yard touchdown run with 6 seconds left in the first quarter.
The Mountaineers again answered, this time converting a fourth-and-1 with Cam Cook’s 3-yard run, before Hawkins found Epps for the tying score.
“It shows how resilient we are and how we push together and fight through adversity,” Epps said. “It shows a lot about us and how we practice and turn it into the games.”
A key sequence occurred in the late stages of the first half after the Mountaineers forced the Cavaliers into a third straight punt.
WVU capitalized on a Virginia personal foul penalty on the punt and got in position to score after Hawkins’ 42-yard pass to Epps, which was directly followed by a 15-yard touchdown run from Hawkins that gave WVU its first lead at 21-14 with 34 seconds left in the half.
“They got ball back after half, so we needed to score, put some points on the board and have some momentum going into half,” Hawkins said. “It helped us a lot.”
Virginia got even on its second series of the second half when Pribula found Middlebrook for an uncontested 1-yard touchdown pass. It came three plays after Pribula’s 26-yard pass to Rico Flores Jr., who hauled in the pass on fourth-and-10 despite being defended well.
The Cavaliers got the ball back at their 47 with the game tied, but went three-and-out, and when they got the ball next, they were back behind by seven.
“Coach [Zac] Alley put in a great game plan,” said WVU linebacker Isaiah Patterson, who led all players with 12 tackles. “We knew Pribula was a solid player and props to him, but we thought we could win if we could make us beat him with his arm, and that’s exactly what we tried to do. We tried to stop the ground game early and turn it into a passing game.”
Hawkins completed 10-of-17 passes and rushed 18 times. He hit on 10 of his final 13 throws and accumulated all 190 passing yards came over the final three quarters.
Cook rushed 30 times for 123 yards.
Epps brought in three passes for 92 yards with two TDs, giving him seven receptions for 240 yards and three scores through three games.
Bray had 67 receiving yards on two catches.
Kamari Wilson added 10 tackles in the win.
Pribula was 21-for-33 with 197 yards and two touchdowns.
Middlebrook rushed for 75 yards on 17 carries and Brown added eight rushes for 71 yards, but the Mountaineers had a decisive 247-157 edge in rushing yards.
“It’s a great win against a really good football program,” Rodriguez said. “It only counts as one, but we’ll enjoy the hell out of it tonight, and tomorrow evening, we’ll start moving on to conference play.”