MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Look away and you’re sure to miss a play.
When Oklahoma State visits Milan Puskar Stadium for Saturday’s 7 p.m. showdown with West Virginia, two tempo-based offenses operating at a fast pace will attempt to make things difficult on the opposing defense.
WVU head coach Rich Rodriguez has long been a proponent of tempo offense and is regarded as being ahead of his time in that regard.
The Mountaineers had the fastest-paced offense of all FBS teams in 2025 with an average of 19.3 seconds remaining on the play clock per play when Rodriguez returned for his second stint as head coach at WVU.
Through three games this year, West Virginia is averaging a play every 24.17 seconds, while Oklahoma State averages one every 23.47 seconds. The Mountaineers have run on 163 of 206 plays and thrown 14 incompletions all season, meaning the clock has rarely stopped when they’ve been in possession.
The Cowboys have picked up their pace under first-year head coach Eric Morris, who employed a similar tactic the previous three seasons as head coach at North Texas, one year prior as offensive coordinator at Washington State and in his first head coaching stint from at Incarnate Word from 2018-21.
“The positive is we’re not going to be shocked by that going into the game,” WVU defensive coordinator Zac Alley said. “On the flip side, they aren’t either, so it probably balances out in both directions.”
Whereas the Mountaineers (3-0) have been run-heavily thus far, the Cowboys (2-1) have a near 50-50 split on pass and run plays with 120 and 122, respectively.
Oklahoma State is second to Baylor among Big 12 teams with 242 offensive plays, and the Cowboys have run at least 73 in every game and 86 and 83 in two FBS matchups against Tulsa and Oregon.
Having spent the 2024 and 2025 seasons playing for Morris at North Texas, Cowboys’ quarterback Drew Mestemaker has a firm understanding of how to operate the offense and has offered a strong early impression at OSU.
Oklahoma State doesn’t just aspire to snap the ball fast. It also wants Mestemaker to get rid of it quickly going to the air, something the redshirt sophomore has proven proficient at.
The Cowboys have surrendered only three sacks over the first three games despite having attempted the 14th-most passes among FBS teams.
“The quarterback is a great player. There was a lot of hype coming into the season and he gets rid of the ball so quickly,” Rodriguez said. “It’s an average of 1.8 seconds or something, so it’s hard to sack him whether it’s a RPO [run-pass option] or pass game. He doesn’t take sacks and he gets rid of the football.”
Alley praised his unit for improved communication last weekend throughout a 38-27 win against then-No. 25 Virginia in Charlotte after it was too often lacking against Coastal Carolina and Tennessee Martin in the first two games.
It will again be imperative against the Cowboys, and perhaps even more so than in past contests as a result of the pace of play and their attempt to create favorable matchups without substituting.
For Alley, who is known to design exotic blitz packages and wants his unit to get after opposing quarterbacks, Saturday’s contest presents an interesting dilemma.
West Virginia is tied for 10th nationally with 10 sacks and has faced 103 passes, including at least 33 in every game. Mestemaker threw a combined 92 times in a loss to Tulsa and a victory against Oregon, and exited early last week against Murray State after completing 20-of-22 passes with five touchdowns.
“You have to pick and choose your times to be able to try and hit him and get him on the ground,” Alley said. “He sees it early. He’s going to throw the ball out there. You’ll never touch him and they protect him. They’re smart, and they know that he’s a first-rounder and all that, so they’re not going to let you hit him. They’re going to try and do everything they can to keep him upright and keep him off the ground, so the challenge is kind of how you pick and choose when you want to bring the pressures, where you want to bring them and how you want to try and make him hold it.”
WVU has yet to exceed 75 plays or attempt more than 17 passes in a game, but the Mountaineers will often tempo into runs and try to catch defenses in a personnel disadvantage to make matchups more favorable when they keep it on the ground.
Because the Mountaineers rely heavily on quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. in the run game, they are comfortable keeping it on the ground or passing from the same or a similar formation, which adds to challenge for a defense to matchup with its preferred personnel without being able to substitute, which it is only permitted to if and when the WVU offense does as a result of the tempo.
“We see it all the time, which is good, right? We practice against one another so they’re used to doing it,” Morris said. “They’re going to try to keep us off balance. We’re going to try to keep them off balance. It’s kind of that game of chess between coordinators. The cool thing about this one is it’s not foreign to either side to be able to line up fast and practice that way. Our kids feel like we’re going too slow in the game at times just because of how fast the tempo is in practice. Our guys are not used to seeing a huddle. Both teams should be adjusted to that.
“The style of play on offense and what we’re trying to accomplish with it is a little bit different, but I still believe we have to establish a run game on offense and stop the run on defense, which would be keys to just football in general.”