Saturday was supposed to belong to Pat White. And for one half, West Virginia played like it understood the assignment.
With White’s legendary No. 5 officially retired and his name joining the Mountaineer greats inside Milan Puskar Stadium, WVU came out with energy, physicality and an offensive identity that looked exactly like what Mountaineer fans hoped to see in 2026.
Then halftime happened.
West Virginia ultimately walked away with a 31-24 victory over Coastal Carolina, but anyone who watched all four quarters knows the final score doesn’t completely tell the story.
This was almost two completely different football games.
The First Half: Everything WVU Wanted
West Virginia couldn’t have started much better.
On the first offensive play of the season, Jacksonville State transfer Cam Cook ripped off a 72-yard run. One play later, Cook was in the end zone.
That set the tone.
The Mountaineers scored on four of their first six possessions and took a 24-0 lead into halftime. They accumulated 336 yards of offense in the first half, converted eight of 10 third downs and held Coastal Carolina to only 114 yards.
More importantly, WVU looked comfortable.
Cook looked like the workhorse West Virginia brought him in to be. Michael Hawkins Jr. gave the offense another dimension with his legs while also showing efficiency through the air. Hawkins connected with Armoni Weaver-Bomar for a 49-yard touchdown and finished the afternoon 11-of-14 passing for 132 yards and a touchdown while rushing for another 103 yards and a score. Cook finished with 142 rushing yards and two touchdowns.
Watching that first half, you could see the identity Rich Rodriguez wants.
Run the football. Play fast. Make the quarterback a threat with his legs. Control third down. Put pressure on the defense from different directions.
On Pat White Day, there was something fitting about watching a WVU quarterback hurt a defense with both his arm and his legs.
At halftime, up 24-0, it felt like West Virginia was headed toward a statement victory.
Instead, the statement became a question.
The Second Half: What Happened?
Everything that looked easy during the first half suddenly became difficult.
WVU punted on its first four offensive possessions after halftime and managed only 77 total yards in the second half. Coastal Carolina, meanwhile, began finding holes in a Mountaineer defense that had controlled the first 30 minutes.
The third quarter might be the biggest concern.
Coastal ran 21 plays to West Virginia’s six and outgained WVU 128-23 in the quarter. The Mountaineers also committed five penalties for 50 yards during the period.
That’s not simply taking your foot off the gas. That’s losing control of a football game.
Coastal quarterback Deuce Bailey deserves credit because he settled in and started making plays. After being shut out in the first half, Coastal scored 24 points after halftime. Bailey finished with 373 passing yards and three touchdowns.
A game that was 24-0 became 24-14.
WVU eventually got the touchdown it desperately needed when Hawkins scored on an 11-yard run to make it 31-14 with under three minutes remaining.
Even then, Coastal wasn’t finished. The Chanticleers scored another touchdown, added a field goal and attempted an onside kick with 27 seconds remaining before WVU could finally put the game away.
Think about that.
West Virginia led 24-0 at halftime and still found itself dealing with an onside kick in the final seconds.
That can’t become a habit.
Rich Rodriguez Didn’t Sugarcoat It
The encouraging part is that Rodriguez saw exactly what everybody else saw.
He praised the way WVU performed in all three phases during the first half. His assessment of the second half was much simpler: “We stunk.”
Sometimes that’s all that needs to be said.
This is also a West Virginia roster with 88 new players, so expecting a finished product in Week 1 would be unrealistic. There are going to be mistakes, communication problems and stretches where a team with this much turnover has to figure things out.
But there is a difference between needing time to develop and allowing a 24-point halftime lead against Coastal Carolina to turn into a seven-point game.
That’s where the concern comes in.
There Was Plenty to Like
I don’t want the second half to completely erase what happened during the first. WVU may have found something with the combination of Cook and Hawkins.
The Mountaineers rushed for 281 yards, with Cook and Hawkins combining for 245 of them. Hawkins was efficient throwing the football, and WVU showed that when its offense is operating correctly, it can be extremely difficult to defend on the ground.
The defense also deserves credit for completely shutting down Coastal’s running game. The Chanticleers finished with just 52 rushing yards.
Those are positives. And most importantly, West Virginia is 1-0.
Nobody gives wins back because they weren’t pretty.
But Which Half Is the Real WVU?
That’s the question leaving Morgantown.
Was the first half a glimpse of what this team can become? Or was the second half a warning about what happens when execution, discipline and defensive communication start slipping?
The answer is probably somewhere in between.
It’s Week 1. There are 88 new players. There is a new starting quarterback and a roster still learning how to play together.
But the first half also showed that the talent is there. That’s what makes the second half frustrating.
WVU didn’t spend the entire afternoon struggling. We actually saw how good this team can look. Now the challenge is making that version of West Virginia show up for four quarters.
Pat White’s No. 5 is permanently on the wall now, and Saturday was a deserved celebration of one of the greatest players ever to wear the Old Gold and Blue.
West Virginia gave him a victory.
They also gave Rich Rodriguez plenty to work on Monday morning.
The Mountaineers are 1-0. That’s the good news. The bigger question after Saturday is simple: Can the team we watched during the first half become the team we see for an entire game?