Behind the Scenes of Rich Rod’s Emotional Message to His Team After Beating Houston

West Virginia's win over No. 22 Houston this past weekend was not only a sign that things could be turning in Morgantown, but also that this group still believes in its coaching staff despite a rough 2-6 start to the season, heading into the game.

The biggest concern coaches and fans share at this point of a disappointing season is players checking out and not putting forth the effort required to play competitively. Given how the first handful of games in Big 12 play panned out, it would have been easy for this group to mail it in and go through the motions. A strong effort against TCU and a ranked win on the road to follow shows that the buy-in is still very much in place and will continue to be there, regardless of what's on the line.

In Rich Rod's postgame message to the team in the locker room, you could see that buy-in and focus as the players locked in to the speech and even helped him finish it.

“Where the hell’s that been, right? Hey, you know it’s been there the whole time, and I’m damn proud of you. You kept the noise outside, didn’t listen to anybody else, just stayed in house. You know what my expectation is, like that every time we play, right? That’s West Virginia football right there. That’s West Virginia football. And everybody we play from here on out is going to feel West Virginia football.”

Nothing better than a winning locker room 🙌 pic.twitter.com/tjDF5Wtzhj
— West Virginia Football (@WVUfootball) November 3, 2025

Winning out and reaching a bowl game is a tall task, but the most dangerous thing in football is when a team starts believing. After the last two weeks, one of which ended with a ranked win, they'll have a boost in confidence down the stretch, especially if they take care of business this upcoming weekend against Colorado. Arizona State and Texas Tech are a combined 14-4 on the season, but the Sun Devils are without their starting quarterback for the rest of the season. And as far as Tech is concerned, well, hey, crazier things have happened in Morgantown.

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