Phil Steele Reacts to WVU's Opener, Predicts What We'll See in Week 2 vs. UT Martin

The college football expert still believes in the Mountaineers after a mixed bag in Week 1.

Sep 5, 2026; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Rich Rodriguez is interviewed by TNT after defeating the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

West Virginia left Week 1 with a sour taste in its mouth after allowing Coastal Carolina to make it a one-score game despite jumping out to a 24-0 lead.

The disappointing second half led to Mountaineer fans questioning how good this team really is, but college football expert Phil Steele remains confident in this rebuilt roster.

Phil joined us, as he does every Friday on In the Gun, to give his thoughts on what just happened and what we can expect in West Virginia's next game.

Phil's reaction to the win over Coastal Carolina

“When you’re a big favorite, things happen like that sometimes. I’m still very bullish on West Virginia. I think they are one of the surprise teams in the Big 12. Nothing, nothing changed in my mind, even though I had a losing ticket on West Virginia last week. I’m not going to say they’re not as good as I thought they were. I think they are and still very bullish on the Mountaineers.”

Phil's prediction vs. UT Martin

“I think we’re going to see an intense West Virginia this week. If they get up 24-0 at the half, I don’t think we’re going to see that one get close in the second half.

"And with UT Martin, they are a solid team. You go back to ’21; they had 10 wins, seven, eight, nine; last year was a 6-6 year for them. But this year, they do lose quite a bit. And last year their offense took a drop; they went from averaging 31 points per game down to 20 points per game. They have five starters back, and the running backs are back, but still not overwhelming offensively.

"Defensively, they lose eight starters from a unit that’s pretty stable every year. Now, last year when they took on the big boys, the FBS teams, they only lost to Oklahoma State by 20, but we know what Oklahoma State was last year, and they lost to UTEP by 25.

"Well, I think West Virginia is a big step ahead of both of those teams. So I think we’ve got an angry West Virginia team this week. They do have a big game with Virginia on deck, but they’ve got to get things in line and get them in order. They had a 336-114 yard edge at the half last week, and it was a completely different second half. I don’t think we’re going to see that type of second half. I think we’re going to see West Virginia control this thing, dominate it for the full 60 minutes, and this time, I think we’re going to see late third quarter, early fourth quarter, they get ahead of the spread and hold onto it. I like West Virginia minus the points here. Very comfortable win.”