Quick Hits: Rich Rodriguez Discusses Final Scoring Drives, Tye Edwards Big Night and More

Opening Statement

Just so happy for our players, happy for our fans who hung in there, never quit. I’ve always felt the longer the game goes, the more it goes to our advantage cause the way our guys work, and whether it’s overtime or not. I know at times it looked bleak, and we got enough mistakes for five games, but man, our defense just played its tail off all game, and it kept us in the game. Our quarterback (redshirt junior) Nicco (Marchiol), this kid has a lot of heart. You know we were going back and forth, trying to get a spark here or there, and then right at the end, he played some great football, made some great passes. I’m just really proud of our players. It’s hard when you have so many new guys and trying to get them to gel as one. We Are still gonna have moments and it’s gonna be tough spots, but to come back after a tough week and to focus and to bet your rival. And when it looked like you weren’t gonna beat them, just really, really proud of them. I’m blessed to be here and blessed to be their coach.

Running back Tye Edwards breakout performance

Yes, he’s gotten a lot more work the last two weeks since he became eligible. He was in pretty good shape. We told him that he is a big, strong back and he needs to use his power. He did today. He ran with a purpose. I thought (sophomore running back) Clay Ash ran pretty well. Up front, everyone wants to talk about the offensive line. That’s a tough position to play and those guys have a lot of pride, and I think it was good that we won it running the ball at the end.

On the scores in overtime and end of regulation

You know, felt good with our red zone, inside of the 20, overtime plays. We worked overtime a bunch in camp and had a couple plays we ran there, but I think it was just executed better. We’re hit-and-miss a little bit and still figuring some stuff out offensively, but I thought big Tye ran really hard today. We went in our heavy package a little bit and it took us a couple snaps, but we got it done. I think we ran the ball, I don’t know what we ran the ball, ran the ball better than they did, which is always a key physical part of the game. They’re an athletic and active team, but I think we were able to run it at key spots, and I think that was the difference at the end of the game.

On the play of the offensive line

The genesis of offensive line and defensive line play is big guys moving other big guys against their will. The bigger the guys are who are moving the other guys against their will, the better off you are. We have (redshirt junior offensive lineman) Donovan Haslam, who is a cheeseburger shy of 350 (pounds), and then we put (redshirt senior) Kimo Makane'ole and (redshirt offensive lineman) Josh (Aisosa) in there and he’s three cheeseburgers from 340 (pounds). So we have almost half a ton of meat in there just to move the pile a bit.

On what it means to share this win with the people of West Virginia

Yeah, I think I said it, probably more emotional than I wanted to be to the TV thing on the field. This state is full of hard-working, gritty, tough people who support this university, support this football program and winning is important to them. I know beating Pitt is really important to them. If you ask anybody in our state that is a West Virginia fan and say, ‘Okay, pick a team you want to beat or who you hate.’ They’ll say ‘Pitt.’ So, I know you saw how the crowd was into it today even when we weren’t playing well at times. They made a big difference in overtime. They made a big difference in certain third and fourth downs, and they played a part in us winning.

Opening Statement

Running back Tye Edwards breakout performance

On the scores in overtime and end of regulation

On the play of the offensive line

On what it means to share this win with the people of West Virginia

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