Rich Rod Didn't Open Up the Offense in the Opener

You knew Rich Rodriguez was going to want to get the run game going in Week 1 behind a retooled and experienced offensive line with the nation's leading rusher toting the pill behind them.

But 61 rushes to just 14 pass attempts?

I get it, some of those rushing attempts were called pass plays, and Hawkins took off, but still, there was very little desire to throw the ball.

Why was this? It's not like Hawkins was struggling to see the field or hit his receivers. The desire to do it just wasn't there.

I've seen a lot of fans suggesting that Rodriguez may have done it intentionally to not show anything to Virginia, whom they will play in a couple of weeks. Obviously, they won't have to go too deep into the bag next week against UT Martin, with all due respect, so could he have been trying to hide certain parts of the offense?

Yeah, it's certainly possible. I don't understand why that would be the case, though. Like I've said before, it's not like what you are supposedly holding back is going to catch Virginia so off guard, and it's something they've never seen before. From a route concept, there are only so many things you can do.

I think, if anything, what you would be giving away is your tendencies in certain D&Ds. By running the ball 81% of the time, Virginia won't really know when you're comfortable throwing it, when you want to take a shot downfield, etc. That's what they are hiding more than plays.

Think about it this way...most of you were shocked when Rodriguez decided to knee it out the final 40-some seconds of the first half when he had two timeouts in his pocket. Even then, he's probably thinking, "We're up 24-0...why show our two-minute offense if I don't have to?"

From an offensive standpoint, West Virginia won't have much of anything on tape of their passing game, nor anything from a two-minute situation. That makes it incredibly hard for Virginia to game plan for. That doesn't mean they won't have answers and have success, but it creates a challenge.

Even when the game got close late in the fourth quarter, Rodriguez was hell-bent on hammering the football on the ground. He felt that with an older o-line and a proven back, they would still be able to get them into the winner's circle.

I don't believe this is why they only threw it 14 times, but not having Prince Strachan probably made it easier for him to lean on the ground game.

By the time the Mountaineers head to Charlotte, I would expect the offense to look a lot different. We probably won't see many changes this week, but on September 19th, they'll need to open it up and trust Hawkins to make plays because he can.

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