Mountaineers Improve to 2-0 for First Time Since 2018
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia used big plays from its offense to dispose of UT Martin 52-7 on Saturday afternoon before 47,049 sun-drenched spectators at Milan Puskar Stadium.
The victory gives the Mountaineers a 2-0 start to the season for the first time since 2018 when WVU began that year 5-0 and finished with an 8-4 record.
“I thought our offense played pretty sharp, particularly the first offense, and the defense almost had a shut out, and I didn’t think they played particularly well,” West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said afterward. “We’ve still got a lot of work to do on both sides of the ball.”
Quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. fired touchdown passes of 53 and 32 yards and added 71- and 5-yard scoring jaunts before giving way to backups Scotty Fox Jr., Jyron Hughley, Max Brown and Max Anderson after orchestrating a pair of touchdown drives to begin the third quarter.
West Virginia scored touchdowns on six of its eight possessions and generated 361 total yards while Hawkins was in the game. The Oklahoma transfer’s other touchdown pass was a pretty 32-yard strike to wide-open tight end Ryan Ward to begin the third quarter.
Three minutes after Ward’s score, Amari Latimer tallied his first collegiate touchdown when he broke free for a 29-yard run.
Hawkins completed 5 of his 7 pass attempts for 155 yards and contributed 96 yards on the ground to finish the game with 251 all-purpose yards.
Fox came in on West Virginia’s third possession of the third quarter and completed a pair of passes for 27 yards to set up Jack Cassidy’s 35-yard field goal.
True freshman quarterback Jyron Hughley entered the game with 11:20 left in the fourth quarter and engineered a 10-play, 68-yard scoring march that ended in the end zone when he completed a 27-yard touchdown pass to Kedrick Triplett.
Backup quarterbacks Max Brown and Max Anderson also saw fourth-quarter duty.
At the game’s outset, West Virginia turned a fourth-down defensive stop at midfield into points. It took Hawkins just three plays to get West Virginia into the end zone when his third-down pass went to receiver DJ Epps in stride, and the senior outran the Skyhawk defense for a 53-yard touchdown.
Later in the second quarter, Epps was a recipient of a 59-yard Hawkins pass to set up the quarterback’s 5-yard touchdown run.
Andrew Powdrell’s blocked punt on UT Martin’s second possession gave West Virginia the ball at 21, and it took four runs to set up Cam Cook’s 2-yard touchdown run – his third of the season.
Hawkins made it 21-0 with 5:27 left in the first quarter when he broke loose and raced 71 yards to paydirt – West Virginia’s longest touchdown run by a quarterback since Pat White‘s 76-yard scramble at USF in 2005.
At intermission, the Skyhawks actually doubled up West Virginia in total plays and had a 22:13-to-7:47 edge in time of possession. UT Martin was successful five times on transition downs and saw two of its possessions end deep in Mountaineer territory.
On its third possession, a 48-yard Chris Franklin got the ball to the Mountaineer 27, and another Franklin 13-yard run placed the ball at the 5 before quarterback Julian Calvez was separated from the football by Ezekiel Durham-Campbell and Ben Cutter recovered it at the 6.
Late in the second quarter, the Skyhawks also got to the Mountaineer 18, but Brandon Sims’ 36-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right.
UT Martin’s final possession of the second quarter ended at the WVU 37 when Tate Surber’s Hail Mary pass fell incomplete in the end zone.
The Seahawks avoided a shutout with 3:25 remaining when Brown fumbled, and John Betts III scooped up the ball on one hop at the 6 and ran it into the end zone.
Here, Anderson was inserted into the game to run out the clock, the only issue being getting the game completed before impending severe weather arrived in the area.
The Mountaineers finished the game rushing for 316 yards and producing 525 yards of total offense. Thirteen different players carried the football in today’s victory.
Five different quarterbacks got into the game and Hawkins, Fox and Hughley combined to complete 8 of 12 for 209 yards and three touchdowns.
Epps led all receivers with 112 yards on his two receptions.
Linebacker Ashton Woods led the Mountaineer defense with an interception, a sack, two tackles for losses and five total tackles. UNLV transfer Isaiah Patterson led West Virginia with eight total tackles, four of those solos.
UT Martin ended the game with 318 total yards, broken down into 170 through the air and148 on the ground.
Today’s triumph extends West Virginia’s record to 24-0 against FCS competition. The Mountaineers have faced at least one FCS team each year since 2008.
West Virginia will take to the road next weekend for the first time this season to face 25th-ranked Virginia in the 2026 Duke’s Mayo Classic at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Cavaliers are 2-0 following Friday night’s 59-3 victory over Norfolk State.
Author
