WVU football beginning Coastal Carolina prep, Rich Rodriguez finalizing ‘answer sheet’
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MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia football is under two weeks away from its first game against Coastal Carolina on Sept. 5. Summer camp is over, and now it's turned to normal practices and Week 1 game preparation. Rich Rodriguez said the team started focusing on Coastal Carolina a little over two weeks before kickoff.
It's hard to prepare for the Chanticleers. Coastal Carolina fired coach Tim Beck after a 6-6 season and brought in young Missouri State head coach Ryan Beard. Beard has a new staff, new coordinators and new players. It's a complete rebuild. There are a lot of unknowns around the team, so it makes it hard to scout.
"We know what that’s like," Rodriguez said. "They’re going to have a bunch of new players, and so a little bit of guesswork going there."
Rodriguez said you can look at what the coordinators and staff did in the past, but it makes it even harder that this is the first game of the year. There's no game tape of this team to base the scout off of, and with the transfer portal, there isn't much consistency from each year.
Even the Mountaineers will look a whole lot different from a staff standpoint and personnel.
"You can try to prepare, and they can prepare for us, but there’s a lot of stuff that we’re doing in all three phases that we hadn’t done before," Rodriguez said. "I think everybody’s that way every year. I've always found the first two games, but particularly the first game, are the most difficult to prepare for from a schematic standpoint."
With it being the first game of the year and Coastal Carolina having a whole new team, Rodriguez has developed what he calls an "answer sheet." He has written down what plays will work if the Chanticleers are in a certain coverage, what defense to run if the offense comes out a certain formation and how to react if they run a fake punt. It's much more read and react for the first two games of the season.
"This is our answer if they do this," Rodriguez said. "This is our answer if they do that. This is our answer if they do this... You got to have answers."
Rodriguez is still developing the answer sheet for Week 1. He said on Friday, it'll be done sometime in the next couple of days.
Now, the challenge is ensuring the players can quickly pick it up. Rodriguez wants to get to the point where the play callers on offense and defense can see a formation and know what to do immediately. When Scotty Fox Jr. or Michael Hawkins Jr. is in at quarterback, after the play ends, they can quickly get to the line and know what the next answer is, keeping up the tempo offense. Or linebacker Ben Cutter can quickly adjust the defense after seeing the formation come out instead of waiting for defensive coordinator Zac Alley to call in.
"It's not natural now, but we got two more weeks to make it natural," Rodriguez said.
At least a benefit for it being the first game of the season is that there's more time to prepare, making up for the challenges. While the players might be antsy to play, Rodriguez will always take more time to plan and integrate his "answer sheet."
"I'd rather have an extra week of practice," Rodriguez said. "But the players would tell you, 'hell no, let’s play a game next week. We’re tired of practicing.' I don’t think coaches ever tell you they wouldn’t take more time."