MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s 2025 season will come to a closure at some point Saturday afternoon.
Playing for little more than pride, the Mountaineers welcome seventh-ranked Texas Tech to Milan Puskar Stadium for a noon matchup airing on ESPN.
WVU will honor 40 seniors before kickoff.
“They’ve meant an awful lot,” said head coach Rich Rodriguez. “Sometimes it’s hard. Some of these guys have been here six months or less. How do they adapt? There’s not been one guy I’ve been like, ‘I wish he didn’t come here or he’s not a good senior.’ I’m really proud of that class. There’s been some tough moments for us this year and not everything has worked out for those guys like maybe they wanted it to or we wanted it to, but they’ve hung in and battled, and that’s been good for our program, so I’m really proud of them.
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Rodriguez and an entirely new staff worked to fill out the roster after the head coach was hired in December 2024 for his second stint with this title.
The Mountaineers (4-7, 2-6) struggled mightily for much of the season, but have been far better and more competitive across their last four games, which they’ve split. Sandwiched between a six-point home loss to TCU and a 25-23 setback at Arizona State in the most recent contest November 15, West Virginia secured a win at then-nationally ranked Houston and followed it up with a home seven-point triumph against Colorado.
Aug 30, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers linebacker Reid Carrico (35) celebrates after a defensive stop during the second quarter against the Robert Morris Colonials at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images
Rodriguez credits a large group of seniors for helping the team stay the course and continue playing hard despite an 0-5 start in Big 12 play that featured four losses by an average of 27.8 points to start.
“Whether they’re a guy that’s been here one year or five or six years, they’ve worked really hard to help us get our program where we want to,” he said. “We’re a long way from getting there, but this senior class has helped us at least establish the culture.”
Oddly enough, the resurgent play began for a senior-reliant team began with true freshman Scotty Fox Jr. at quarterback, and the matchup with the Red Raiders (10-1, 7-1) will mark the sixth straight start behind center for Fox.
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Fox has displayed his fair share of positive moments across each of his last four starts, although this one comes against the top scoring defense in the Big 12 Conference at 12.3 points, good for a No. 4 national ranking.
Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire expects Rodriguez to put Fox in position to make things stressful on the stingy Red Raider defense.
“Coach Rodriguez is an offensive guru. They’re going to tempo,” said McGuire, whose team also goes fast offensively. “You go back and look at his career, he’s kind of the king of tempo. He has playmakers. They do a great job of getting the ball on the perimeter.”
Linebacker Jacob Rodriguez, in the running for a plethora of national honors, is the unquestioned leader of a unit that’s allowed 36 points during an ongoing four-game win streak and more than 20 points once all season, during the team’s only loss at Arizona State, 26-22.
“Jacob Rodriguez is amazing and he should probably win the Butkus and Lombardi and all that,” WVU defensive coordinator Zac Alley said. “The Heisman is tough. You look at Heisman voting and it’s a quarterback award nowadays and occasionally you get a freak like a Travis Hunter or the kid from Boise [Ashton Jeanty] last year who’s the second all-time greatest running back in the history of college football and he didn’t win the award. It’s tough for a defensive-only player to win the Heisman, but there’s some other benchmarks as far as national awards that are maybe more relevant to defensive guys.”
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Texas Tech quarterback Behren Morton has returned to play the last three games after missing the previous two with an injury, the first of which was the setback to the Sun Devils. Slightly north of 66 percent, Morton has the No. 1 completion percentage in the Big 12, and the senior has a lengthy list of weapons at his disposal, starting with a stellar ground game that features one of the better running back combinations in the country.
Nov 15, 2025; Lubbock, Texas, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders wide receiver Coy Eakin (3), offensive lineman Haward Sampson (79) celebrate with running back Cameron Dickey (8) after a touchdown against the Central Florida Knights at Jones AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Michael C. Johnson-Imagn Images
Tailbacks Cameron Dickey and J’Koby Williams have both been plenty productive. Dickey is third in the Big 12 with 944 rushing yards and first with 13 rushing touchdowns. Williams, whose 5.8 yards per carry average is slightly better than Dickey’s 5.6, shows 647 yards with five scores in the ground.
“My analyst compared No. 8 [Dickey] to [former Rutgers and Baltimore Ravens running back] Ray Rice if that makes you feel better. It didn’t make me feel better,” Alley said. “He’s really patient. He’s a great visual runner. He can find holes and lets blocks develop and is kind of a one-cut, downhill, can run you over and outrun you, too, type of guy.
“The other back they use [Williams] is more of the scat back, get him in space, outside run game, those type of things. He gets one step and he’s gone every time. He has one step speed. They don’t have a fear of using either of them the same way, but they’re slightly different in their skill sets.”
Wideouts Caleb Douglas, Reggie Virgin and Coy Eakin all have more than 40 catches and at least 500 receiving yards, while Douglas leads the group with 48 receptions for 696 yards.
With Arizona’s 23-7 victory against Arizona State late Friday, the Red Raiders and BYU are assured of squaring off next Saturday in the Big 12 Championship in Arlington, Texas.
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A victory Saturday in Morgantown all but assures Texas Tech, No. 5 in the latest College Football Playoff Rankings, of a berth in the CFP. A win over the Mountaineers coupled with Tech’s second victory this year against the Cougars next week, would almost certainly leave McGuire’s team with a top 4 seed and first-round bye in the playoff.
“It’s one of those deals where if you give me a chance to have a bye and have as much time as possible for this team to be as healthy as possible, one less game to where you’re not getting a lot of grey hair, losing hair or worried about somebody else getting hurt, I’d rather do that,” McGuire said. “But at the end of the day, we’re just trying to get in the mix and if we’re in the mix, then good things are going to happen.”
CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WCHS) — A West Virginia man accused of threatening to attack President Donald Trump and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement workers was federally indicted this week.
Cody Lee Smith, 20, of Clarksburg was indicted on two counts of threats to murder the president, one count of influencing and retaliating against federal officials by threat of murder and one count of influencing a federal official by threat of murder, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of West Virginia.
Smith is accused of making a series of public posts on Instagram encouraging and threatening the murder of Trump, those who support him, Israelis and “all government officials,” the news release said.
The indictment also alleges that Smith sent a direct message via Instagram to Donald J. Trump, Jr., stating he would kill his father by cutting his “jugular.”
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In a phone call with the ICE tip line, Smith also threatened to kill ICE agents in Clarksburg and employees staffing the tip line.
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Smith faces up to 5 years for each of the presidential threat charges and faces up to 10 years in federal prison for each of the remaining counts.
West Virginia has said the right things about the need to capitalize on opportunities.
The Mountaineers aren’t following through when they come about.
The latest example came Tuesday night at Kansas State, which scored 21 unanswered points in the second half before holding off a furious West Virginia charge for a 65-53 victory at Bramlage Coliseum.
“The level of urgency and desire to win a game with so much on it wasn’t where it needed to be,” West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge said on postgame radio.
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The Wildcats (12-18, 3-14) played without leading scorer PJ Haggerty, a surprise scratch with an undisclosed injury.
Although WVU (17-13, 8-9) defeated Kansas State 59-54 with Haggerty in the lineup during a January matchup in Morgantown, the Mountaineers were unable to capitalize on his absence in the rematch and fell to 1-4 in their last five games.
Both teams were dismal offensively in the opening half, which ended with West Virginia leading, 26-23.
The Mountaineers got 10 points apiece from reserve forwards Chance Moore and DJ Thomas, helping the visitors to at least somewhat overcome a starting lineup that scored six points on 3-for-15 shooting over the first 20 minutes.
“When you’re playing a team that is a little down and out, you can’t give them life and can’t give them hope,” Hodge said. “We had so many opportunities in the first half and at the beginning of the game to make some plays and entice a team that’s been struggling to maybe keep struggling.”
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After a scoreless first half, WVU guard Honor Huff made his 100th three-pointer this season with 18:33 to play, allowing the Mountaineers to lead 31-27.
West Virginia went the next 8-plus minutes without a point, and Wildcats took control during that stretch.
Khamari McGriff scored the Wildcats’ first four points of the extended 21-0 spurt and accounted for four buckets and eight of the first 15 points during that time.
A jumper from CJ Jones with 10:53 remaining left the home team with a 48-31 advantage, before Thomas scored from close range to end his team’s extended drought at the 10:27 mark.
“I’m aware of our shortcomings and I understand when you’re deficient in some areas, your margin for error to win is razor thin,” Hodge said. “I’m disappointed with what was at stake, we got beat to loose balls. Would it have been nice to make more layups and threes? Of course. But when those things aren’t happening, you better do those other things.”
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KSU had separate 19-point leads, the latter of which came at 57-38 when McGriff made two free throws with 7:29 to play.
WVU then increased its aggressiveness offensively and reeled off the next 11 points, while the Wildcats began to play tentative while in possession.
A three-pointer from K-State’s Nate Johnson left the Wildcats with a 60-49 lead with 3:48 left, but the Mountaineers continued to battle and trailed by six when Chance Moore scored in the paint at the 1:24 mark.
Moore’s next basket made it a five-point game, and after a Johnson turnover, Huff made two free throws to bring WVU to within 61-58 with 48 seconds left.
Another KSU turnover gave the visitors the ball back, but after Moore missed a shot that the Mountaineers rebounded, Huff committed a costly turnover.
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Johnson made two free throws with 17 seconds left, and McGriff added two more with 7 seconds remaining before Huff made a trey at the buzzer.
Moore led WVU with 18 points and made 6-of-7 shots, but again struggled on free throws, finishing 5 for 9. WVU hurts its cause at the charity stripe and made only 9-of-16 attempts.
Brenen Lorient was the Mountaineers’ second-leading scorer with 14 second-half points, while Thomas followed with 12 and Huff added 11 on 3-for-11 shooting.
Treysen Eaglestaff led all players with 11 rebounds in defeat, but made only 3-of-12 shots in a six-point showing.
McGriff led KSU with 18 points and added seven rebounds.
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Johnson finished with 16 points and nine boards.
WVU had nine of its 13 turnovers in the second half.
“Nine turnovers in the second half creates more busted floors, more cross match opportunities and through that, it makes you vulnerable for paint touch opportunities,” Hodge said.
K-State played under the guidance of interim head coach Matthew Driscoll. Driscoll replaced Jerome Tang, who was fired in between the team’s first and second matchups with West Virginia this season.
“Sometimes in life you get what you deserve,” Hodge said, “and we deserved to lose tonight.”
Photo: Dave Casebolt, left, signed an agreement Tuesday with West Virginia American Water Company President Scott Wyman (City of Nitro)
NITRO, W.Va. — It’s a done deal.
Nitro Mayor Dave Casebolt signed an agreement Tuesday with West Virginia American Water Company President Scott Wyman completing the sale of the Nitro Regional Wastewater Utility including the sewer plant for $20 million.
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The water utility will now own and operate the city’s water and wastewater systems. The state Public Service Commission recently approved the deal.
Casebolt said it’s good to get the long-talked-about agreement signed. He said the city can’t afford to make the improvements required at the sewer plant.
“We’re looking at needing between 40 and 50 million dollars of upgrades to our system and expecting our four-thousand customer base to try to offset those costs is not even practical,” Casebolt said.
Casebolt said sewer bills are going to go up but he said they were going to go up regardless. He said the city was facing increasing rates by as much as 50 percent.
West Virgina American is planning $42 million in upgrades to the sewer system over the next five years, Casebolt said.
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“It’s a much-need investment and actually allow the system to handle rainwater much better where it’s not backing up into people’s homes,” Casebolt said.
