West Virginia entered Saturday night’s game against No. 25 Virginia looking for a statement win. And the Mountaineers got exactly that in Charlotte with a 38-27 victory over the Cavaliers.
In our West Virginia vs. Virginia prediction and preview, we noted that Saturday would provide the first real measuring stick for Rich Rodriguez’s team after a 2-0 start against Coastal Carolina and UT Martin. The Mountaineers answered that challenge against a ranked Cavaliers team in a Big 12 vs. ACC match up.
WVU took a 28-21 lead into the fourth quarter against the Cavaliers in the Duke’s Mayo Classic at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, with quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. putting together his biggest performance yet as a Mountaineer.
Virginia entered the weekend 2-0 and ranked No. 25 in the country after outscoring NC State and Norfolk State 93-11 through its first two games. The Cavaliers were also favored by 10.5 points entering Saturday’s matchup.
But West Virginia showed immediately that this would be a much different challenge.
After Virginia took a 14-7 lead through the first quarter, Hawkins and the Mountaineers responded. Hawkins connected with DJ Epps for a 29-yard touchdown to tie the game at 14 before putting WVU ahead with a 15-yard touchdown run with just 26 seconds remaining in the first half.
That gave the Mountaineers a 21-14 halftime advantage. Hawkins had already rushed for two touchdowns while throwing another, with Epps emerging as his biggest weapon in the passing game.
Virginia responded in the third quarter to tie the game at 21, but West Virginia answered again.
Hawkins found Epps for their second touchdown connection of the night, putting the Mountaineers back in front 28-21 entering the fourth quarter.
And after a missed UVA field goal, the Mountaineers took the life out of the Cavaliers with an 8-play 78-yard drive that capped off with a Michael Hawkins 5-yard touchdown run to put WVU up 35-21 with 5:24 to play. West Virginia would then tack on another field goal
The Mountaineers just picked up their biggest win of the RichRod era (yes, bigger than last year’s Pitt game), as WVU now has momentum heading into Big 12 conference play at 3-0, with expectations set to increase tremendously ahead of next week’s home game vs. Oklahoma State.
And for the Big 12, taking down a ranked ACC opponent as a double-digit underdog would give the conference another notable non-conference victory in Week 3.
