​MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA – AUGUST 30: Rich Rodriguez Coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers on the sidelines during a game against Robert Morris Colonials in the second quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium on August 30, 2025 in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Photo by Brien Aho/Getty Images) GettyWest Virginia opened its season with a win over Coastal Carolina, but one number from the Mountaineers’ 31-24 victory deserves considerably more attention.Coastal Carolina quarterback Deuce Bailey threw for 373 yards and three touchdowns against West Virginia. Giving up that type of production through the air is concerning enough, but another statistic makes the performance considerably harder to dismiss.The Chanticleers rushed for only 52 yards on 27 attempts.In other words, Coastal Carolina became almost entirely dependent on Bailey and the passing game to climb back into a game West Virginia once led 24-0. The Mountaineers largely eliminated one dimension of the Chanticleers’ offense, yet Coastal still found a way to score 24 points in the second half and turn what appeared headed toward a comfortable WVU victory into a one-score game.That should get West Virginia’s attention.West Virginia Could Not Capitalize on One-Dimensional Coastal Carolina OffenseThere was plenty to like about the Mountaineers’ run defense.Coastal Carolina averaged just 1.9 yards per rushing attempt. Jevon Edwards led the Chanticleers with only 20 rushing yards, while West Virginia finished with five sacks and repeatedly created negative plays.That is normally the type of defensive performance that should make life considerably easier for a secondary.Once an opponent struggles to establish its running game, the defense can increasingly anticipate where the offense has to go. Coastal Carolina’s path back into Saturday’s game became obvious. Bailey needed to make plays through the air, and he continued making them anyway.Bailey completed 21 of 37 passes for 373 yards and three touchdowns. The Chanticleers finished with 425 total yards, meaning nearly 88% of their offensive yardage came through the passing game.That is what makes West Virginia’s 373-yard problem different from simply allowing a quarterback to have a productive afternoon.The Mountaineers essentially removed Coastal Carolina’s rushing attack from the equation and still struggled to prevent the one remaining avenue the Chanticleers needed to attack.West Virginia ultimately survived. Against better opponents, that formula becomes much more dangerous.Rich Rodriguez Has Time to Correct WVU’s Biggest Week 1 ConcernThe encouraging part for West Virginia is that the problem surfaced immediately.Head coach Rich Rodriguez acknowledged after the game that the Mountaineers had issues involving both pass coverage and pass rush, and expressed frustration that certain problems continued to occur throughout the second half.West Virginia now gets an opportunity to correct them before the difficulty of the schedule increas