MORGANTOWN — Rutgers was up 31-17 at the half over Ohio. The Scarlet Knights were eyeing down victory. Then, the bearded, western quarterback, Parker Navarro, took over. The Arizona-born led Ohio to score 14 unanswered points, which included a 17-yard scamper for a score. Ohio did come up short, losing by a field goal, but it was an impressive showing from Navarro.

Navarro threw for 239 yards and three touchdowns, rushed for 93 yards and another score. He’s already on pace for another career year after throwing for over two thousand yards and rushing for another thousand. Navarro is one of the better dual-threat quarterbacks in the country and led Ohio to a 10-win season in 2024 and a MAC Championship.

“Their quarterback, I think is one of the best in the country,” Rich Rodriguez said. “He’s really good, really talented. He can take the play that’s off and make something happen out of it. They are the best team in the MAC by far.”

This week, West Virginia is attempting to do what so many teams have failed to do: slow down Navarro. It’ll be a much tougher task for defensive coordinator Zac Alley’s defense, which had it easy against Robert Morris in Week 1.

Alley said it’ll be important to contain Navarro, whether that’s using man or zone coverages. The question is, will it work?

“That’s a great question,” Alley said. “Nobody really did it last year or this season. He kind of ran over everybody. I think that it’s probably a blend of all those things. Both, making sure we keep him in the pocket, as far as the rush, trying to keep him from scrambling out and around. He’s a top-five quarterback in the country when he gets outside the pocket. He’s unbelievable once he’s on the move. So do everything we can to keep them in there.”

Facing a mobile quarterback might actually not be too hard because Rodriguez’s offense features and has featured a lot of mobile quarterbacks. It’s nothing this defense hadn’t seen before.

However, Rodriguez would prefer to play a pocket passer.

“I’d rather have some big old slob back there that don’t run,” Rodriguez said. “Schematically, you have to have that in mind when defensively you are putting your packages together. He might have everybody covered, and he might take off and run. It’s not one of these deals where you don’t have to worry about the quarterback taking off. That’s a big part of it. You can’t let them run around, scramble and run for first downs. Throw for off-scheduled plays because he thrives in that atmosphere.”

Alley does have some interesting strategies in mind to plan for Navarro. A lot of Rodriguez’s quarterbacks are mobile, and there are a lot of them. During practice this week, Alley wants to use quarterbacks Scotty Fox Jr., who rushed for a 59-yard touchdown in Week 1, and Khalil Wilkins to simulate Navarro.

Mickey Goldmill had Rocky Balboa in Rocky II chase a chicken as part of his training.

“You catch this thing, you can catch grease lightning,” Goldmill told Rocky.

Alley plans on doing the same training.

“Run around in circles on us, hopefully down there for some,” Alley said. “But obviously, they run the quarterback a ton as far as the true quarterback run game our offense does. They do some of it at Ohio. He makes a lot of big plays, and some of the scrambles and things like that. Those worry me more than anything. When he drops back, it’s not there, and he takes off running, and he’s got 10 yards from the next closest guy. I’d say it’s definitely helpful, but it’s still slightly different.”

Alley also wants the scout team quarterbacks to rush irregularly, too, so they’re prepared for anything. The scout team is more important than ever this week.

“Honestly, our guys do a good job of understanding what we want to get done over there,” Alley said. “We’ll do some natural scrambling in all fours.”

Aside from keeping Navarro in the pocket, there’s another way to get him off schedule. When Colorado State linebacker Chase Wilson arrived in Morgantown, he asked why Alley blitzed on first down.

“Because second-and-12 is harder than second-and-2,” Alley said. “We want to knock them backwards consistently. Put them in disadvantage situations because you get them more one-dimensional. You’re limited on your play calls on third-and-12 compared to third-and-1. I feel better in third-and-12 most of the time than in third-and-1. We want to win first downs. We win second down, and then we can win third down and get off the field.”

Alley hopes to pressure Navarro early to limit his options.

It’s still not going to be easy. Like Rodriguez said, Navarro’s one of the better quarterbacks in the country. Add that with making the trip to Athens and Pitt next week, Ohio is a big step up from Robert Morris.

“You have to learn to be comfortable with being uncomfortable,” Rodriguez said. “Small locker room, long bus ride. It’s a good team with an explosive quarterback. It’s going to be an interesting challenge.”