West Virginia rolls past U.T. Martin, 52-7
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MORGANTOWN -- West Virginia quarterback Michael Hawkins Jr. had a wide-open D.J. Epps down the seam. Hawkins pitched it to him, and Epps took off in all the open space for a 53-yard touchdown. The big touchdown set the tone for a day full of explosive plays against the inferior FCS U.T. Martin.
The Mountaineers had four plays over 50 yards and two of them for touchdowns in their 52-7 blowout win over the Skyhawks (1-2) Saturday afternoon. With the win, WVU moved to 2-0 for the first time since 2018, and takes its undefeated record into the Duke's Mayo Classic in Charlotte against No. 25 Virginia, who is also 2-0, next week.
"The best you can be after two games is 2-0," Rich Rodriguez said. "I think we made some steps on offense. I'm not sure we made steps on defense. I'll have to watch the film.”
WVU lacked the explosive play in 2025. The Mountaineers registered just seven offensive plays for over 50-plus yards in 2025, which was highlighted by the big Cyncir Bowers catch against Arizona State.
Epps registered another big catch for 56 yards, and Hawkins kept the ball for a 71-yard touchdown. With Cam Cook's big rush against Coastal Carolina, the Mountaineers are already more than halfway to last year's total.
Rodriguez said this year's team would be "more fun to watch" because the team had a lot more speed and athleticism. It showed against U.T. Martin.
"Mike has had some explosive plays, Cam has had some, Amari (Latimer), D.J. Epps, we're going to need that going forward," Rodriguez said.
The Mountaineers offense put together a complete game over the FCS foe, instead of falling apart in the second half like against Coastal Carolina. The offense rolled to 525 total yards and scored over 20 points in each half. And, WVU didn't rely super heavily on the run.
In his second start, Hawkins didn't throw the ball as much, but he didn't need to. He completed 5-for-7 passes, threw for 155 yards and two touchdowns. He also carried the ball four yards shy of 100 -- almost reaching 100 yards for the second straight game -- and carried the ball just six times. Hawkins was the team's leading rusher and had two rushing touchdowns.
"I felt way more comfortable today," Hawkins said. "Just going into it. Play by play, it kind of just settles in."
With the big receptions, Epps led the team with 112 yards and had 83 yards after catch. Epps also carried the ball once for 18 yards. Tight end Ryan Ward hauled in his first touchdown of the season to put the backups in to start the third quarter, 42-0.
Cook was behind Hawkins in rushing with 52 yards and averaged 5.2 yards per carry. Cook punched in the second touchdown of the day. WVU totaled 316 yards on the ground and 6.2 yards per attempt.
There's still some work to do on defense. By looking at the final score, WVU's defense seemed dominant. The Mountaineers registered a shutout (the lone touchdown was a fumble by the offense). But U.T. Martin left a few points on the board. The Skyhawks had a long touchdown called back, missed a field goal and fumbled deep in the red zone. WVU's defense allowed 318 yards.
The Mountaineers defense did force two turnovers, including the first interception of the year from linebacker Ashton Woods.
"Defensively, even though they got a shutout, I didn't think we were particularly sharp defensively," Rodriguez said. I don't know if we got any three-and-outs. We allowed them to convert some third-down stuff. It seemed like we were a little bit off at times."
Against the lower-level school, the defensive struggles didn’t matter, but could cause issues as the competition only gets harder.
The offense and defense did enough for Rodriguez to finally rotate in depth pieces. Sophomore quarterback Scotty Fox Jr. came in at quarterback midway through the third quarter, and a new quarterback each drive after that. True freshman running back Amari Latimer punched in his first college touchdown on a 29-yard rush. Former West Virginia Randy Moss Award recipient Cyrus Traugh registered his first grab for the Mountaineers on an 11-yard catch.
With added confidence, WVU takes a perfect record into its biggest game of the season so far against No. 25 Virginia. There are areas to fix, but it was a lot better than the season opener against Coastal Carolina.
"We got to get a lot of work done in the next 24 hours," Rodriguez said. "Get ready to play a really, really veteran, and when I talk about veteran some grown men on a Virginia team in Charlotte."