MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – New memories are going to be made for virtually every player on Rich Rodriguez's West Virginia football team on Saturday afternoon when the Mountaineers play host to Robert Morris.

When you have a roster with 79 new players on it, first-time experiences are inevitable across the board.

Rodriguez said earlier this week he expects his guys to be nervous, just like he will be running out of the tunnel once again here for the first time since he last coached the Mountaineers in 2007.

"Crazy enough, what is this, the 28^th year as a head coach and 40 years total? But there is still probably as many or more nerves in this first game because it's the first game when you have so many unknowns," he explained. "At this point you are like, 'God, you're still nervous?'

"But I think it's okay to be nervous for a little bit," he quickly added. "And I think it's okay for our players to be a little bit nervous because it means it matters to you, right? But you've got to be focused, too."

"I want them to be nervous, but I also want them to enjoy playing, and I think they will."

Rodriguez has vivid memories of his first college game playing for Hall of Fame coach Don Nehlen at West Virginia University in 1982. On the other side of the field was another Hall of Fame coach, Barry Switzer, whose ninth-ranked Oklahoma team was a prohibitive favorite to defeat the Mountaineers that steamy, hot September afternoon in Norman, Oklahoma.

Switzer owned a 90-13-3 record heading into the game, and the last time West Virginia played in Norman four years prior, the Sooners barely broke a sweat in a 52-10 victory.

"Most of their starters had their shoulder pads off in the second quarter," Nehlen, after studying the film of that game, once recalled.

In '82, Rodriguez played special teams and was a backup safety tasked with slowing down one of the fastest teams in college football.

"I didn't play my freshman year because most of us got redshirted, and we played JV games, believe it or not," he said.

"Well, my first game actually playing was my second year at Oklahoma, and that was a big upset win for us. I remember the excitement of going out to Oklahoma and the excitement of playing them and winning and then coming back here," he said. "I think we pulled into the Blue Lot and there were a bunch of fans waiting for us, and they were rocking the bus and coaches weren't sure if they should let us off the bus. 

"They asked us what to do and we said, 'Let us off the damned bus.' It was pretty exciting. I actually had a pretty memorable first game playing experience here," he said.

Despite being young and inexperienced, Rodriguez felt confident going into the game because of the team's great preparation leading up to it. The coaches did a fantastic job getting them ready for the heat and OU's great speed. 

And they did an even better job of sandbagging it in the press.

"We have no way of stopping their offense," Nehlen told The Daily Oklahoman, OU's hometown newspaper. "The wishbone is the most explosive offense in college football, and you need six guys on one side of the ball and six guys on the other to stop it.

"No matter how you add it up, that's 12 and there's no way we can get 12 guys on the field at one time and that's the only way we know how to stop it."

All that was missing in the article were the wink, winks from Nehlen.

"They were running that option deal, and we had a good plan for it and worked on it all camp," Rodriguez remembered. "I thought we had a pretty good football team, but I was just happy to be on the travel squad, and I was on special teams. I actually got into the game early at safety, and I think on my first play I was chasing someone and one of their big linemen clocked me and he said something like, 'Welcome to college football!'"

That was Rodriguez's introduction to big-time college football, and it turned out he became a fast learner.

"I'm like, 'Okay.' Then, maybe it was three or four plays later, they had 'the best that never was' at running back Marcus Dupree," Rodriguez said. "We had heard about him, and he was going to be this and that, so they ran a little option, and I hit him, maybe a little late, and I hit him out of bounds. 

"I remember his goggles were kind of sideways, and I stood up just like a veteran and I said, 'Welcome to college football!'"

That was the phrase he had just learned four plays prior!

After falling behind early, West Virginia rallied to score 20 points in the second quarter and eventually pulled away with a stunning 41-27 season-opening victory.

The win was so unexpected that thousands of Mountaineer fans showed up at the stadium to greet the team upon their arrival late Saturday night.

"After the game, we win and everyone is excited and here I am, a little guy from Grant Town, West Virginia, playing at Oklahoma, and we beat Oklahoma in a big upset. That was pretty memorable."

Indeed, it was.