MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A rare visit to Athens, Ohio, is on tap for the West Virginia University football team this Saturday when the Mountaineers take on the Ohio University Bobcats.

West Virginia's last trip there, in 1949, resulted in 17-7 loss and the beginning of the end to Dudley DeGroot's coaching tenure with the Mountaineers. WVU's only other Buckeye State appearance to face OU was in 1897, the Bobcats also coming out victorious, 12-0.

"Here on out, the challenges get tougher," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said.

Last month, Ohio University announced the game at 27,000-seat Frank Solich Field at Peden Stadium is sold out, meaning there should be lots of gold-and-blue-clad fans in the seats considering the OU campus is just a 45-minute drive from Parkersburg and 151 miles from Morgantown.

"I told our guys they've got to learn to get comfortable being uncomfortable," Rodriguez said. "We are going to be in a small locker room, a long bus ride, playing a good team and it's going to be an interesting challenge for us." 

Ohio's recent gridiron success has elicited memories of the success of Don Peden, the stadium's namesake, who led the Bobcats to six Buckeye Athletic Association titles from 1929 to 1938, and to Bill Hess, whose four Mid-American Conference championships in the 1960s include the school's last one in 1968 until Tim Albin ended the drought in 2024.

Albin's four-year tenure at Ohio featured three consecutive 10-win seasons before he departed for Charlotte prior to the Bobcats' 30-27 victory over Jacksonville State in the Cure Bowl. Of course, Rodriguez coached Jacksonville State to a Conference USA championship and would have faced Ohio before departing to return to his alma mater.

"I was working on Ohio, it might have been for a couple weeks, and then this thing happened and then I was gone," Rodriguez said.  "Some of my other staff was there the whole time and we've watched the bowl game and I'm sure they've watched it, too, but I think we'll get more of an idea about them from watching the game against Rutgers than the game against Jax State."

Offensive coordinator Brian Smith was promoted to head coach before the Cure Bowl and Saturday's contest will be his third as a collegiate head coach.

His coaching background includes assistant coaching stints at Washington State, Hawaii (his alma mater), Occidental, Cal Lutheran, Portland State, Oregon State and Royal High School in Simi Valley, California.

Smith continues to serve as the team's primary play caller.

Defensive coordinator John Hauser has previously worked at Miami (Ohio), The Citadel, Illinois, Wayne State, Northern Illinois and Wittenberg, while special teams coordinator Blair Cavanaugh's coaching history includes stops at Incarnate Word, Syracuse and Ball State.

Smith's staff has assembled an eclectic blend of players comprised of 22 different states and two different countries among its two-deep roster.

OU also has nine different skill players weighing 200 pounds or more, including running backs Sieh Bangura (218) and Duncan Brune (216).

Bangura began his collegiate career at Ohio, transferred to Minnesota for one year, and then returned to Athens for his senior season in 2025. The Bowie, Maryland, resident rushed for 86 yards in the opener against Rutgers and shows 2,080 yards for his collegiate career, including 1,078 as a sophomore in 2022.

Brune hails from Cologne, Germany, and earned 26 carries in 2024 and got six carries in this year's season opener.

Ohio's catalyst is quarterback Parker Navarro, a Brock Purdy-type who is most dangerous when he gets outside the pocket. Navarro accounted for 3,477 yards passing and rushing with 31 total touchdowns in 2024 and is a leading candidate for MAC Player of the Year honors in 2025.

He completed 66.1% of his aerials for 2,423 yards and ran 160 times for 1,054 yards and 18 touchdowns last season, and the former UCF product's effective play continued in this year's opener at Rutgers when he passed for 239 yards and three touchdowns and ran nine times for 93 yards and another score.

"He's a guy who can take the play that's off and make something happen out of it," Rodriguez said.

Keeping the 6-foot, 211-pounder contained in the pocket will be the No. 1 priority of West Virginia's defense on Saturday.

"We looked at it, and I think he's a top-five quarterback in the country when he gets outside the pocket," West Virginia defensive coordinator Zac Alley observed. "He's unbelievable once he's on the move, so we've got to try and do everything we can to keep him in there, and that will involve the D-line, some spy players, man, zone or anything I feel like we can do to try and corral him."

Navarro's top receiving target in the opener was Chase Hendricks, a 6-foot, 203-pound junior from St. Louis with nine receptions for 115 yards. A former three-star prospect who received recruiting interest from Arizona State and Colorado, Hendricks caught 40 passes for 471 yards and a touchdown a year ago.

Backup tight end Jake Bruno, a massive 6-foot-6, 261-pound senior from Amherst, New York, was Navarro's go-to target in the red zone with a pair of touchdown catches against the Scarlet Knights.

Starting tight end Mason Williams, a 6-foot-5, 258-pound sophomore, caught Navarro's other touchdown aerial.

"They are a really good football team, and there is a reason they won the MAC last year and gave Rutgers all they wanted last week," Alley said. "Their back (Bangura) is probably an NFL player, just like their quarterback. They've got some really good players in their receiving corps. They had an elite slot last year, and they've replaced him with another elite slot, and they do a great job of getting those guys in space and letting them make plays."

Defensively, 6-foot-2, 221-pound senior free safety Adonis Williams Jr. led the Bobcats with 11 tackles against the Scarlet Knights. The OU secondary is considered among the best in the MAC with sophomore strong safety DJ Walker and senior boundary corner Tank Pearson making the preseason Jim Thorpe Award List.

"They are very active, very athletic, and they play really, really hard," Rodriguez said. "They play with a chip on their shoulders, and we know they are going to play extremely hard against us."

Ohio outgained Rutgers 440 to 399 and demonstrated impressive balance with 239 yards passing and 201 yards rushing.

What doomed Ohio in the opener was a 24-point second quarter that included a blocked punt for a touchdown that gave Rutgers a 31-14 lead.

Ohio dominated third-quarter play and eventually tied the game before Rutgers kicked a fourth-quarter field goal and then played keep away for the remainder of the game to hold on for the victory.

"They were the best team in the MAC by far last year," Rodriguez observed. "Even though their head coach left, their coordinators stayed, so their culture is already established there because of the staff that has returned."

West Virginia, meanwhile, deposited Robert Morris 45-3 in its opener last Saturday afternoon in Morgantown.

Quarterback Nicco Marchiol was an efficient 17-of-20 passing for 224 yards and a touchdown and was part of a punishing ground attack that generated 393 yards and five touchdowns.

Marchiol's 56 yards rushing were seven fewer than backup quarterback Scotty Fox Jr.'s 63, and leading ground gainer Jahiem White's 93 on 18 attempts. White scored two short touchdowns, and Fox added an exciting 59-yard jaunt in a fourth-quarter mop-up role.

Cam Vaughn led the Mountaineer receiving corps with seven catches for 126 yards and a touchdown.

Four different quarterbacks got into the game last Saturday, and Rodriguez indicated the trend of playing multiple quarterbacks will likely continue.

If not for three fumbles in four offensive plays in the second quarter, the contest could have been out of reach much sooner and more backups could have seen action.

"I don't know if I've ever seen losing three fumbles in four plays, but our guys didn't panic, and we put the team away in the second half like we should have," Rodriguez said.

Defensively, linebacker Chase Wilson's six tackles and sack led a Mountaineer unit that limited the Colonials to just 123 total yards and an average of just 2.1 yards per play.

Robert Morris was unable to test a completely revamped West Virginia secondary that will be significantly challenged this weekend.

Saturday's game will kick off at 4 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPNU (Courtney Lyle and Rene Ingoglia).

Mountaineer Sports Network from Learfield's radio coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning begins with the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show at 1 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia, online via WVUsports.com, and the Varsity Network and WVU Gameday apps.