MORGANTOWN, West Virginia — Nick Saban might have summed up the feelings of an entire state in one sentence Saturday morning. Before West Virginia took the field against Iowa State, Saban made his pick on ESPN’s College GameDay and delivered a message that was about much more than simply predicting the Mountaineers to win. “It’s time for the Mountaineers to get their [expletive] together for all the people in West Virginia who are passionate about this team,” Saban said.
After what happened later in the day in Ames, those words hit even harder. West Virginia lost 45-42 to Iowa State, falling to 3-2 overall and 0-2 in Big 12 play. The Mountaineers scored 42 points and piled up 496 yards of offense. That should be enough to win a football game. Instead, the defense gave up 577 yards and 45 points.
One week after Oklahoma State rolled up 609 yards against the Mountaineers, Iowa State followed with another huge offensive performance. That’s 1,186 yards allowed by West Virginia in two games. So when Saban says it’s time for the Mountaineers to get it together, he’s saying exactly what a lot of people across West Virginia are probably thinking right now.
And coming from Saban, it means a little more. This isn’t some national analyst taking a cheap shot at West Virginia. Saban is from Fairmont and grew up in Monongah. He understands what football means in this state and how deeply people care about the Mountaineers. He also understands what winning football is supposed to look like better than just about anyone on the planet.
— The Voice of Morgantown (@voicemorgantown) October 4, 2026
That’s why I don’t look at his comments as an attack on Rich Rodriguez or this coaching staff. I look at them as a challenge. West Virginia fans have continued to show up. They’ve continued to spend their money, travel across the country and invest emotionally in this program. They celebrated a huge win over Virginia and started believing that maybe this team was ready to take a significant step forward in Rodriguez’s second season back in Morgantown.
Then came Oklahoma State. Then came Iowa State. And suddenly a 3-0 start has turned into 3-2, with the defense surrendering an almost unbelievable amount of yardage in consecutive weeks.
Rich Rodriguez isn’t hiding from it, either. After Saturday’s loss, he described the defensive performance as “atrocious” and admitted it was “hard to watch.” He’s right. But now something has to change.
That doesn’t necessarily mean firing coaches or blowing everything up five games into the season. There are personnel issues. There have been missed tackles, blown assignments, poor eye discipline and individual mistakes. Not everything that goes wrong defensively can simply be blamed on defensive coordinator Zac Alley.
But ultimately, nobody cares about excuses when you’re giving up nearly 1,200 yards in two football games. Something has to get fixed.
And that’s why Saban’s words resonate so much. West Virginia isn’t Alabama. Nobody reasonably expects the Mountaineers to suddenly become the dynasty Saban built in Tuscaloosa. But expecting West Virginia to play disciplined, physical football and compete for meaningful games in the Big 12 isn’t unreasonable.
This fan base deserves that. This state deserves that. And Saban knows it because he’s one of them.
There have probably been plenty of times over the years when West Virginia fans dreamed about what it would have looked like to have Nick Saban standing on the Mountaineer sideline. That’s never going to happen now. But Saban is still watching. He’s still pulling for West Virginia. And apparently, he’s getting frustrated just like everybody else.
After watching the Mountaineers surrender 1,186 yards and 86 points over the last two weeks, it’s hard to disagree with him.
It’s time for West Virginia to get it together.
