Rich Rodriguez Remains Concerned About Pitt Players After Rash of Injuries

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For WVU fans who enjoyed Rich Rodriguez’s sarcastic postgame rant about Pitt’s rash of injuries in the Backyard Brawl, he’s not finished talking about it just yet.

Now days later in the aftermath of West Virginia’s 31-24 win in overtime, Rodriguez is still offering his concern about who the Panthers have available for the rest of the season.

Rodriguez brought it up twice on Tuesday, once during his weekly press conference and then again while appearing on the Pat McAfee Show.

He reiterated his worry about if Pitt has any players left and then went into it even more with McAfee.

“It was a physical game too, Pat. They had inordinate amount of people that got hurt. On some snaps, there were two or three guys that were getting hurt and I was amazed at that. Their training staff must be the best in the country because they all came back in the game,” said Rodriguez with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek.

McAfee, of course, listened on loving every minute of it.

"Pitt must have the best training staff in the country..

It was phenomenal how fast they were able to get those guys back on the field after all those injuries..

There was a guy falling down on every snap"

That's that HARD EDGE @RealCoachRod #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/IkB4pOHXuo

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) September 16, 2025

The Tuesday conversation comes after Rodriguez decided to mention Pitt’s injuries as his response to a question about conditioning on Saturday night.

“I’m really concerned. Do they have anyone left to play next week? You talk about bad luck, have you ever seen so much bad luck that they had so many guys get hurt that often? It’s remarkable,” said Rodriguez following the game.

Just some from Rich Rodriguez:

"I’m really concerned. Do they have anyone left to play next week? You talk about bad luck, have you ever seen so much bad luck that they had so many guys get hurt that often? It’s remarkable.

Then this….

"Helped us? No, it pissed me off." https://t.co/5b6fQIPVMV

— Mike J. Asti (@MikeAsti11) September 15, 2025

Without saying it directly, Rodriguez is accusing Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi of instructing his players to fake injuries in an attempt to slow down West Virginia’s high-tempo offense, one that found its rhythm late in the fourth quarter and then led the Mountaineers to a victory in overtime.

Rodriguez, able to joke about it due to winning, admitted the tactic agitated him at the time.

“Helped us? No, it pissed me off.”

Narduzzi has yet to comment on the matter himself.

Find more coverage of Rich Rodriguez and the WVU football program at WV Sports Now.