West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Rich Rodriguez looks on during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Utah, Saturday, Sept, 27, 2025, in Morgantown, W.Va. (AP Photo/ William Wotring)

This week marks Rich Rodriguez’s first bye week since returning to West Virginia this December. He has a lot of work, turning this season around after a 2-4 start, and 0-3 in the Big 12.

Rodriguez has had his fair share of bye weeks since he first started as a head coach in 2001 at West Virginia the first time. He’s had 28 to be exact, not including the bye weeks where there weren’t games the following week.

Rodriguez’s learned a lot through four different head coaching stops at WVU, Michigan, Arizona and Jacksonville State. His success after each bye week varies depending on each location, but Rodriguez has been on the more favorable side.

Rodriguez’s record after a bye week is 20-8. Some of the games were big wins, and others, head-scratching losses.

Rodriguez’s biggest win off the bye was when he was at Arizona in 2014. The Wildcats headed to Eugene, Oregon to face the No. 2-ranked Oregon Ducks and eventual Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Mariota.

The game started with a big kickoff return for Oregon, taking the ball to midfield. It seemed like Arizona was going to get blown out. Then, an Oregon receiver bobbled the ball out of bounds, but as it was still in the air, a Wildcat tapped it back into play to a teammate for an interception.

Arizona eventually won 31-24 in a big upset. It was what Rodriguez said was the closest he’s ever come to a perfect game.

“It was the cleanest game,” Rodriguez said this summer.

There was also the ranked win over No. 3 Virginia Tech in 2003 when Rodriguez was at WVU. The Mountaineers rolled the Hokies 28-7. Running back Quincy Wilson ran 33 times for 178 yards and scored a touchdown.

“I was really proud of the way our young men played,” Rodriguez said back in 2003.

There have been plenty of big losses after the bye, too.

Along with the win in 2003, Rodriguez also lost to No. 2 Miami after a bye. It was close and WVU came back down 19-10. Miami’s Jon Peattie hit a 23-yarder to win the game with 11 seconds to play. It was unfortunate. There was also the upset the following year to Pitt in the Backyard Brawl, and the 2006 loss to No. 5 Louisville.

Rodriguez faced a couple of matchups after the bye and doesn’t have the strongest record. He’s 4-4 in ranked games.

It all depends on where Rodriguez was when he coached in those ranked games and the winning percentage after the bye in general. Rodriguez had no ranked games at Jacksonville State, but he was a perfect 6-0.

At Arizona, Rodriguez lost to No. 16 Washington and was 4-3 off the bye. Michigan had his worst bye record because it wasn’t there long and faced the high-caliber Big Ten opponents. He was 1-1, but had a ranked win over No. 9 Wisconsin in 2008.

Other than Jacksonville State, Rodriguez had his best record at West Virginia of 10-4 record. IN his final season at WVU, he was a perfect 2-0 with wins over Louisville and Mississippi State. It seems Rodriguez was most comfortable and knew how to get his players ready in Morgantown.

In his second stint, it’ll be interesting if it carries over. Rodriguez’s first test off the bye is against UCF, a winnable game against a program in a similar situation with an old head coach returning, trying to replicate the success from the first time with the program.

We’ll see if Rodriguez’s success out of the bye carries over into 2025 and a new era of college football.