MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – So, how's your Monday afternoon going, two days after West Virginia's come-from-behind, 31-24 overtime victory over touchdown-favorite Pitt last Saturday?

Judging from his reaction on the field, I'm pretty sure Coach Rich Rodriguez's Saturday night was fairly enjoyable.

"I was probably a little more emotional than I wanted to be doing the TV thing on the field, but this state is full of hard-working, gritty, tough people that support this University and support this football program, and winning is important to them," he said afterward.

"Beating Pitt is really, really important to them. If you ask anyone in our state who is a West Virginia fan, 'Okay, pick a team that you want to beat or who you hate?' They'll say Pitt, so I know. You saw how the crowd was into it even though we weren't playing well at times, because they made a big difference in overtime and they played a part in us winning," he added.

There is a lot to unpack from the game, so I'll start with uniforms, because that's my least favorite topic. 

From the traditional blue helmets to the blue jerseys and gold pants with two blue stripes down the side, that LOOKED like a Mountaineer football team to me! I actually had to rub my eyes a couple of times to make sure I was seeing what I was seeing.

I know alternate uniforms and multiple looks are extremely popular today, and can be very profitable, too, but there is also something to be said for demonstrating tradition and familiarity in rivalry games.

The primary reason Don Nehlen came up with the look that was developed way back in 1980 was because he couldn't tell which team was West Virginia whenever he was watching film to learn more about the new squad he was about to coach.

The look, which became the "modern West Virginia Mountaineer look" (Bobby Bowden's words), was intentional because Nehlen wanted it to be clear the team people were watching on the field was the West Virginia Mountaineers, and not some team masquerading as the West Virginia Mountaineers. 

In fact, the one instance when Nehlen was convinced to wear blue pants on the road in 1995 (which looked great, by the way!) the team ended the season with a losing record, and those blue pants ended up going into the dumpster afterward.

What we saw last Saturday against Pitt took me back to 1983, when the Mountaineers in their blue helmets, blue jerseys and gold pants with two blue stripes down the side, hopped on their horse named "Hoss" and marched the length of the field late in the game to topple the Panthers 24-21.

Once quarterback Jeff Hostetler ran his bootleg into the end zone with 6:27 left in the fourth quarter, giving West Virginia a 24-21 lead, it was said that the applause in the stadium was so deafening that it could be heard all the way across the river in Westover.

West Virginia's game-tying drive last Saturday began at about the same place on the field, and as Morgantown resident Randy Gyorko pointed out on X, that drive on Sept. 13 (9/13) started at WVU's 13-yard line.

West Virginia's first play was a 9-yard Nicco Marchiol pass completion to Rodney Gallagher III.

Gyorko also noted that Pitt committed a 13-yard pass interference penalty during the march, which happened to total 13 plays. By now, you should be able to decipher the numbers 13 and 9, which have become so meaningful to Panther faithful these days.

As for the crowd reaction, elderly people in Westover taking their late afternoon naps were likely awakened to another thunderous roar when Eli Holstein's fourth-down pass fell incomplete in overtime to end the game.

By the way, did you happen to see Holstein afterward while he was doing his postgame press conference? He looked like he had just gone 12 rounds with Mike Tyson.

That's the Mountaineer football that many of us were raised to watch – tough, passionate and relentless.

Of course, it was Holstein who made those unfortunate comments beforehand about expecting to have batteries and beer thrown at him by rabid Mountaineer fans. Eli's not to blame for what he said, however, because last Saturday was the first time he had ever played a football game in Morgantown. He was just parroting something that was told to him by someone else who should have known better.

Speaking of physical play, what was it with all those injuries happening to the Panthers late in the fourth quarter and overtime? 

That very subject was brought up afterward by Blue & Gold News' Kevin Kinder in the postgame news conference.

"It was amazing how many of their guys got hurt!" Rodriguez answered, a smile forming on his face. "I mean, I'm really concerned. Do they have anybody left to play because there were like two or three guys on every other snap (going down)? I don't know if they went back into the game or were in the medical tent, but you talk about bad luck … have you ever seen that much bad luck that they'd have so many guys get hurt that often? It was remarkable.

"I'm just showing a level of concern."

Then the coach turned serious.

"They've got a rule that if he falls down and gets hurt after the ready for play, but you are not going to wait for the ready for play, you are going to do it immediately," he explained. "I think for their health and safety, they should have to sit out the series or the rest of the quarter, if we're really concerned about their health and well-being. Maybe they should sit out for the rest of the half, then there probably wouldn't be as many guys getting hurt. That's just my opinion, but what do I know?"

Rodriguez was also asked to explain the personal foul penalty called on Pitt at the end of the second quarter that didn't result in anything happening. Had it been enforced as a dead ball foul, West Virginia would have had the football at Pitt's 27-yard line with an opportunity to kick a field goal.

Rodriguez admitted bewilderment. 

"I've coached a long time, and I have never seen a penalty not have a consequence," he said. "There was a personal foul called, which either (they enforce right then) as a dead-ball foul, the clock is stopped, you move it up 15 yards and kick a field goal and we're all happy.

"Or, if not that, then there is some sort of explanation, and you can take it on the kickoff in the second half," he added. "But for them to be like, 'Oh, there's a penalty, but we can't do anything about it …' You-all ever seen that before? I hadn't seen that."

Overall, the veteran coach said he was happy with how his team responded after the week-two loss at Ohio University.

"To our guys' credit, they weren't happy last week, and Tuesday and Wednesday they worked, and everybody is happy this week," Rodriguez said. "If we win next week, everybody will be happy, and if we don't win, everybody won't be. That's the nature of our profession."

Now, it's on to a well-rested Kansas team that didn't play a football game last weekend in the Big 12 opener for both teams this Saturday night at the Jayhawks' recently refurbished David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. 

Incidentally, Kansas is already listed as double-digit favorites.