MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It's been nearly a year since Rich Rodriguez made the toughest decision of his career, rejecting a lucrative offer at Alabama and returning for his seventh season at West Virginia.

It turned out to be the right move. Rodriguez is one win from playing for a national title.

No. 2 West Virginia (11-1, 5-1 Big East) will start mapping a trip to New Orleans if it can beat Pittsburgh (4-7, 2-4) in the 100th Backyard Brawl on Saturday night.

It would be a journey like no other in school history.

The Mountaineers have maintained a calm, businesslike approach on their ascent to the national stage. If others had the Mountaineers in the national title talk at the start of the season, Rodriguez wasn't among them.

"We don't talk nationally as much as we could talk about competing for a Big East championship," Rodriguez said. "We've been in the hunt over the last several years and we thought this team had the same chance if we had a little luck. And they've performed the way they're capable."

West Virginia would be going for its first national championship in a major sport. The school's only claim to team fame has been 13 NCAA titles in rifle from 1983-98 — and the title of No. 1 party college as voted by the Princeton Review.

The basketball program almost won a title in 1959, when Jerry West led the team to the championship game before losing to California.

The football team came close, too, going 11-0 in the 1988 and '93 regular seasons. Both teams lost in bowl games, including the 1988 squad to top-ranked Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl.

Local TV stations already are running stories about hotel and airline bookings and finding national title game tickets online. Some are running polls about whether West Virginia will face No. 1 Missouri, which would advance with a win over Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game on Saturday night, or No. 3 Ohio State, which could take over the Tigers' spot.

Gov. Joe Manchin called Rodriguez earlier in the week congratulating the team on its accomplishments so far, then declared at a news conference he was confident the Mountaineers would win the national title.