Ross Hodge isn’t backing away from the heavy lift that comes with building West Virginia’s non-conference schedule, and the 2026-27 slate already has the look of a stress test.
The Mountaineers will get the Backyard Brawl at PPG Paints Arena, meet Wake Forest on a “neutral court” in Greensboro, dive into the Players Era tournament with Auburn waiting in the opener, renew the series with Virginia Tech, and still have one more marquee date hanging out there. The Black Friday opponent has been the subject of mixed reports for months, but the path appears to be pointing toward North Carolina in Charlotte.
Hodge said earlier this week that the scheduling choices were deliberate, especially with the tournament format changing and the Pitt game being away from home. He pointed to the extra high-level game in the Players Era event and explained why adding Virginia Tech made sense for West Virginia’s fans and players.
“The Players Era adds obviously a very third competitive game, where last year, your MTE was just a two-game MTE down in Charleston. So you’re naturally picking up one more super competitive game.
We knew that the Pitt game was going to be on the road, and so we wanted to try to get a really good home game in the non-league. I was actually talking to Toni (Caridi) and Brad (Howe), and it was before one of our home games in the non-league last year, and we were doing the pregame interview, and we sat around and talked a little bit, and I was asking them if there was a non-league game that would excite our fan base.
And Tony mentioned it was Virginia Tech; especially for people in the southern part of the state, they may even view that rivalry on the same level as how everybody else views the Pitt game. Your players certainly enjoy playing in games like that, and then also, you do want to make sure that you’re exciting your fan base and giving them something to look forward to early in the season.
We tried to do that with the games that we’ve scheduled and some unique opportunities.
"We’re close to finalizing the one game that’s kind of been, it’s out there, and it’s not really a secret. You’re just trying to finalize it.
I think it’ll be announced officially next week, maybe. And then you’ve got one more game that we’re close to finishing up on, and then looking at some creative exhibition games still as well."
West Virginia’s approach makes sense for a Big 12 team. The league schedule is already packed with Quad 1 or 2 opportunities, so there’s no real need to turn the non-conference portion into an all-out survival drill. At the same time, Hodge and his staff aren’t interested in padding the early schedule with easy wins for two months and then getting blindsided once conference play begins.
That balance matters. A tough non-league slate can harden a team, reveal what works, and maybe even create some breathing room for the NCAA Tournament picture if the Mountaineers come through it with enough wins. Hodge should also have a clearer read on what this group can and can’t do much earlier in the season, and with the experience and depth on hand, West Virginia looks built to handle the grind.
In Other News...
West Virginia Suddenly Has A New Roster Question Across Three Sports
A fresh eligibility ruling out of Colorado has suddenly put West Virginia in an awkward spot across three sports, with a federal judge ordering the NCAA to grant an extra year to a broad group of athletes whose college clocks are about to run out. For the Mountaineers, the ripple effect could touch football, basketball and baseball, where roster planning is already tight and every scholarship spot matters.
The NCAA is expected to challenge the decision, but even the uncertainty is enough to complicate how West Virginia thinks about next season and beyond. If the injunction stands, the bigger question becomes how roster limits and revenue-sharing rules will be adjusted, and whether the Mountaineers will have to reshuffle plans on the fly while trying to keep their lineups intact. [Read more 🡒]
WVU Could Suddenly Have Some Unexpected Roster Decisions To Make
A federal ruling out of Colorado has put another roster wrinkle in front of college football programs, including West Virginia, by opening the door for some former players from the 2022 student-athlete class to chase an additional year of eligibility. Judge Charlotte Sweeney of the U.S. District Court of Colorado granted a class-wide preliminary injunction that pauses the old NCAA framework for those athletes, creating a possible avenue for ex-Mountaineers to return to school if the decision holds.
For WVU, the timing matters because the NCAA is expected to appeal to the Tenth Circuit, and that process could stretch on for months before the picture clears. In the meantime, the Mountaineers may have to sort through an unexpected list of players who could become eligible again, a situation that can affect scholarship planning, depth charts and the broader shape of the roster well before fall camp gets here. [Read more 🡒]
WVU Secondary Suddenly Has A Bigger Question Than Fans Expected
West Virginias secondary was already shaping up as a key summer storyline, and Jason Chambers decision adds another layer to it. The starting cornerback spent last season as part of the Mountaineers rotation and gave the staff a veteran presence on the outside, which is why his place on the roster had figured into the conversation about how much experience would be back in the defensive backfield.
Now the focus shifts to who steps in around him, with the cornerback room suddenly looking thinner than expected. West Virginia still has options to sort through as it builds toward the upcoming season, but the departure changes the picture enough that the staff has to rework its plans and lean on a new lead option in a spot that was supposed to be more settled. [Read more 🡒]