West Virginia’s next step on the schedule is now set: the Mountaineers will host Kansas in Week 11 at 5:30 p.m. ET, with ESPNU carrying the game, the Big 12 announced Sunday morning.
For WVU, the timing matters almost as much as the opponent. The Mountaineers are coming off Saturday night’s heartbreaking loss to No.
15 Texas Tech, and they need to shake that off fast if they want to handle a Kansas team that’s been searching for answers. West Virginia still has postseason business to sort out, and this matchup gives it a chance to steady itself at home.
Kansas enters Morgantown at 3-6 overall and 1-5 in Big 12 play, and the record has started to wear on a fan base that once had plenty of optimism. The Jayhawks have dropped three one-score games, lost four of their last five, and are now one defeat away from missing a bowl game for the third straight season. They’ve been better than the record suggests, but confidence is not exactly overflowing right now.
The history between these two programs leans heavily toward West Virginia. The Mountaineers own an 11-3 edge in the series, and Kansas’ two wins in the matchup have come in 2013 and 2025, two of West Virginia’s roughest seasons this century. In Morgantown, WVU is 7-1 against the Jayhawks and has won those home games by an average of 22.4 points, though the recent meetings have been tighter.
Here’s how the series has played out:
1941: West Virginia 21, Kansas 0
2012: West Virginia 59, Kansas 10
2013: Kansas 31, West Virginia 19
2014: West Virginia 33, Kansas 14
2015: West Virginia 49, Kansas 0
2016: West Virginia 48, Kansas 21
2017: West Virginia 56, Kansas 34
2018: West Virginia 38, Kansas 22
2019: West Virginia 29, Kansas 24
2020: West Virginia 38, Kansas 17
2021: West Virginia 34, Kansas 28
2022: Kansas 55, West Virginia 42 (OT)
2024: West Virginia 32, Kansas 28
2025: Kansas 41, West Virginia 10
With three games left, this is the kind of matchup West Virginia has to take care of. It’s at home, it’s against a team it has handled historically, and it comes against a Kansas squad that is trying to find its footing. A win wouldn’t erase the pain of the Texas Tech loss, but it would give the Mountaineers a chance to get moving in the right direction before the season winds down.
In Other News...
Rich Rodriguez Just Put West Virginia's Defensive Concerns In Focus
Rich Rodriguez used his 10th coaches show of the 2026 season to put a spotlight on where West Virginia stands after the loss to Texas Tech, and the picture was not limited to the scoreboard. He talked through injury updates for Amare Grayson and Jacob Bradford, looked ahead to Kansas, and spent time on the defensive issues that have been nagging the Mountaineers, especially the way deep passes have exposed them. Rodriguez also pointed to the broader challenge of keeping a roster steady in a season shaped by turnover, saying the answer has to include simplification.
The defensive conversation carried beyond scheme and into mindset, which is where the concern gets sharper for West Virginia. Rodriguez said the team has to clean up the mental side as much as the physical execution, even as he noted progress from Taron Francis and Keon Hutchins. With mid-season assistant coach firings becoming a talking point across college football, Rodriguez also addressed the reality of constant change around the sport, but for the Mountaineers the immediate question is whether the defense can settle in quickly enough to give them a chance against Kansas. [Read more 🡒]
Zac Alley Sends A Clear Message As WVU Defense Faces Heat
West Virginias defense has spent enough time under the microscope that every rough series seems to spark a fresh wave of outside noise, and defensive coordinator Zac Alley is making it clear how he wants his players to handle it. Alley said he takes responsibility for the units performance, but he also wants his group to stay locked in on the people inside the building rather than letting social media shape how they see themselves.
There was at least a small sign of progress against Texas Tech, when the Mountaineers settled in after a shaky start and turned in a better second half with multiple stops. For a defense that has been trying to steady itself through a difficult stretch, the message from Alley is as much about mindset as it is about scheme, and the next step is proving those adjustments can hold up when the pressure builds again. [Read more 🡒]
Dana Holgorsen's WVU Turning Point Looks Worse Than Ever
Dana Holgorsens coaching path has taken another sharp turn, and it naturally sends the conversation back to Morgantown, where his West Virginia run once looked like it might settle into something lasting. His time with the Mountaineers had enough highs to keep hope alive, but the 2018 season became a clear reminder of how difficult it was to sustain momentum there, especially when expectations and results started drifting apart.
Now, after being fired as offensive coordinator at Nebraska by Matt Rhule, Holgorsens career arc looks even more complicated in hindsight. The West Virginia chapter already carried plenty of debate about where things started to go wrong and why the success never fully held, and his latest exit only adds another layer to that discussion for Mountaineers fans who remember how promising it all once seemed. [Read more 🡒]