West Virginia’s bowl picture has gone from promising to shaky in a hurry.
A few weeks ago, the Mountaineers were being viewed as a safe postseason team and were showing up in some pretty attractive bowl projections. Two straight losses later - including one against what was widely considered one of the Big 12’s weakest teams in Iowa State - and the margin for error is suddenly razor-thin.
Some outlets are still hanging onto the idea that WVU can get to six wins. Athlon Sports has the Mountaineers in the Liberty Bowl against Oklahoma.
CBS Sports slots them into the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl against UConn. College Football News has them in the StaffDNA Cure Bowl against Florida Atlantic.
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura, ESPN’s Mark Schlabach, Sports Illustrated, and West Virginia On SI all currently have no projection for the Mountaineers.
The big problem is what comes next. The schedule leaves very little room to breathe: Arizona, Cincinnati, at TCU, at Texas Tech, Kansas, Houston, and at Utah.
The math is simple enough. West Virginia needs three more wins, and the question fans keep asking is the right one: where are they coming from?
Kansas looks like one likely path to victory. That still leaves two more, and the two-game homestand against Arizona and Cincinnati now looms as a make-or-break stretch.
At minimum, the Mountaineers need to split those games. Go 0-2 there, and the bowl conversation probably ends right there.
There is still time for this to turn. The offense has enough talent to win a shootout or two.
But it’s going to come down to whether the defense can settle itself down and become something better than a total liability. If Zac Alley can sort out enough of the issues, West Virginia can still get there.
If not, the Mountaineers are staring at a finish that leaves them on the outside looking in.
In Other News...
West Virginias Cincinnati Weekend Is Turning Into A Program Showcase
West Virginias Oct. 17 home game against Cincinnati is getting a bigger stage, with the Big 12 announcing the matchup will air on TNT and also be simulcast on TruTV and HBO Max. For a program that has spent the fall trying to turn home dates into full-event weekends, it fits neatly with what is already building around the game in Morgantown.
The Mountaineers are layering in a Stripe the Stadium theme, group ticket packages for alumni and the induction of the 36th WVU Sports Hall of Fame class, while the Big 12 Fall Tour is also set to stop in town with a free kickoff concert on Oct. 10. It is the kind of calendar that gives the Cincinnati game more weight than just another conference Saturday, and West Virginia will be hoping the extra attention translates into a packed house and a lively atmosphere. [Read more 🡒]
West Virginia Mourns A Heartbreaking Loss In Its Recruiting Class
A heartbreaking loss struck West Virginias recruiting class on Monday morning when Chris Wilson, a senior at Yorktown High School and a committed defensive line recruit for the Mountaineers, was killed in a shooting. The incident remains under investigation, and authorities have not released additional details.
Yorktown High School principal Stacey Brewer issued a statement expressing condolences to Wilsons family and the school community while also confirming there is no threat to students or schools. For West Virginia, the news goes far beyond football, cutting into the lives of coaches, teammates and a program that had welcomed Wilson as part of its future. [Read more 🡒]
West Virginias Fast Start Is Reviving A Feeling Fans Missed
Five games into the season, West Virginias offense has given fans reason to flash back to one of the programs most beloved stretches. The comparison centers on Mike Hawkins Jr. and Cam Cook alongside Pat White and Steve Slaton from 2006, a season that still sits near the top of the Mountaineers modern memories because of how smoothly the quarterback-runback pairing fit together and how hard it was for defenses to sort out who was doing what.
The numbers are not identical, and the styles are not carbon copies, but the similarities are enough to make the conversation worth having. Hawkins Jr. and Cook have already drawn the kind of attention that comes when a backfield starts to feel layered and dangerous at the same time, with the passing and rushing production inviting side-by-side study rather than simple nostalgia. For West Virginia, the interesting part is not just the flash of a fast start, but whether it can sustain the kind of offensive rhythm that once made this pairing feel inevitable. [Read more 🡒]