West Virginia’s bowl picture shifted again in the latest round of projections, and the Mountaineers are now showing up in a handful of different spots after their first loss of the season.
CBSSports has WVU headed to Houston for the Kinder's Texas Bowl, where it would face Auburn on Dec. 31. That’s a change from the previous projection, which had the Mountaineers meeting Minnesota in the Cactus Bowl.
ESPN’s Kyle Bonagura sees a different path, slotting West Virginia into the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana, against Oregon State on Dec. 22. That projection replaces Auburn in the Texas Bowl.
Mark Schlabach’s ESPN projection sends WVU to the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas, against New Mexico on Dec. 23. That’s a switch from UCLA in the Independence Bowl.
AthlonSports kept West Virginia in the same spot it had before, matching the Mountaineers with Auburn in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee, on Jan. 2.
CollegeFootballNews has WVU in the Cactus Bowl in Tempe, Arizona, against Wisconsin on Dec. 26, moving off a previous matchup with Army in the Armed Forces Bowl.
The Big 12 bowl order for this season runs, after the College Football Playoff selections, from the Valero Alamo Bowl to the Pop-Tarts Bowl, then the Kinder's Texas Bowl, the AutoZone Liberty Bowl, the Cactus Bowl and the Radiance Technologies Independence Bowl.
That setup still has some extra moving parts because of the Pac 12 Legacy Bowl Tie-Ins. Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah are tied to the Valero Alamo Bowl along with the Big 12, as well as the Las Vegas Bowl, the Holiday Bowl and the Tony the Tiger Sun bowl.
West Virginia is 17-24 all-time in bowl games and has won only three since joining the Big 12 Conference. Neal Brown’s teams beat North Carolina in the 2023 Duke's Mayo Bowl and Army in the 2020 AutoZone Liberty Bowl. Before that, the program’s only Big 12 bowl win came in the 43-42 victory over Arizona State in the 2016 Cactus Bowl.
The Mountaineers have been to the Liberty Bowl three times and are 1-2 there, with losses to Texas A&M in 2014 and Utah in 1964. They have also appeared in the Cheez-It Bowl three times and are 1-2 in that game.
The Cheez-It Bowl used to be the Cactus Bowl, where WVU beat Arizona State, and it is now the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. That same bowl history also includes a loss to Missouri in the Insight.com Bowl in 1998.
West Virginia’s only other First Responder Bowl appearance came in 2017, when the game was still called the Heart of Dallas Bowl, and the Mountaineers fell 30-14 to Utah.
In Other News...
WVUs Tennessee Game Carries A Charlotte Edge Fans Know Well
West Virginias 2028 trip to Charlotte just moved up a week, with the Mountaineers and Tennessee now set to meet on Aug. 26 as part of the Dukes Mayo Classic. The change from the original Sept. 2 date follows the broader shift in the college football calendar beginning next season, and it keeps one of the more notable neutral-site matchups on the books at a venue that has become familiar territory for the program.
Charlotte carries a bit of extra meaning for West Virginia, too, and athletic director Wren Baker pointed to the citys value as a neutral site for the Mountaineers. For fans, it is the kind of schedule tweak that does not change the opponent or the stage, but does sharpen the anticipation around a game already carrying plenty of early-season intrigue. [Read more 🡒]
Iowa State Faces A Bigger Problem Than Just Bouncing Back
West Virginia and Iowa State both enter Saturday in Ames carrying the sting of recent home losses, which gives this matchup a little more edge than a typical Big 12 meeting. Rich Rodriguez has already had to sort through what went wrong for the Mountaineers, while Jimmy Rogers is doing the same on the other sideline, with both coaches acknowledging the challenges that come with getting a team reset in a hurry.
The ground game could end up shaping the tone, with Cam Cook giving West Virginia a dangerous option and Aiden Flora bringing the same kind of punch for the Cyclones. If Iowa State is going to put its recent disappointment behind it, it will have to do so against a West Virginia group that knows it can make life difficult in a hurry, and that makes the response in Ames feel like more than just a routine bounce-back spot. [Read more 🡒]
Zac Alley Sees One Urgent Fix For WVUs Defensive Collapse
West Virginias defensive problems were front and center after the loss to Oklahoma State, and Zac Alley did not try to dress them up. The defensive coordinator said the unit has work to do in both preparation and execution, a blunt assessment for a group that has spent too much time chasing plays instead of setting the tone. His message pointed less to one bad quarter than to a larger issue with how the defense is being put in position to succeed.
Alley said the fix starts with cleaner technique, a simpler scheme and more rotation so players can keep their legs under them as the season moves forward. He also touched on individual development, noting that some guys are still being evaluated on readiness for the next stretch of games. For West Virginia, the challenge now is turning that self-scouting into something tangible before the defensive slide becomes a bigger problem. [Read more 🡒]