Wren Baker's Tweet Perfectly Describes WVU's Wild Win at UCF

For whatever reason, no matter the sport, the West Virginia Mountaineers love to take their fans through the wringer. Through all of the disappointment and times when things look bleak, the fan base always clings to a sliver of hope that just maybe things will break their way.

Last night's game against UCF was a perfect example of that. The Mountaineers trailed by as many as fourteen in the second half, the offense couldn't buy a shot, and they were turning the ball over at an alarming rate coming out of the locker room.

Ross Hodge called a timeout to settle things down, and all of a sudden, they started to string together some stops, saw some shots go down, and not only made it a game, but ended up winning the contest by seven. The heart, the fight, and the determination matched that blue-collar work ethic that West Virginians pride themselves on.

Shortly after the final buzzer, WVU athletic director Wren Baker shared a piece of a quote from ESPN's Scott Van Pelt that fit last night's game perfectly.

Let’s Go! 👇 still true! pic.twitter.com/uc9m7UpK93
— Wren Baker (@wrenbaker) February 15, 2026

The full quote from 2024

“This is going to sound like it’s not a compliment, but it’s a compliment. In a horror movie, like Freddie Kruger, Jason, or Michael Myers…can’t kill ‘em. No matter what you do to them, you can’t break their spirit and you can’t kill ‘em. Knock ‘em down a hundred times, they’ll get up a hundred and one. Dust themselves off, where’s a cold beer? Let’s go Mountaineers, let’s go drink some beers! And what time’s kickoff? What time’s the jump ball? What time’s the first pitch? Mountaineer fans…built for it. And some day they’re going to win something big and when they do you talk about a parade in sunrise, buddy, I got news for ya. When the Mountaineers win a ‘chip in something big, they might just go annex states and go guess what? You know how we got these weird lines in our state? No, not anymore. This is ours! We claim all of this country as ours, we won it. That’s it. The whole country, now West Virginia."

West Virginia had a strong turnout at the game last night and actually helped make an impact on the game. So much so that even Hodge made it a point to bring it up in his postgame press conference. “It was incredible. I am biased because I’m the head coach here, but it really is one of the best fanbases in the country. Tony Caridi is our radio guy, and he always says it. He’s like, ‘Hey man, we show up.’ It’s always nice when you can reward your fanbase for showing up like they do. It was 70/30 probably, 65/35 UCF to West Virginia, but on the road it was awesome.”

The full quote from 2024

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