College Football Analyst Makes Absurd WVU Record Prediction You Won’t Believe

Predictions for the West Virginia Mountaineers in year two of Rich Rodriguez's return to Morgantown are now officially all over the place.

Earlier this month, we heard ESPN's Stanford Steve pick WVU to make the Big 12 title game, and on Wednesday, a prediction was made by On3's Jake Crain that might be more unrealistic than Stanford Steve's.

West Virginia, Take Me Home…to 3-9, and 1-8 (in the Big 12)," Crain said. No explanation. Just 3-9 with a little mocking of West Virginians' favorite song while rattling through the predictions of every Big 12 team. His co-hosts, Blain Crane and David Cone, have WVU going 4-8 and 6-6, respectively.

What is the thinking behind this? Like seriously?

Everyone in the media business, for the most part, understands the reach that West Virginia has. If you talk about the Mountaineers, positively or negatively, it's going to get eyeballs. Now, I won't go as far as saying this prediction was made simply to tick WVU fans off and create more engagement because I don't know what went into the prediction.

That being said, I really don't know how one can look at WVU's roster and schedule and think they will win one additional game past the first two weeks.

This team is night and day better than what they had a year ago, and that group, with less talent and a much more challenging schedule, won four games.

They upgraded at quarterback, revamped the entire offensive line, have the nation's leading rusher in the backfield, and several weapons at wide receiver. The offense alone is good enough to surpass last year's win total.

Do you happen to know the last time the Mountaineers failed to reach four wins in a single season? No? You have to go all the way back to Rich Rodriguez's first year in his first stint in 2001. Before that? 1978. So in the last 60 years, it's only happened three times.

Again, this all goes back to folks looking at the number of returning starters, players lost/added to/from the transfer portal, and assuming that because the big roster flip flopped last year, it will happen again in 2026. You can go position by position and see improvement in talent and depth across the board, and that's on both sides of the ball.

Could WVU have a disappointing year and fall short of a bowl game, winning just five? Yes. But three? Come on, now.

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