Phil Steele's Outlook for WVU's First Seven Games Will Turn Heads

The Mountaineers have a golden opportunity to get out to a red-hot start.

WVU Athletics Communications

So much of a team ripping off a bunch of wins and having a special season comes down to who is on your schedule, when you play them, and where you play them.

We saw it just a couple of years ago when Indiana, in Curt Cignetti's first year, took advantage of an incredibly weak schedule and made it to the College Football Playoff. They built on that success by winning the national championship the very next year. That incredible season gained the attention of recruits, but more importantly, the attention of a higher tier of players in the transfer portal.

Reaching the playoffs may be a bit out of reach for West Virginia in 2026, largely because their schedule isn't nearly as kind as Indiana's was in 2024, but it is more favorable than the one they had a year ago.

College football expert Phil Steele agrees, seeing a potential path to a red-hot start for the Mountaineers this fall.

“If you look at the Big 12 schedules, West Virginia actually drew the second-toughest schedule this year in the fact that they have to play Texas Tech, Houston, Arizona, Utah, TCU, so they play a bunch of the big boys in the Big 12. However, I agree with you 100%. It is a much more manageable schedule," he said on our most recent episode of the In The Gun Podcast.

“Believe it or not, in West Virginia’s first seven games this year, I have them favored in six. The only game I don’t I’ve got them a three-point dog against Virginia. A big thing with teams, and I’ve noticed this especially in the era of the transfer portal, early success — all of a sudden they start believing, they buy into what’s going on, and you become a better and better team. I think that can happen with West Virginia, so I’ve picked West Virginia a lot higher than everybody else based on that, and then when I went through it in the summer, going game-by-game, I’m pretty pumped about the start of the season. But like you said, not so pumped about the month of November. I’ve got them as an underdog in a couple of games there.”

What if Phil is spot-on here?

WVU Athletics Communications

If West Virginia opens the season 6-1, I think it's safe to assume that the Mountaineers will have a number next to their name for the first time in eight years. More importantly, they would be right in the thick of the Big 12 title conversation with their only loss coming to Virginia in a non-conference matchup.

The final five games would be at TCU, at Texas Tech, vs. Kansas, vs. Houston, and at Utah. WVU will likely be favored against Kansas and potentially Houston, since it's at home. Even if things "fall apart" down the stretch and the Mountaineers go 2-3 in these five, they would still finish with an 8-4 record, which, in my book, would be a massive success, as I outlined in my dream scenario this morning.

Just getting to 5-2 or 6-1 would be great for the program and give a major boost to the fans' interest/optimism for the future. It's been a while since WVU fans could thoroughly enjoy fall Saturdays, and rattling off that many wins to begin the year would certainly allow them to do so.