This 2026 WVU Football Record Projection Won't Age Well

No one is expecting the West Virginia Mountaineers to contend for a Big 12 title in 2026, but they also won't be among the worst teams in the league, although that seems to be the perception from most outsiders.

CBS Sports' Brad Crawford released his game-by-game predictions for every team in the Big 12 and has the Mountaineers finishing with a miserable 4-8 (2-7) mark, collecting wins over Coastal Carolina, UT Martin, Cincinnati, and Kansas.

"Rich Rodriguez 2.0 hits Year 2 in Morgantown, and like many other Big 12 teams, a complete roster overhaul took place this offseason. Rodriguez is still figuring out what works and what doesn't with the Mountaineers, who need to take advantage of a soft early-season schedule, since November is brutal. Handing top transfer running back Cam Cook as many touches as possible feels like a great place to be if the offensive line obliges."

This isn't the same roster overhaul for West Virginia...

A year ago, Rich Rodriguez brought in well over 80 new players, 30 of whom didn't arrive until AFTER spring ball. They had no idea who their starting quarterback would be, repping as many as five guys at the start of fall camp. The offensive line was extremely inexperienced, and they had nothing working for them at receiver outside of Cam Vaughn.

This year, West Virginia was much more intentional about the 80-some new faces they brought in because they had "a lot more time and a little more money," as Rich Rod repeatedly said at Big 12 media days.

They have their answer at QB with Mike Hawkins Jr., landed the nation's leading rusher in Cam Cook, and have arguably one of the best offensive lines in the Big 12, quality depth at receiver, and a few playmakers in the front seven on defense.

That core finishing with the same exact record as last year's bunch? Yeah, that's not happening.

The other piece of this is the schedule, which is much more manageable, particularly at the beginning of the year. They will almost certainly be 2-0 for the first time since 2018, and if they can takedown Virginia in Charlotte, they'll return to Morgantown for a jam-packed Big 12 opener against Oklahoma State and first-year head coach Eric Morris.

They'll have tough tests against Arizona and TCU, but things don't get super challenging in conference play until the month of November rolls around.

For whatever reason, the massive roster turnover has a lot of folks believing it's going to be the same story from the Mountaineers. Not every roster flip of that size is equal. The caliber of talent they acquired in this portal class is light-years better than what they were able to land last year. It won't take long for everyone to realize this team is much improved.

Add us as a preferred source on Google