Way-Too-Early Record Predictions for WVU Football in 2025

Tuesday morning, the Big 12 Conference revealed the 2025 football schedule for all sixteen of its members. Now that the schedule is officially out, we are ready to release our way-too-early record predictions for the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Here's what we're thinking as of today.
Schuyler Callihan: 7-5 (4-5)
Wins: Robert Morris, Ohio, Pitt, Kansas, UCF, TCU, Houston.
Losses: Utah, BYU, Colorado, Arizona State, Texas Tech.
Analysis: My feelings on this year's team could change drastically in one way or another after the Mountaineers go through spring ball, and we're able to get a decent read on where this team is and how close/far away they are from being a contender in the Big 12.
The excitement around the football program feels like it's at an all-time high because of the return of Rich Rod, and while fans have every right to be extremely optimistic, this group probably won't have a Curt Cignetti/Indiana type of year one. The first reason is the schedule. While it's still too early to tell who will be legitimately good, you can get a good idea by looking at what each team has coming back and what they've added through the portal.
Kansas and Utah will be better after each having a down year; Texas Tech has one of the best portal classes in the country, Arizona State and BYU each return a lot from teams that made the Big 12 Championship, and Colorado will likely remain explosive on offense despite losing Shedeur Sanders. Indiana played two ranked teams all season in 2024 and lost by double digits in both matchups. WVU isn't going to be that lucky with having a weak schedule.
As odd as it may sound, I expect the defense to not only be fixed but be ahead of the offense in year one. Yes, Rich Rod is an offensive mastermind, and he'll have things figured out at some point, but any time you have this much turnover on offense, it's going to take some time for that unit to build chemistry. It's a little easier, in my opinion, to rebuild a defense.
West Virginia will be competitive each week, but they'll fall short in some games where they're out-gunned. If the quarterback play is average at best, it's hard to see a scenario where they can reach more than my projected win total.
Christopher Hall: 7-5 (4-5)
Wins: Robert Morris, Ohio, Pitt, UCF, TCU, Colorado, Texas Tech.
Losses: Kansas, Utah, BYU, Houston, Arizona State.
Analysis: West Virginia has some pieces to maybe surprise some folks around college football this season, but the schedule is brutal. The positive this season is there is one less Power Four opponent than in the last four years.
On paper, the quarterback room looks promising with Nicco Marchiol returning to the program and Texas A&M transfer Jaylen Henderson committing in the offseason. At running back, Jahiem White has shown promise in his first two seasons but has yet to hit the 1,000-yard mark. There's also not much production at receiver either.
The defense is a rebuild, but I do believe Zac Alley will quickly turn it around with all the athletes he has available. The biggest hole right now is the defensive line, and they will need to win up front in some of the key matchups. Linebacker and safety play might be able to make up for some of the deficiencies.
Rich Rodriguez won nine games in his second season in his first stint, which was impressive considering players were not familiar with the spread option in that era. Now that defenses are well-equipped to handle spread offenses, it may be more of an uphill battle and the Mountaineers are not going to sneak up on anyone this time around.
This may be a rebuilding year, but again, this talented group may gel and string some wins together. Seven wins may be too optimistic, however, nine may not be out of the realm of possibility either.
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