West Virginia Lands a Head-Scratching Big 12 & National Ranking

The love for West Virginia this preseason isn't going to be there, just like it wasn't this time a year ago ahead of Rich Rodriguez's first season back in Morgantown. Everyone expects this team to struggle once again and be far from being a true player in the Big 12. It doesn't mean the pundits are right, but that's going to be the consensus from those on the national level.

CBS Sports is among the growing list of doubters, recently pegging West Virginia as the 15th-best team in the Big 12, ranking 70th in all of college football.

How they see the Big 12 (national ranking)

1. Texas Tech (No. 9)
2. BYU (No. 15)
3. Utah (No. 22)
4. Houston (No. 27)
5. Arizona (No. 29)
6. Kansas State (No. 30)
7. TCU (No. 34)
8. Arizona State (No. 39)
9. Baylor (No. 50)
10. Iowa State (No. 54)
11. Cincinnati (No. 55)
12. Kansas (No. 56)
13. Oklahoma State (No. 60)
14. UCF (No. 65)
15. West Virginia (No. 70)
16. Colorado (No. 73)

Fifteenth??? No, like, seriously???

This is a prime example of those on the outside not truly knowing what West Virginia has in its building. The quarterback play is going to be significantly better; they'll have an offensive line that isn't made of Swiss cheese, more playmakers at the wide receiver position, and oh yeah, the nation's leading rusher, Cam Cook, plugging into an offense made for elite backs.

I get it, though. It's easy to look at the number of departures combined with the lack of experience at certain positions and think that this is going to be another brutal year. But as you and I well know, there's a reason Rich Rodriguez flipped this roster for the second time in as many years. What he had a year ago just wasn't good enough to compete in the Big 12.

They took on a bunch of seniors and then rolled the dice with a slew of players from the lower levels, many of whom were unproven. Rodriguez had no choice due to being behind the 8-ball in the transfer portal. He cut bait with many of those players and replaced them with a top 25 high school recruiting class and a top 25 transfer portal class.

West Virginia still has a long way to go before they are where they want to be, but the caliber of player they were able to get this year, compared to last, is in a whole other stratosphere. This group will be competitive and be in a good spot to become bowl eligible. Finishing behind Iowa State, Cincinnati, Kansas, and UCF? I doubt it.

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