WVU's 2026 Schedule Features Three Preseason Top 25 Opponents

West Virginia's 2026 schedule is certainly more manageable than what they had to go through in 2025, but the month of November is going to be a gauntlet, facing three ranked teams.

On Monday, the preseason AP Top 25 poll was released, ranking four Big 12 teams. The only one the Mountaineers won't play is No. 14 BYU. It's also worth noting that WVU's Week 3 opponent, Virginia, is listed in the "receiving votes" category.

Let's take a look at WVU's three games against preseason Top 25 teams.

November 7th at No. 12 Texas Tech

Texas Tech's Joey McGuire looks on during football practice, Monday, Aug. 10, 2026, at the Womble Football Center. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

The Mountaineers will lose more than one game in 2026, but this is still the only one I look at and think, "Yeah, that's a loss." Every other game on the schedule is winnable. This one, not so much. Even without Brendan Sorsby, the Red Raiders have more than enough to contend for a Big 12 title and much more. Will Hammond is a talented quarterback in his own right, and to be honest, I'm not sure Sorsby would have made that much bigger of an impact. Playing this one on the road makes it even more likely that WVU loses this game, but hey, crazy things happen all the time in college football.

November 21st vs. No. 23 Houston

Jul 7, 2026; Frisco, TX, USA; Houston head coach Willie Fritz speaks to reporters during Big 12 Conference Football Media Days at The Star. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Cougars more than doubled their win total last year, finishing the season with nine wins. I wonder how much of that was due to their fairly weak schedule, though. Regardless, they have one of the oldest teams in the country entering the 2026 season with a total of 32,249 career snaps, which ranks third-most in all of FBS. Willie Fritz will always have a pretty salty defense, and at times last year, they showed the ability to have a high-powered offense with Conner Weigman operating the show.

November 27th at No. 21 Utah

It's going to be odd not seeing Kyle Whittingham strolling the sidelines for Utah, and even more odd to see him doing it at Michigan. Morgan Scalley is his replacement and has been the coach-in-waiting for a while now. It's not your typical head coaching change where there is so much attrition with the roster, mainly because Scalley has been in place as the defensive coordinator and has been on staff at Utah since 2007. All that being said, the Utes are among the most inexperienced teams in the Big 12 this season, so it may not be as seamless a transition as they would like, even with QB Devon Dampier back.

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