WVU’s 2026 Schedule Released: Brutal Games, Easy Breaks + Our Early Predictions

Year two of the Rich Rodriguez era (2.0) will be here before you know it, and this morning, the Big 12 Conference revealed the schedule for each of its 16 members. The non-conference portion of the schedule has been set, and we knew who WVU would face in league play, and where. We just didn't know when. Now, we know it all.

The 2026 WVU Football Schedule

Sep. 5: vs. Coastal Carolina

Sep. 12: vs. UT-Martin

Sep. 19: vs. Virginia (in Charlotte, NC)

Sep. 26: vs. Oklahoma State

Oct. 3: at Iowa State

Oct. 10: vs. Arizona

Oct. 17: vs. Cincinnati

Oct. 24: at TCU

BYE WEEK

Nov. 7: at Texas Tech

Nov. 14: vs. Kansas

Nov. 21: vs. Houston

Nov. 28: at Utah

Toughest stretch of games (in Big 12)

Call me crazy, but I'm not including the road trip to Lubbock here. For one, that's a given, and two, they do have a bye heading into that game, which should help to some degree. Instead, I'm going with the final two games of the year — a home game against Houston and a road trip to Utah to wrap things up.

The Cougars won nine games this season and have the top quarterback in the country, Keisean Henderson, joining them. Willie Fritz has that program in a great spot, and they're only going to continue to get better as long as he's there. Beating Utah at their place is a tough thing to do, and by that point, first-year head coach Morgan Scalley will have his team humming and will have 11 games of head coaching experience under his belt.

Easiest stretch of games (in Big 12)

The first half of the schedule. In those first four games, the Mountaineers will face two first-year coaches in Eric Morris (Oklahoma State) and Jimmy Rogers (Iowa State), in addition to a pair of home games against Arizona and Cincinnati. The Wildcats will be the toughest customer of the bunch, and if certain things break right, they could be in the conversation for the Big 12 title, thanks to the return of dynamic QB Noah Fifita. If West Virginia flounders in this part of the schedule, it's a major red flag.

Way-too-early record prediction

Wins: Coastal Carolina, UT-Martin, Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Cincinnati, Kansas

Losses: Virginia, Arizona, TCU, Texas Tech, Houston, Utah

I'm back-and-forth on the neutral site game against UVA. It's a winnable game for sure, but Tony Elliott finally has that program heading in the right direction. I initially had WVU winning, and there's a strong change I flip back to that before game week, but I tend to be a little too optimistic, overshooting the win total by a game or two. So instead of picking 7-5, I'll make the adjustment to be more conservative here and say 6-6.

The truth of it is, we won't know how good (or bad) this team is until we get our first look at them in spring ball. Even then, there will still be a bunch of question marks.

The 2026 WVU Football Schedule

Toughest stretch of games (in Big 12)

Easiest stretch of games (in Big 12)

Way-too-early record prediction

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