After moving to 4-0 on the season, it’s time to start taking seriously the West Virginia Mountaineers as a Big 12 contender. Maybe even more than that?
For the last few years, the Big 12 has belonged to the Oklahoma Sooners. They have won the conference three years in a row. While Oklahoma looks to be the best team in the Big 12, their biggest threat in-conference is a legitimate one in the West Virginia Mountaineers.
West Virginia has improved to 4-0 on the season, after knocking off the No. 25 Texas Tech Red Raiders down in Lubbock 42-34 on in Week 5. Headlined by Heisman hopeful quarterback Will Grier, this looks to be the best team head coach Dana Holgorsen has had in Morgantown since West Virginia joined the Big 12 in 2012.
The Mountaineers were the No. 12 team in the land, but could see themselves in the top-10 maybe as early as next week. West Virginia already has two conference wins on the year over the Kansas State Wildcats last week and Texas Tech on Saturday. Their two other wins are against the SEC’s Tennessee Volunteers over in Charlotte and a home win versus the FCS Youngstown State Penguins.
Though getting their road game against the ACC’s North Carolina State Wolfpack canceled in Raleigh due to Hurricane Florence could hurt them down the road, how sure are we that West Virginia can’t challenge Oklahoma as the best team in the Big 12?
Oklahoma struggled at home against the Army Black Knights in Week 4. At the very least, West Virginia has shown that its offense can hang with anybody. Again, it helps having a seasoned veteran in Grier leading the charge on offense.
The Big 12 only has two undefeated teams left: Oklahoma and West Virginia. The Texas Longhorns do have one loss on the year, but that was a neutral-site affair against the Maryland Terrapins of the Big Ten at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland. And Texas plays arch rival Oklahoma next week at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
So someone is going to lose next week in the Red River Rivalry. There is a chance that West Virginia is the last undefeated team in the Big 12 through Week 6. That and a few more wins in the coming weeks could have West Virginia well inside the top-10 by November.
However, there does lie a problem for West Virginia, which has often plagued the Mountaineers: their conference schedule is terrifyingly back-loaded. Their last four games are at Texas, home versus the TCU Horned Frogs, at the Oklahoma State Cowboys and at home versus, you guessed it, Oklahoma.
Frankly, West Virginia SHOULD be 7-0 once they get past the Kansas Jayhawks, the Iowa State Cyclones and the Baylor Bears in October. Yes, their last month is absolutely brutal, but this team is brimming with confidence behind their star quarterback Grier.
Overall, it’s not unreasonable to say that West Virginia is the likeliest candidate to play Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship in Arlington in December. Interestingly enough, by getting the Sooners at home in the last game of the regular season, the Mountaineers have the potential to plant a seed in Oklahoma’s head.
Should they beat Oklahoma twice in succession, that might be enough of a résumé boost to offset the canceled North Carolina State game and propel West Virginia to its first College Football Playoff. Obviously, November is a huge month for the Mountaineers. Though still a month out, we can’t ignore what Holgorsen’s bunch has done in September. As of a now, they are a legitimate College Football Playoff contender, in case you didn’t know.