The West Virginia Mountaineers could face some significant struggles with the latter portion of their 2026 football schedule.
We've broken down WVU football's upcoming schedule, which was released earlier this month, and we've highlighted plenty of favorable draws on the 2026 slate, which could help the Mountaineers get off to a hot start in Rich Rodriguez's second season.
However, there are also reasons to be wary of the upcoming schedule, and a recent stat highlighted by the official RedditCFB account on X, formerly known as Twitter, shows just how dangerous things could get for the Mountaineers.
West Virginia Tied For Second-Most Top 25 Opponents Among Power 4 Programs In 2026
The social media post in question highlights how many opponents each Power 4 team will face next year who finished the 2025 season ranked in the AP Top 25 poll. The team with the most such opponents scheduled in 2026 is the Ohio State Buckeyes, who will face six programs ranked in the season-ending AP Poll.
Next up are seven more teams with five ranked opponents on the upcoming schedule – and that group includes the Mountaineers. WVU is the only Big 12 team with five or more games against Top 25 teams on its 2026 slate, and is one of just four teams in the Big 12 (Arizona, Baylor, Cincinnati) with four or more such opponents.
Corrected to show how many AP Top *25* opponents from this past season each P4 has next year. Previous version inadvertently omitted #25 TCU. pic.twitter.com/sOzxGqojXn
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) January 28, 2026
The Mountaineers will face their first Top 25 opponent in the third week of the season as they face Virginia in nonconference play, who finished last season ranked No. 16. From there, the Mountaineers are safe from such opponents for over a month, before closing their season with five games against opponents that appeared in the final AP poll – No. 25 TCU, No. 22 Houston, No. 14 Utah, and No. 7 Texas Tech.
Of those four ranked foes in the final five-game stretch of the season, three of the contests will also be road games. So while the Mountaineers have a strong opportunity to best their 2025 record before they even hit the midway point of the year, the season could come crashing down if the Mountaineers aren't prepared for a doozy of a schedule to close the season.