Nick Saban, Kirk Herbstreit are waking up to what West Virginia fans already knew

The West Virginia Mountaineers are 3-0 and entering whatcould be their biggest home game in yearson Saturday against Oklahoma State. If they win, it's likely they'll find themselves ranked in the AP Top 25 for the first time since 2018. And it seems the national media is finally buying up their West Virginia football stock.

West Virginia native and legendary college football coach Nick Saban, who works as an analyst on College GameDay, made an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Friday, and he stated his belief that West Virginia footballcould contend for the Big 12 Championshipbefore picking West Virginia to beat Oklahoma State, saying the Mountaineers have a "hell of a chance to win."

“I think there’s a lot of teams in the Big 12 that actually have a chance, and I think West Virginia, obviously, is one of the teams that’s a little bit of a surprise," Saban said.

National media begins to see WVU football as Big 12 contender, Mike Hawkins Jr. as a top-tier quarterback

This comes after Kirk Herbstreit – who is notorious among West Virginia's fan base for going against the Mountaineers – appeared on The Pat McAfee Show earlier this week and praised West Virginia's win this past weekend,finding himself particularly impressedwith how quarterback Mike Hawkins Jr. performed.

"Incredible games across the board, and I’m not just saying this because of Pat, but West Virginia had a massive win, and they got a quarterback in Hawkins, coming over from Oklahoma," Herbstreit said. "I don’t want to compare him to Pat White, but when Rich Rod has a guy that can run and throw like this, it’s so much fun to watch."

After West Virginia's upset win over the Virginia Cavaliers last weekend in Charlotte. West Virginia alum Pat McAfee was the first to hop on the bandwagon. Well, he had already been on the bandwagon, but he certainlyfelt a lot more comfortable proclaimingthat "West Virginia is all the way back" after that win.

Of course, West Virginia fan were already waking up to the fact that the Mountaineers were looking like a much different team this year. Despite entering as a double-digit underdog against Virginia, WVU fans seemed relatively confident in the team's ability to beat the Cavaliers.

Of course, it was hard to tell just how much West Virginia had improved by watching them play against Coastal Carolina and UT-Martin in the first two weeks of the season. But it was very clear to most fans this team was much better than last year's team, as well as many from the Neal Brown era. It was also clear that Hawkins Jr. looked like an elite talent. Fans were just waiting for it all come together against Power 4 competition.

And it did exactly that. And now, with Hawkins Jr.playing like the best quarterback in the countryand the Mountaineers riding a wave of momentum into Saturday night's massive showdown against the Cowboys, it appears the rest of the national media is buying their West Virginia stocks before the price rises any higher.

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