National analysts select West Virginia football as long-shot Big 12 Champion pick

Many national college football experts are warming up to the idea that West Virginia football could be a contender for the Big 12 Conference in 2024, and a pair of analysts from one of the sport’s biggest podcasts tossed the Mountaineers some love earlier this week.

The Cover 3 Podcast from CBS Sports routinely takes questions from its fanbase, and on Thursday hosts Chip Patterson and Tom Fornelli fielded a question on which power conference teams at 15-1 odds or worse to win their league would be most likely to end the season as a conference champion.

The two big names tossed about for the Big 12 were Arizona and West Virginia, and while Fornelli quickly gravitated the conversation towards the Wildcats, he quickly doubled back to show WVU some love.

“You know what, West Virginia is a team I think is getting a little slept on too,” Fornelli said. “I’m not picking them (to win the league), but I just think WV might be a beneficiary of this new look Big 12 where it's going to be kind of coin flippy and a couple plays can decide games.”

Patterson also noted that he feels as if Neal Brown and his staff are building some momentum under-the-radar based on how the past 12 months have turned out for the Mountaineers.

“There’s a quiet confidence building inside that program, from the way that last season started, the way that last season finished, they got a lot of those pieces back for this year,” he said. “I never have thought in recent years that West Virginia was a pushover.”

Patterson went on to describe WVU’s performance under the Neal Brown tenure in unique and slightly explicit terms in regards to the challenge they bring for Big 12 opponents.

They’ve been a pain in the ass team, for a lot of seasons,” he said. “You weren’t always positive that they had that extra gear to be able to go over the top on you. It’ll be interesting -- being a pain in the ass in the Big 12 can get you eight, nine wins.”

And while Fornelli was clear in his assertion he didn’t think WVU would actually end the season as Big 12 champs, he doesn’t expect them to struggle too much this season.

I can see West Virginia being better than people expect,” he said.