Last year was supposed to be a glorious return to West Virginia forthe prodigal son Rich Rodriguez, who had previously guided his alma mater to some of their highest peaks in program history two decades prior. But things did not go exactly as planned.
While there were some great moments, there were many more difficulties, and WVU football would end up finishing just 4-8 overall, missing the postseason for the first time since 2022. But that disappointing result came in part due to the program struggling with injuries and a complete roster rebuild under a new head coach.
This offseason did unfortunately feature another major rebuild due to a heavy senior presence last year, but Rodriguez did lay the foundation for his second tenure and seems much happier with what he has to work with entering this fall. So what is the ceiling (and the floor) for the West Virginia Mountaineers in 2026?
Ceiling: 8-4
It's difficult to see the Mountaineers reeling off a miracle campaign with double-digit wins and a potential conference championship. But there are winnable games on the schedule. In this scenario, the team needs to take advantage of a schedule front-loaded with easier opponents.
But there is a reality where West Virginia starts off 6-1, and that makes an eight-win season feasible despite the quite difficult back-end slate that features Houston, Texas Tech, and Utah.
Floor: 5-7
The good news here is that it's unlikely things get quite as bad as they were last season for the Mountaineers. But the bad news is that there is a legitimate possibility West Virginia misses bowl season for a second consecutive year if things don't click.
Virginia and Arizona are coming off impress seasons. TCU and Kansas both beat West Virginia last year. Oklahoma State is one of the teams alongside the Mountaineers being considered a potential Big 12 turnaround team. If you drop four of those five, which is a real possibility, and also lose the three toughest games on the schedule, the Mountaineers could be at home in December once again.
Add us as a preferred source on Google