Don't look now, but WVU football might have a little bit more gas in the tank than previously thought.
If you asked West Virginia fans after the blowout loss to UCF during the bye week, many felt like the season was a lost cause. UCF appeared to be the most winnable game on the schedule and was set up perfectly following a bye week.
Since then, the Mountaineers are 2-1 (and had a chance to be 3-0) and, after Saturday's win against Colorado, are now on a two-game winning streak that has them sitting 4-6 on the season. Next week, they will travel to Arizona State, down starting quarterback Sam Leavitt for the season and forced to get ready for a game that will take place at 11 AM local time. And if the Mountaineers can win that, they'll host Texas Tech at home off a bye week with the opportunity to play their way into bowl eligibility after losing six of their first eight games.
"Our guys are battling back a little bit, and I told them, this is the first time I've mentioned it to them. But believe it or not, we've still got a chance to go to a bowl game," head coach Rich Rodriguez said during his press conference. "We've got to win out, but you're telling me there's a chance? There's a chance."
Rich Rodriguez on WVU's postseason hopes: "It was the first time I talked to the guys about it, but we still have a chance to make a bowl game." pic.twitter.com/zk648wMzWh
— Joe Smith (@joesmithwrites) November 8, 2025
The path ahead isn't easy to make the postseason, but it got easier with the injury to Leavitt and the early local time kickoff for Arizona State, and with the Texas Tech clash set to come inside Milan Puskar Stadium
But with the momentum of a winning streak now behind them and the taste of what celebrating victory feels like after so many consecutive losses, Rodriguez thinks that might help keep his team motivated headed into the final two-game stretch of the regular season.
"A few weeks ago we started practicing with a little more authority, I think. I don't want these guys to – sometimes, they look like it's a job...I don't want them to treat it like a job, I want them to treat it like a game. They need to enjoy playing, and there's nothing better than a winning locker room. You can go down there right now, those guys are dancing and singing and hugging each other," Rodriguez said.
"hat's my whole point, is that it's a game and when you win the game, you celebrate and you have fun. Hopefully the last couple of weeks they've been able to do that, and there's two more opportunities so we'll see what happens."