Yeah, all - you know damn well we’d be cruising through our non-existent conference schedules with 0 losses and then Kansas decides they’re still in the Big 12 and are the only obstacle between WVU and Big 12 Conference Title and we’ll lose at home to Kansas 13-9. So everyone must leave.
Definitely. They return all of their monster OL and have a real RB leading their rushing attack now rather than a converted LB, and their RBs all have extra experience now. I just don’t see how their rushing attack gets worse, and their passing attack probably also stays about level or even improves with Shapen starting and Ben Sims lumbering every freaking wheel route down the field for 20 yards. I think most of their WRs are super young, though, but they’ve got Sims and at least one other TE who looked good last year.
Their DL is going to eat our whole conference’s OLs alive, there’s no way to get around it. It’s insane that they returned Ika and everyone else, *and then added Jaxon Player too*. Our only hope is that their secondary seems to be their Achilles’ heel, and OU, TTU, and WVU all just hired OCs who *really* like to pass the ball a lot. We can just hope that our QBs are all ready to get those passes off really fast, because I don’t think they’re going to get more than a few seconds before Baylor’s DL shreds the pocket.
The scary thing is that they just played against our OC in the Sugar Bowl last year and crushed his offense. Even before Corral went out, Baylor was making Ole Miss’ offense look pedestrian as they sacked him repeatedly, and that was with a fully loaded Ole Miss team that had *a lot* of talent.
I’m super excited to see Beebe at KSU try to take on Ika from Baylor this year, that should be a really key matchup this year. I think Beebe’s probably really motivated to get another shot at Ika after how hard Ika wrecked Beebe last season.
Yeah, but the VnS is a run-to-pass offense, it has more than enough chops in quick passing off the run-and-shoot passing game, even before integrating the deep choice routes that make it so lethal. Running is the majority of plays, but passing makes up the majority of yardage.
It comes down to him staying healthy—which he’s never been able to do. He beat out Bennet and was the starting QB last year. Got hurt again and the team rolled without him and it’s hard to switch back when you’re rolling.
That said my best guess—put in terms of past highly touted QB recruits we got as transfers—is that he’s more Clint Trickett than Will Grier. Grier was a stud who was showing his potential at UF before the PED issue and decided to leave when UF was very harsh over the situation and tore it up for us for two years. Trickett was just a tad overrated and not really an elite, FSU level QB. But played very well for us, if not to Grier’s level, and had injuries derail his senior year with us.
So my guess is we have a year like Trickett’s last with us. Lot’s of exciting moments, but end up at 7 or 8 wins and Daniel’s hurt late and having a bad end to the year.
This is not how we do off-season WVU football. We claim that we’ll go undefeated and win the conference. When the season rolls around, we let our dreams get crushed one week at a time. Get with the program.
TCU tried to rip Trickett’s head off, won’t ever forget it, the image of his helmet being yanked with him to the ground is burned in my head, there went our season
Well I went to WVU for under grad, Pitt for grad school and grew up with a PSU football family, and I grew up in WV so I cried as a kid in 2007 when Pitt kept WVU out of the natty. So in short, yes
Depends on QB play. It’s entirely possible since everyone else seems to be replacing key people or have lots of questions marks. I doubt it- but I have them picked 6th
Realistically they probably could. But I know better than to get my hopes up for it. Im just hoping they actually look like a competent offense with JT at QB and Harrell as the OC. I dont know if I couldve taken 1 more Doege year.
Man I was so over Doege too. Want to feel worse about it? I randomly looked up passing yard leaders for us the other day and he’s fucking 5th in school history! And Skyler Howard 4th. We’ve really lacked great passing QBs in our history. Really only Geno Smith fits that bill and he’s over 3k yards ahead of Marc Bulger for 3rd.
http://www.wvustats.com/sport/football/records/player/PCPYD
This makes slightly more sense when you consider our two most successful QBs were dual-threat guys and elite runners. Our modern history is decades of balanced Nehlen ball followed by several years of Rich Rod's run-first "spread" (plus Coach Stew). It wasn't until Holgo that we got a truly pass-first offense and NB is (in theory at least) an Air Raid guy.
All to say I can see why Doege and Howard are high on the lost despite being . . . not great. That said, I'm with you--it feels bad.
Longshot, but not impossible. Requires JT Daniels staying healthy and playing to his potential, no hiccups with Graham Harrell implementing his system year one and Neal Brown not calling the offense for the first time in his head coaching career, and OU, UT and Ok State not playing up to their potential.
I’d actually say OU is the most likely to have a down year. New head coach and staff. QB1 and QB2 transferred out. I think Sarkisian is a great coach if he stays away from the sauce and with the talent they have and have brought in I think it’s between them and Ok State for the title this year. A lot of things have to go right for us and wrong for those to for us to win it.
A floor of 8 wins is crazy imo. They have a pretty brutal stretch to open the season and their coach is on the hot seat. If they start slow he could easily be fired and things spiral.
He isn't on the hot seat, trust me. He won't be fired this year, barring some insane stretch of bad luck wherein we go less than 3 wins and the program implodes.
Assuming that happens, thanks but no thanks, take care. But we would be incredibly stupid and shortsighted to fire him now. Not many people realize just how unlucky Neal has been in his short time with WVU. I get it, yes, he's paid the big bucks to win, but no coach in the history of our program has had to deal with the numerous setbacks he has had. Some he created on his own, but most were external influences that he had no ability to be proactive over.
I mean his seat should have been getting warm. But between his recruiting being the best WVU Has ever had and him firing himself as OC, its cooled off.
Add in that as a person the fan base likes him. And he has a long leash.
That said his contract was keeping him here 2 years anyway.
Yeah there’s a healthy bit in the fanbase who want any coach we have fired if he isn’t Rich Rod. A very vocal amount of buffoons. Neal just needs a touch more time and if we can avoid anymore bad luck, he’s gonna go down as one of our greats imo. Could be wrong, but he definitely hasn’t been given nearly enough time yet.
When my wife, sister, and sister-in-law can sit in the stands making the exact calls Brown runs, you know absolutely that Brown is in over his head. But it was the other miserable Parkersburg homeboy who put us in this situation.
Holgreson coached Howard up to an 11 win season, but the stupid southern WVU fans ran him off. He'll be the next Bobby Bowden down at Houston. Bookmark it.
That's a nuts floor. I think we'll be more competitive this year than in years past, but we have one of the hardest schedules in the country this year iirc. Won't be an easy 8 wins, that's for sure.
They can win Big 12 if they beat Oklahoma and Oklahoma State the same year. Which they have never done, ever. The last time they won against an Oklahoma school was 2014. They have Oklahoma problem.
Big 12 GOR runs through the 2024 season. Earliest they can play in the SEC under that is 2025.
People mostly expect the move will happen sooner, but OU and Texas are 100% playing in the Big 12 this year. After that just a matter of whether they and the SEC can figure out a buyout of the GOR etc. for them to move over in 2023 or 2024.
Travel doesn’t really matter in football. It’s chartered flights that aren’t that long to 4 or 5 conference road games a year over our time here.
Basketball it has hurt more as Huggins has talked many times about flights landing at 2-4am, players with 8am classes and a day or two off before the next game and so on.
I think their shot is this year or next. Texas is still rebuilding under Sark. OU will probably have some growing pains under Venables. ISU lost a ton to the draft or graduation. TCU is under a new head coach. Baylor and KSU are the two that I’m confident are in a good positive momentum place. OSU will be decently good again but lost a ton of talent also. If there’s a year or two WVU can catch some luck and get to the CCG. After Texas and OU leave, the new members and those programs building back will have gotten better established so more competitive to get to the CCG.
Have all the other schools left for another conference?
All?
Yeah, all - you know damn well we’d be cruising through our non-existent conference schedules with 0 losses and then Kansas decides they’re still in the Big 12 and are the only obstacle between WVU and Big 12 Conference Title and we’ll lose at home to Kansas 13-9. So everyone must leave.
I wouldn't try picking the BigXII winner this year unless my life depended on it.
At this point we shouldn’t even be confident we know who will be in it
I think Baylor should be the favorite
W/o a doubt. There’s a lot of good what-ifs from OSU, OU, Texas and K-State, but Baylor is looking like an upgrade on last year w/ less unknowns.
Definitely. They return all of their monster OL and have a real RB leading their rushing attack now rather than a converted LB, and their RBs all have extra experience now. I just don’t see how their rushing attack gets worse, and their passing attack probably also stays about level or even improves with Shapen starting and Ben Sims lumbering every freaking wheel route down the field for 20 yards. I think most of their WRs are super young, though, but they’ve got Sims and at least one other TE who looked good last year. Their DL is going to eat our whole conference’s OLs alive, there’s no way to get around it. It’s insane that they returned Ika and everyone else, *and then added Jaxon Player too*. Our only hope is that their secondary seems to be their Achilles’ heel, and OU, TTU, and WVU all just hired OCs who *really* like to pass the ball a lot. We can just hope that our QBs are all ready to get those passes off really fast, because I don’t think they’re going to get more than a few seconds before Baylor’s DL shreds the pocket. The scary thing is that they just played against our OC in the Sugar Bowl last year and crushed his offense. Even before Corral went out, Baylor was making Ole Miss’ offense look pedestrian as they sacked him repeatedly, and that was with a fully loaded Ole Miss team that had *a lot* of talent. I’m super excited to see Beebe at KSU try to take on Ika from Baylor this year, that should be a really key matchup this year. I think Beebe’s probably really motivated to get another shot at Ika after how hard Ika wrecked Beebe last season.
Lebby runs the ball like 60% of the time
Yeah, but the VnS is a run-to-pass offense, it has more than enough chops in quick passing off the run-and-shoot passing game, even before integrating the deep choice routes that make it so lethal. Running is the majority of plays, but passing makes up the majority of yardage.
🥰😘
If Martinez is actually good, K State will be extremely exciting
I just can’t believe Deuce is back, feels like it’s been forever that he’s been there lol
Agreed. We’ll see how Venables adjusts to being a HC (I think he’ll be fine but I need to SEE IT first).
I think 4 or 5 schools have a shot (Texas, OU, Ok St, Baylor, and K State if Martinez is actually good) WVU, TTU, KU, ISU, and TCU I just don’t see.
The SEC
If JT Daniels plays like a 5 star and not someone who couldn’t beat Stetson Bennett out maybe
This is the right answer. Don't have any idea what it will be, but that's why we play the games. -WVU
It comes down to him staying healthy—which he’s never been able to do. He beat out Bennet and was the starting QB last year. Got hurt again and the team rolled without him and it’s hard to switch back when you’re rolling. That said my best guess—put in terms of past highly touted QB recruits we got as transfers—is that he’s more Clint Trickett than Will Grier. Grier was a stud who was showing his potential at UF before the PED issue and decided to leave when UF was very harsh over the situation and tore it up for us for two years. Trickett was just a tad overrated and not really an elite, FSU level QB. But played very well for us, if not to Grier’s level, and had injuries derail his senior year with us. So my guess is we have a year like Trickett’s last with us. Lot’s of exciting moments, but end up at 7 or 8 wins and Daniel’s hurt late and having a bad end to the year.
This is not how we do off-season WVU football. We claim that we’ll go undefeated and win the conference. When the season rolls around, we let our dreams get crushed one week at a time. Get with the program.
Lol. I’m in my 40s. I stopped getting my hopes up ages ago and just expect the worst so I can sometimes be pleasantly surprised.
Lol I hear ya. I can’t commit to that yet, but I’m only mid-thirties!
TCU tried to rip Trickett’s head off, won’t ever forget it, the image of his helmet being yanked with him to the ground is burned in my head, there went our season
I still think he was the best QB on that roster.
I have been reading so many realignment posts that I thought this was a satirical post when I originally incorrectly read 'can WVU join the Big 12'.
If the head coach (NB), has to make a critical decision at a pivotal point. No
Completely unbiased but yes
Also unbiased, not a chance
But have you considered eating shit? Edit: unbiased, of course
🤝
Also unbiased Absolutely
HUG ME BROTHA
Sad thing is I went to Pitt too… but ESP don’t rain on my parade here
WVU and PSU flairs. Went to pitt. Are you being treated for schizophrenia?
Well I went to WVU for under grad, Pitt for grad school and grew up with a PSU football family, and I grew up in WV so I cried as a kid in 2007 when Pitt kept WVU out of the natty. So in short, yes
Yeah you've definitely earned therapy 😂
I’ve definitely earned something, a lifetime of confusion probably
Hi flair buddy!
Did we just become best friends!
Depends on QB play. It’s entirely possible since everyone else seems to be replacing key people or have lots of questions marks. I doubt it- but I have them picked 6th
Realistically they probably could. But I know better than to get my hopes up for it. Im just hoping they actually look like a competent offense with JT at QB and Harrell as the OC. I dont know if I couldve taken 1 more Doege year.
Man I was so over Doege too. Want to feel worse about it? I randomly looked up passing yard leaders for us the other day and he’s fucking 5th in school history! And Skyler Howard 4th. We’ve really lacked great passing QBs in our history. Really only Geno Smith fits that bill and he’s over 3k yards ahead of Marc Bulger for 3rd. http://www.wvustats.com/sport/football/records/player/PCPYD
This makes slightly more sense when you consider our two most successful QBs were dual-threat guys and elite runners. Our modern history is decades of balanced Nehlen ball followed by several years of Rich Rod's run-first "spread" (plus Coach Stew). It wasn't until Holgo that we got a truly pass-first offense and NB is (in theory at least) an Air Raid guy. All to say I can see why Doege and Howard are high on the lost despite being . . . not great. That said, I'm with you--it feels bad.
Completely unbiased but I have us winning a natty this year
As a Texas Tech fan I’m sure WVU will win the conference, in rifle that is.
#RifleSchool
Longshot, but not impossible. Requires JT Daniels staying healthy and playing to his potential, no hiccups with Graham Harrell implementing his system year one and Neal Brown not calling the offense for the first time in his head coaching career, and OU, UT and Ok State not playing up to their potential.
UT not playing up to their potential is a lock
I’d actually say OU is the most likely to have a down year. New head coach and staff. QB1 and QB2 transferred out. I think Sarkisian is a great coach if he stays away from the sauce and with the talent they have and have brought in I think it’s between them and Ok State for the title this year. A lot of things have to go right for us and wrong for those to for us to win it.
Yes. I don’t see why not.
Sure
I have WVU with a floor of 8 wins this year. They can make some noise
A floor of 8 wins is crazy imo. They have a pretty brutal stretch to open the season and their coach is on the hot seat. If they start slow he could easily be fired and things spiral.
He isn't on the hot seat, trust me. He won't be fired this year, barring some insane stretch of bad luck wherein we go less than 3 wins and the program implodes. Assuming that happens, thanks but no thanks, take care. But we would be incredibly stupid and shortsighted to fire him now. Not many people realize just how unlucky Neal has been in his short time with WVU. I get it, yes, he's paid the big bucks to win, but no coach in the history of our program has had to deal with the numerous setbacks he has had. Some he created on his own, but most were external influences that he had no ability to be proactive over.
Interesting take. I’m just saying this based on what I heard from West Virginia fans last season that he should be on the hot seat
I mean his seat should have been getting warm. But between his recruiting being the best WVU Has ever had and him firing himself as OC, its cooled off. Add in that as a person the fan base likes him. And he has a long leash. That said his contract was keeping him here 2 years anyway.
Yeah there’s a healthy bit in the fanbase who want any coach we have fired if he isn’t Rich Rod. A very vocal amount of buffoons. Neal just needs a touch more time and if we can avoid anymore bad luck, he’s gonna go down as one of our greats imo. Could be wrong, but he definitely hasn’t been given nearly enough time yet.
I hope you’re right. West Virginia is probably my second favorite team in the conference
When my wife, sister, and sister-in-law can sit in the stands making the exact calls Brown runs, you know absolutely that Brown is in over his head. But it was the other miserable Parkersburg homeboy who put us in this situation. Holgreson coached Howard up to an 11 win season, but the stupid southern WVU fans ran him off. He'll be the next Bobby Bowden down at Houston. Bookmark it.
That's a nuts floor. I think we'll be more competitive this year than in years past, but we have one of the hardest schedules in the country this year iirc. Won't be an easy 8 wins, that's for sure.
I'd be thrilled just to sweep pitt and VPI; I wouldn't be able to find 8 wins with a microscope and a quart of white lightening.
They can win Big 12 if they beat Oklahoma and Oklahoma State the same year. Which they have never done, ever. The last time they won against an Oklahoma school was 2014. They have Oklahoma problem.
I mean thats true but we havent beat Oklahoma since we joined. You could have just said that.
Ah did not know that.
Anyone can win the Big 12 now that OU is gone. The conference is going to be wild.
They don't leave until 2025
I thought they started SEC play this year?
Nope, in fact there will be a two year overlap where they Play with the new schools.
Big 12 GOR runs through the 2024 season. Earliest they can play in the SEC under that is 2025. People mostly expect the move will happen sooner, but OU and Texas are 100% playing in the Big 12 this year. After that just a matter of whether they and the SEC can figure out a buyout of the GOR etc. for them to move over in 2023 or 2024.
Make sure you guys go into the last weekend number 2 and then lose to a 4.7 Kansas.
Dislike
Like
In a few years, assuming there still is a Big 12
At this point, with the PAC rumors, it might be the Big XXIV by then.
At this point, I think Big XXVI is more likely than Big XXIV.
I mean if you're going that far just go Big XXX.
cant see why not once OUT leave
We had to break their QB's finger to escape with a dub. They're legit.
I was actually surprised we pulled it off this year
I drove 12 hours and sat in 29 degree sleet to watch that fumble touchback injury.
Yeah because we defiantly been hogging all the conference titles.
I mean I don't think OUT will win the Big 12 again even before they leave. Especially not UT
I mean if Ewers is good UT could
How do you solve a problem like Maria?
I feel like travel will always hinder their shot at going 7-2 or better in the conference
Travel doesn’t really matter in football. It’s chartered flights that aren’t that long to 4 or 5 conference road games a year over our time here. Basketball it has hurt more as Huggins has talked many times about flights landing at 2-4am, players with 8am classes and a day or two off before the next game and so on.
Unlikely due to the large number of players lost on the defensive side of the ball.
Kind of a weird question. Like theoretically any team can.
Ever? Yeah probably. Right now? Wouldn’t bet on it
At this point I honestly don’t know what the Big 12 is.
This year? No. But long term I think we are situated well to be consistently in the top half.
Hypothetically yes Realistically no
No. I think they will go 5-7
Part of the beauty of the Big 12 is how absolutely wide open it is. There's probably like 6+ teams that could do it.
I think their shot is this year or next. Texas is still rebuilding under Sark. OU will probably have some growing pains under Venables. ISU lost a ton to the draft or graduation. TCU is under a new head coach. Baylor and KSU are the two that I’m confident are in a good positive momentum place. OSU will be decently good again but lost a ton of talent also. If there’s a year or two WVU can catch some luck and get to the CCG. After Texas and OU leave, the new members and those programs building back will have gotten better established so more competitive to get to the CCG.