(Photo by WVU Athletics)
The Mountaineers will once again take on eleven Power Five opponents in the 2023 season. This would obviously be no easy task for any program, let alone a team that seems to be trending in the wrong direction.
In the non-conference portion of the schedule, West Virginia will open the season on the road against Penn State. The Nittany Lions finished the 2022 season with an 11-2 record that included a 35-21 victory over Utah in the Rose Bowl. Following a date with FCS Duquesne, the Mountaineers will then welcome the Pitt Panthers to Morgantown – a team that beat them 38-31 in 2022.
WVU’s Big 12 slate will feature home games against Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, BYU and Cincinnati. They will travel to TCU, Houston, UCF, Oklahoma and Baylor for their road portion of conference play.
This schedule is actually so difficult that it has caught the eye of one highly-respected College Football analyst.
Phil Steele
Phil Steele ranks WVU’s 2023 football schedule as the 3rd-toughest in the country …https://t.co/Zjp5IDQp3b
— In The Gun – WVU Football Podcast (@InTheGunPodcast) February 16, 2023
According to Steele, the Mountaineers have the TOUGHEST schedule in the Big 12, and the 3rd TOUGHEST SCHEDULE in the entire nation. While this is certainly an opportunity for a résumé builder, is it really necessary for a Mountaineer squad that has struggled to make the postseason as of late?
Even TCU made the College Football Playoff with what many would consider a “cupcake” schedule. So a difficult schedule is not always a must when it comes to competing for a National Championship.
It appears as if the administration at WVU are the ones who have doomed this program.
Only time will tell.
