Believe It or Not, West Virginia Can Go on a Run - Here's Why

A few reasons West Virginia fans should remain optimistic.

West Virginia University receiver Hudson Clement / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

Let me preface this by saying I do not expect West Virginia to win out and finish the 2024 season 9-3, nor do I believe they'll make the Big 12 championship game.

However, there are several reasons to be optimistic despite an extremely disappointing 3-3 start to the season.

Let's run through a few of them.

No. 1: The schedule

This Saturday's game against Kansas State is no walk in the park. You've all seen the numbers by now, but we'll state it once more - Neal Brown is 3-16 versus top 25 foes. Since the Wildcats have a little number 17 at the beginning of their names, history would tell you that's problematic.

I went against WVU in my score prediction for the game, but I do have a gut feeling that this is the type of game the Mountaineers would win and cool the "hot seat" talk for just a minute. If, and it's a big IF, they beat Kansas State, whew boy. This could get really interesting.

The Mountaineers would then go to Arizona and if the Wildcats drop to Colorado this weekend, that puts them below .500 and on a three-game losing streak. Making the trip way out west isn't ideal, but WVU has had the fortune of being at home for the better part of the month, so it's not like they should have severe jet lag.

Speaking of, Kansas State just had an emotional, down-to-the-wire finish on the road at Colorado and now has to fly all the way east to Morgantown - something to keep in mind.

But back to the future as Marty McFly would say, the Mountaineers will receive a much-needed bye following the long trip out to Tucson before a quick bus trip over to Cincinnati. The Bearcats, believe it or not, may be the toughest team on the schedule after Kansas State.

After the battle against the former Big East "rival," WVU comes home for two home games against teams that are already on the verge of "mailing it in" in Baylor and UCF. If you take care of business at home against inferior opponents, which they have been able to do so to this point, you could be playing for a spot in Dallas when you make the trip to Lubbock for the regular season finale.

WVU doesn't have to be perfect from here on out to reach Dallas because I wholeheartedly believe there will be a two-loss team playing for the title, but you have to beat the teams you're competing against to get there. They've already dropped the ball at home against Iowa State, so they can't afford to not have a head-to-head tiebreaker over Kansas State too.

No. 2: Defense is improving

Since the bye week, West Virginia has held each of its opponents, Oklahoma State and Iowa State, under their season averages.

The Cowboys were held 162.4 yards below their season mark a couple of weeks ago, including 118 fewer yards through the air. Not to mention, WVU bowed up against Ollie Gordon, limiting him to just 50 yards on the ground.

Last week against Iowa State, Jordan Lesley's unit did a pretty solid job of keeping them in the game in the second half, but the offense failed to capitalize. The one miscommunication on the first touchdown was really the only big blunder they had. Obviously, they need to do a better job of getting off the field, but this defense is much improved since the Backyard Brawl.

WVU held Rocco Becht under his season average until his final pass on the night late in the fourth to put the game on ice. They also did a great job of containing the run against a three-headed monster in the backfield, one that ranks 32nd nationally in yards per game. West Virginia held that group to just 2.9 yards per tote.

There are still holes in this defense and definite areas of concern, but they've shown they can play well enough to win games in the Big 12. Last week was on the offense.

No. 3: A history of strong finishes

As poor as the Neal Brown tenure has gone, his teams have had a tendency to finish the season on a strong note. Don't believe me? Look at how incredibly consistent this is, dating back to his first year on the job.

2023: Won three straight, five of the last six.

2022: Won two of the last three.

2021: Won two of the last three.

2020: Won two of the last three.

2019; Won two of the last three.

Again, I'm not here predicting a strong finish, just pointing out that it has been a trend and trying to supply you with some optimism heading into the weekend. When you combine the favorable back end of the schedule with WVU's history under Brown of playing good football late, you have to feel pretty good about how the month of November sets up.

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