Ouch! WVU is One of Three Power Four Schools to Not Be Ranked Since 2019

Neal Brown's seat has to be getting warmer, right?

Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

This nearly six-year tenure for Neal Brown as the head coach at West Virginia has been a major disappointment. At first, Brown threw together a nice little clever slogan to "Trust the Climb," knowing that the beginning of this era would be in rebuild mode.

Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, there hasn't been much of a climb or anything to trust. One nine-win season in a year with an incredibly light schedule is all Brown has to show for it. Each year, in one way or another, has been some sort of a disappointment, and the one continuing theme as that this team never seems to play well on the big stage.

As you know, Brown is 3-17 versus AP Top 25 opponents while at West Virginia. Those three ranked wins came against teams that finished their seasons 4-6 (2020 Kansas State), 6-7 (2021 Virginia Tech), and 7-6 (2021 Iowa State).

It's not like those three ranked wins came against teams who were truly a top 25 program in the season in which it happened. They just happened to be ranked at the time, only for all three of them to have a massive slide at the end of the season.

But the most alarming stat of all?

West Virginia is now just one of THREE Power Four schools to have not appeared in the AP Top 25 a single time since the start of 2019. The others? Rutgers and Texas Tech.

Vanderbilt is ranked.

Updated list of Power Four schools to have not appeared in the AP Top 25 once since the start of 2019:#WVU
Rutgers
Texas Tech

That’s it.

— Schuyler Callihan (@Callihan_) October 20, 2024

This list also included Vanderbilt until they snuck in at No. 25 this past week. Yes, Vanderbilt, the running joke of the SEC has seen a number next to its name and WVU hasn't. And unless the Mountaineers win out, win their bowl game, AND get some help, they won't see the top 25 this season either.

With Garrett Greene set to graduate and an All-American left tackle set for the NFL, that's two major holes that WVU has to fill in 2025 and from what we've seen from the other pieces, there's no encouraging sign that they'll be ranked next fall either. So are WVU fans supposed to wait until year eight to be a ranked team? That's ludacris, and by most athletic program's standards, unacceptable.

Neal Brown has been awarded so much patience from this administration and you could argue that his leash has exceeded its limit. In what way is this program heading in the right direction on the football field? All of the off-field stuff is great, but winning football games is what the fans care about most.

Where is the signature win? Where is the crop of young players that show promise of building this team into a Big 12 contender? What can Neal Brown point to and say this is why the fans should trust me.

I don't have the answers to those questions. However, what I do know is this product that is being put on display doesn't last this long at other places who want to be serious about football.

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