Phil Steele Doubles Down on His Opinion About West Virginia in 2024

There's no reason to panic just yet, Mountaineer fans.

Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

Following West Virginia's 34-12 loss to No. 8 Penn State last week, many Mountaineer fans began to question how good this year's team could be. The majority of those same folks knew the tall task WVU was up against and likely prepared themselves to be on the losing end of the game. It's the sloppiness and the lack of competitiveness in the second half that proved to be concerning.

That being said, it's a long season. WVU didn't look all that great in the season-opener last year against Penn State and turned things around quickly to produce the program's best season since 2016. To say this season is already over is a bit dramatic, especially with the expanded College Football Playoff format.

One of the best college football minds in the industry, Phil Steele, joined us Friday morning on the In the Gun podcast to recap the Penn State loss and to get his thoughts on this week's contest versus Albany.

When asked if the result of last week's loss changes his opinion on this year's WVU team, he responded, “No. Doesn’t change my mind about West Virginia one bit. Penn State’s a really, really good team. They’ve got a really good offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator. It was sort of like the Clemson-Georgia game where everyone’s like Clemson’s offense is really bad this year. No, they played Georgia’s defense, okay? They’re not going to take on Georgia’s defense the rest of the year. Calm down.”

Entering the 2024 season, Steele had West Virginia ranked 35th nationally.

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