Sunday Morning Thoughts: Meaningful November Football Returns

Final thoughts on West Virginia's win over BYU.

The West Virginia Mountaineers are now bowl eligible but that's not the focus in the building or the talk of the town. Everyone has their eyes set on the Big 12 Conference championship game, believe it or not.

Yes, WVU needs some help along the way to punch their ticket to Dallas but they are as alive as anybody. The only thing they can do is control the controllable and that is to win out. And with the way the schedule sets up, it looks like WVU has a path if they can somehow win a game on the road next Saturday in Norman - something they have yet to do since entering the Big 12.

With Week 10 in the books, the Mountaineers are in a five-way second place tie (record-wise) in the conference standings with Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, and Iowa State. Tiebreakers technically separate the five teams but with so many possible outcomes over the next two weeks, there's really no need to dive into what needs to happen for WVU until we reach the final week of the season. Mainly because it doesn't matter unless you win the next two anyways.

What I'm really here to discuss this morning is the job this coaching staff has done.

You and I can agree that it has been a fairly easy schedule but in all honesty, who cares? Does anyone care that Georgia plays a soft non-conference schedule every years and then has a weak SEC East division? No. All that matters is the number in the win column. Five years from now, no one will remember how you got to 9-10 wins but they know you got there.

It's been well documented that this team was picked 14th in the Big 12 Conference preseason media poll and for a group with such low expectations, they've done a heck of a lot. Is this the part of the Neal Brown era everyone has been waiting for? Is this where the Mountaineers become annual contenders in the Big 12? It just might be. There are three games left in the season and they're not mathematically eliminated. If someone would have told me that back in August, I would have been stunned. 

What makes this could be special season even more exciting is that WVU should return a bunch of key contributors in 2024. Garrett Greene, CJ Donaldson, Jahiem White, Rodney Gallagher, Traylon Ray, EJ Horton, Preston Fox, Hudson Clement, Kole Taylor, Tomas Rimac, Wyatt Milum, JaQuay Hubbard, Aubrey Burks, Anthony Wilson, Trey Lathan, Jared Bartlett, Sean Martin, Edward Vesterinen, Mike Lockhart, Fatorma Mulbah, Tomi Durojaiye, Jalen Thornton, Tyrin Bradley, and several others -- all expected to return. 

Forget about Neal Brown coaching for his job. He's safe. Now it's about how much success can he have with this group over the next four games building toward what should be a big 2024.

Meaningful November football has returned, folks. Enjoy it!

What Neal Brown Said Following the Win Over BYU

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