Challenges ahead with West Virginia football slate
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For the second straight season, West Virginia has the deck stacked against itself when it comes to the football schedule but this one could prove even more challenging.
That’s because the Mountaineers are one of two teams that will play 11 current power five opponents along with Colorado.
It’s the same daunting task that faced the program last season with West Virginia finishing with a 6-6 regular season record and leaving many in the fan base disappointed.
However, this season the program will square off against both power five non-conference opponents away from home with trips to Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech on deck. Last season, the program was able to have a split between a road contest at Maryland and the home game against the Hokies.
“In all truth, I’d rather not play both those games, especially on the road, within one season, but that is what it is,” head coach Neal Brown said.
The Mountaineers will have all nine Big 12 Conference games, with four of those on the road, along with the two conference opponents and an FCS contest at home against Towson. It’s a difficult slate any way you slice it with not many opportunities for easy wins to pad up during the early portion of the schedule.
That is something that isn’t lost on Director of Athletics Shane Lyons.
“This is a process. We’re building off that process and we look back last year, we’d all like more wins. Neal knows that, I know that,” he said.
But the pitfalls that await with the schedule is something that will make improvement challenging.
“We’ve got a tough schedule coming up. We’re one of a few institutions that are playing 11 power five institutions along with one FCS institution so we have a challenge in front of us,” Lyons said.
Still there is optimism about what has unfolded in the program this off-season and the trajectory of things if the roster is able to stay healthy and in-tact.
“We have Graham Harrell on the offensive side of the ball. I feel good about the players on the offense and the same about the defensive side of the ball,” Lyons said.
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