The Big 12 Conference is expected to meet today about scheduling models and a decision as well as direction for the West Virginia football program is likely to come soon after.

Currently the Mountaineers have only one non-conference game remaining on the schedule the Sept. 12 matchup with FCS opponent Eastern Kentucky. Previously scheduled games with Florida State (Sept. 5) and Maryland (Sept. 19) have been nixed off the schedule after those leagues made scheduling decisions.

It has been reported that the game could easily be moved to Aug. 29, which would allow West Virginia to take advantage of the new NCAA blanket waiver which permits all teams to start the season week 0, usually reserved for only a handful of games.

Oklahoma and Kansas already have moved games there and TCU is expected to do the same. That way it allows for more flexibility with open dates later on in the schedule and allows for teams to start their seasons earlier as opposed to simply waiting. If West Virginia decides to follow suit that is going to allow them to start pre-season practice earlier than the originally set Aug. 7 date.

But time is ticking now and that is just practice time that will be lost the more days that pass.

Of course, the Big 12 is still considering multiple models at this stage. If the league decides to go conference games and one out-of-conference game the schedule is complete. But there is talk of allowing possibly two out-of-conference meetings or even trying to get as many as possible in due to the likelihood of cancelations or disruptions with the spread of COVID-19.

That third option is a wildcard and could mean that schools would have the leeway to schedule as many games as they could to possibly get to 12-contests. That is obviously the less uniform of the choices, but if the Big 12 has proven anything over time it doesn’t always come to easy resolutions.

If West Virginia does have to add an additional game or two, there are certainly options to choose from. Schools such as Bowling Green in the MAC or Appalachian State in the Sun Belt are just too of many. All of the Conference USA teams, which Marshall is a member, would have the ability to schedule non-conference games to their choosing in order to fill out their slate.

There are several independent options to select from too, so there are certainly teams that could come to Morgantown in order to fill out any openings.

The Big 10, SEC and Pac-12 have already decided to allow conference games only while the ACC permits teams to play one out-of-conference matchup as long as it is held within the member institution’s home state. The logical answer is for the Big 12 to align themselves as closely as possible to the rest of the power five teams. That means because the league only has ten members, a conference slate with one or two additional out-of-conference match ups makes the most sense.

Regardless, a decision on what could come next for West Virginia should be made in short order once the league presidents decide the best direction.

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