West Virginia looks to climb up the Big 12 ladder

West Virginia has spent nine full football seasons as a member of the Big 12 Conference.

During that time, the program has gone a perfectly symmetrical 40-40 overall.

That isn’t what many expected when the Mountaineers first joined the league on the strength of its football program and three major bowl wins in six years, but that’s where the program finds itself.

A .500 record certainly isn’t at the bottom of the league, but the program undoubtedly would like to elevate itself moving forward with a new regime in place.

It’s been an adjustment for a football program used to competing at the top of the standings as the Mountaineers have endured just as many losing seasons in conference as winning ones.

The total mark puts the Mountaineers at seventh overall in the league during that span, as the program has yet to finish anywhere above technically third in the standings. That occurred in 2016, when West Virginia finished in a tie for second at 7-2 overall but had lost to Oklahoma State.

Seven of those seasons were under the leadership of former head coach Dana Holgorsen, with Neal Brown leading the program to a 3-6 mark in his first season –impressive all things considered – and then a 4-4-mark in last season's shortened year.

But now his task will be to take things a step further in the competitive Big 12 Conference.

In those nine seasons, Kansas State, Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma all in the past six years have all won or been considered a co-champion in the league.

That is where the Mountaineers want to eventually get to.

The only programs behind West Virginia during that nine-year span are Iowa State (33-48), Texas Tech (28-53), Kansas (5-75). With TCU, the school forever linked to the Mountaineers due to the two teams joining the league at the same time, sitting at 44-37 overall and in sixth place. However, the Horned Frogs have shared a Big 12 title and competed in the conference title game.

Since it was introduced, West Virginia has only come close to competing in the game once in 2018 but lost consecutive games down the stretch to Oklahoma State and Oklahoma.

At the top of the standings are the Sooners, who hold a 67-13 mark over those first nine seasons. That is almost 20 more wins than second place, which is held by Oklahoma State at 50-31. But in order to compete for a league crown that is going to have to be the level that the Mountaineers elevate to.

Over that span, West Virginia has struggled with the top falling to the Oklahoma programs 15 of the 17 times the teams have met with the Mountaineers yet to find a way to beat the Sooners. The last time that they were able to beat the Cowboys was during the 2014 campaign.

It’s taken some time for West Virginia to get their collective feet under them but at 40-40, the time is now to make a move up the standings to chase some of the programs ahead of them. Recruiting continues to improve, which will help matters, but the results on the field will be the true determining factor as the Mountaineers look to position themselves better for the next nine years.

That begins with the 2021 season.

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