College Football
Where Does WVU Stand in First Notable Post Spring Rankings?
If Rich Rodriguez is going to lead WVU to the success he believes is possible in 2025, he’s going to do it by proving doubters wrong. To solidify West Virginia as an underdog, ESPN released its first post spring 2025 college football rankings on Thursday.
The worldwide leader has the Mountaineers at No. 57 right ahead of fellow big 12 foe Oklahoma State and right behind Syracuse, one of the surprise teams of the 2024 season.
Furthering the prediction that WVU will projected towards the bottom of the conference, there are 10 Big 12 schools ranked ahead of Rodriguez’s Mountaineers right now.
West Virginia’s Backyard Brawl rival is at 47, so ten spots in front of WVU months before they meet at Milan Puskar Stadium on Sept. 13.
The major sportsbooks are also down on the Mountaineers.
FanDuel has WVU’s current win total at only 5.5, which is tied with three other Big 12 programs for the lowest in the conference. Arizona, Oklahoma State, Houston and UCF are also listed at 5.5 while Cincinnati, Colorado and TCU sit at 6.5.
The Mountaineers also opened the month at +5000 to win the Big 12 title. As of May with the entire summer to go, there’s only one program viewed as less likely than WVU to win the 2025 Big 12 championship. Arizona currently has the lowest odds at +6500. Oklahoma State and UCF share the +5000 odds with West Virginia.
Circa Sports has WVU at just 5 for their win total over/under. This is tied for their worst in the Big 12 with Oklahoma State.
But regardless of the low expectations, Rodriguez, who is also being doubted nationally, knows preseason polls don’t matter as much in this era. And for that reason along with his trust in his staff, he remains confident.
“I think our staff has done a good job. I think we have one or two spots left open, but in this ever-changing world of college athletics, it’s been really crazy. But I’ve said this many times. The goal post will move, we gotta move with it,” Rodriguez told WV Sports Now’s Mike Asti directly about having to make tough decisions on who to cut and who to bring in.
“We gotta do everything we can to try to improve our roster every day, not every month but every day.”
While Rodriguez brought West Virginia conference titles and major bowl wins during his first tenure, the Mountaineers are coming off the program’s worst six-year stretch since before Don Nehlen arrived in 1980.
West Virginia failed to even achieve one single ranking in the Associated Press under Neal Brown – they did finish the 2023 season ranked No. 25 in the Coaches Poll.
Despite a complete overhaul of the roster and having to implement a new culture, Rodriguez believes West Virginia can compete for a national championship. In fact, Rodriguez admitted he wouldn’t have accepted the job without being sold on WVU’s plan to succeed at the highest level.
Rich Rodriguez is Driven by One Main Goal for His Second Tenure at WVU
“I think if the rev share comes in and the so-called salary cap comes in, it’ll give some sense of fairness across the board.”
However, no matter what happens, Rodriguez just simply believes it can happen, even if some think he’s crazy.
“I believe in our state. I believe in our university. I believe in our coaches. And I believe in our program. You look at Arizona State that went from worst to first in the Big 12. We could do the same thing.”
For a related story, WV Sports Now chronicles what went right and what went wrong for WVU football during the offseason?
