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Why WVU Football Could Be Dark Horse Contender in 2025

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WVU Football Jaylen Henderson and Nicco Marchiol with team at spring showcase
Kelsie LeRose / WVSN

Even though most in the national media are down on the Mountaineers in 2025, at least one analyst is opening the door for WVU football to prove the doubters wrong.

On a recent edition of the CBS Sports Cover 3 Podcast, veteran college football analyst Tom Fornelli picked West Virginia as his dark horse team in the Big 12.

โ€œI am going to go with West Virginia — I am buying into the Rich Rod hype,โ€ said Fornelli when asked which program projected to struggle could surprise this fall. โ€œI just like Rich Rod as a coach, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he’s won everywhere he’s gone…he’s never had bad teams,โ€ he added.

Aside from a belief in Rich Rodriguez, Fornelliโ€™s reasoning for supporting WVU stems from it following a particular recent blueprint.

โ€œTell me if this sounds familiar — a new coach comes in, brings in a ton of recruits, a lot of them from his former G5 school, which was a competitive program in his conference. That program’s named Indiana and it was Curt Cignetti, and we saw what the Hoosiers did. Rich Rod’s coming to West Virginia and he’s bringing a whole lot of Jacksonville State boys with him,โ€ Fornelli explained.

He then elaborated further on why Rodriguez could follow the same script Curt Cignetti used Indiana last season.

โ€œSo there’s already some familiarity with the coaching staff and the players and the playbook and all that kind of stuff. And I think that when you look at the Big 12 that there’s so much opportunity to just win at the margins, and I think that is one of those margins with that kind of familiarity in this era…West Virginia has that familiarity, there’s not going to be as a transition which could give them a little bit of a head start.โ€

Regardless of the low expectations, Rodriguez, who is being doubted nationally himself in some respects, knows preseason polls and predictions donโ€™t matter as much in this era. And for that reason, along with his trust in his staff, he remains confident.

WVU Football HC Rich Rodriguez at Spring Showcase

WVSN photo by Kelsie LeRose

โ€œI 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, itโ€™s been really crazy. But Iโ€™ve said this many times. The goal post will move, we gotta move with it,โ€ Rodriguez told WV Sports Nowโ€™s Mike Asti directly about having to make tough decisions on who to cut and who to bring in.

โ€œWe gotta do everything we can to try to improve our roster every day, not every month but every day.โ€

While Rodriguez brought West Virginia conference titles and major bowl wins during his first tenure, the Mountaineers are coming off the programโ€™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 โ€“ 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 wouldnโ€™t have accepted the job without being sold on WVUโ€™s plan to succeed at the highest level.

No matter what happens, Rodriguez just simply believes it can happen, even if some think heโ€™s crazy.

โ€œI 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.โ€

For a related story, WVU DC Zac Alley details why he believes WVU football is a sleeping giant.

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