Opinion
WVU Football 2025 Season Media Predictions
Predicting the 2025 WVU football season seems like an impossible task. While Rich Rodriguez‘s return brought a sense of comfort and excitement, it also came with a total overhaul of the roster.
Some are projecting Rodriguez will endure a brutal first year back, a season that resembles his 3-8 campaign in 2001, but others are expecting big things.
Will Rodriguez be able to get even more out of junior running back Jahiem White, one of the few Neal Brown players still around? Is there enough talent on offense to create an explosiveness needed to compete in the Big 12?
What will Zac Alley’s defense look like once they hit the field? Can Nicco Marchiol become the next great Rodriguez quarterback or will Jaylen Henderson be better suited to run the offense?
How much will West Virginia benefit from an easier nonconference schedule compared to recent years? Will it even matter if they can’t win enough within conference play?
Rodriguez has vocalized needing to win right away. He knows he doesn’t have the luxury of using year one as a developmental season like he did two decades ago. The WVU fanbase is hungry for a winner, and even a return to glory. The current climate of the sport doesn’t allow putting too much energy into developing players or holding anyone back.
On the bright side, teams have been able to go from afterthought to conference champion in one year in this era. Can the Mountaineers be the 2024 version of Arizona State or Indiana? Or will they instead, struggle to find any continuity and make Rodriguez’s first year back one fans hope to forget?
Below are the attempts at predicting WVU’s 2025 season record from select media members:
Brett McMurphy (On3 Sports): 5-7
Over thousands of Swilled Dog bourbon consumed by WVU fans this year.
Bill Bender (Sporting News): 6-6
Rich Rodriguez was 3-8 in his first season with the Mountaineers way back in 2001. The key to a winning season is some success on the road in Big 12 road games. The Mountaineers are 10-16 in road conference games since 2019, and the cross-country road schedule is brutal with two-time-zone trips to Arizona State and BYU. Can West Virginia go 2-3 in that stretch? If so, then a bowl game will be possible. The home schedule is just as brutal with Utah, TCU, Colorado and Texas Tech — not to mention the Backyard Brawl. Can West Virginia — which has won the last three home meetings against Pitt — send the Panthers out with a loss? It could be the difference in six or seven wins. We’ll go 6-6 with a chance to get seven in the bowl game.
Shehan Jeyarajah (CBS Sports): 5-7
Ari Temkin (Big 12 Radio): 7-5
Will Graves (Associated Press): 4-8
Andrew Stockey (WTAE): 6-6
Steve Slaton (WVU Legend – College Football Hall of Famer): 9-3
George Gerbo (Washington Times): 6-6
The schedule sets up nicely for the Mountaineers. Big XII games at home against Utah, TCU, Colorado and Texas Tech are positives, and their two longest road trips are immediately followed by byes. But I predict both of those games — a goofy Friday night game in Provo and at Arizona State in mid-November — to be losses. I think they’ll reach a bowl in Rich Rodriguez’s first season back in Morgantown after a near two-decade hiatus, but just on the number at 6-6.
“Hard Edge” will win them some games in crunch time that would’ve been losses due to the laissez-faire manner that the Neal Brown Mountaineers liked to end games. Nicco Marchiol will come into his own as a roster with some 70-plus newcomers takes some time to gel, especially on the offensive line. That uncertainty, especially in a league where last year’s champion went from being projected “worst” to the College Football Playoff, makes it hard to pinpoint where West Virginia will land this season. One thing that’s not hard to pinpoint? Rod will win the Brawl. I mean, if 17 years of regret aren’t enough for him to run Pitt back up I-79 just as soon as they get off the bus, then I don’t know what is.
Alex Wiederspiel (WKMZ): 7-5
There’s almost no sample size for what Rich Rodriguez did in turning over more than 70 players on this roster. The only situation that comes to mind like this is Deion Sanders’ first year at Colorado. I’ll take Rod over Sanders as a coach any day. He’s more experienced, which makes him a more capable navigator in turbulent waters.
In 18 seasons as an FCS coach, Rodriguez has only four losing seasons (two of which, notably, were first seasons in a program). No one is going to be more motivated to get this right than Rodriguez. That could make for a tense work environment, but there seems to be an urgency in the program right now where the coaching staff realizes there’s little appetite for a painful rebuild.
Wes Uhler (Steelers Nation Radio): 5-7
I certainly think this team could go .500 and qualify for a Bowl game, but I can’t predict that now with so much unknown. We will learn the most about WVU after the bye week when they line up against other programs in transition – like UCF, Houston, and Colorado.
Cody Nespor (Gold and Blue Nation): 5-7
Any offense led by Rich Rodriguez should score enough points to win games, but there are legitimate concerns on this WVU team. Questions in the trenches on both sides of the ball as well as unproven depth at several positions provide a lot of potential pitfalls for the Mountaineers this year.
Keenan Cumming (WVSports.com): 7-5
I’ve gone back and forth on this all off-season and admittedly with so much change on the roster with almost 80 new players and limited returning production that’s been difficult. I will say that I do think that this team is going to surpass the expectations that have them slotted toward the bottom of the Big 12, but what does that mean? I believe that West Virginia was able to bring in some talented players out of the transfer portal to round out the roster and clearly Rich Rodriguez has a proven pedigree with getting the most out of his players. This is a quality coaching staff and I have been really impressed with the plan on defense under coordinator Zac Alley to be aggressive, multiple and force the issue. Rodriguez understands how to run offense but the schedule is challenging, at least on paper, given the teams that the Mountaineers will have to square off against in the Big 12. There is of course the newness of it all, but my biggest concern is on the offensive line. If that comes together there is a window for this prediction to certainly be surpassed but I’m taking 7-5 in year one.
Spencer Ripchik (Dominion Post): 6-6
The 2025 West Virginia team is one of the few college football teams where no one has any idea of how good it could be. There’s a new head coach, 70-plus transfers, and no named starting quarterback in a QB-heavy Big 12. Who knows how well the Mountaineers will mesh with all the changes? The one thing going for them is their new coach is Rich Rodriguez, who’s a known winner. WVU’s 2025 schedule is favorable for Rodriguez’s first year. There are definitely some should-be wins and the shoe-in losses, but there are a lot of toss-up games, because of all the unknown. The ceiling could be a bowl game and maybe fighting for the top of the Big 12, which should be the goal, but the floor could be as low as fighting for the bottom of the conference.
Dave Weekley (WV MetroNews): 7-5
Secondary can’t be as bad as last year, but retooled offensive line is a big concern.
Amanda Barren (WOWK News): 7-5
Sports Now Staff Predictions:
Logan Carney (Sports Now graphics department): 6-6
How can anyone confidently pick any record with a new head coach and entirely new team. And when I say entirely, I quite literally mean it.
There’s 83 new players — yes you read that right, I wrote 83 new players — on this roster. 29 of which make up 247’s No. 46 recruiting class while the other 54 players make up 247’s No. 31 transfer class. Of those, only three players are four-stars.
Now, that is not to discount any of them, and really both rankings are right around where a healthy WVU should live at most seasons. Star ratings and rankings can be meaningless if you found the right players to develop, but there is an increased likelihood in an immediate turnaround when there’s a higher consensus around the talent of said players.
But there more important thing is not the talent itself, just the sheer volume of new players coming in and having to learn to play with other new players, for a new coach, basically without any experienced WVU veterans to guide them. It can work out, but it is unlikely to in the early going.
Looking at their schedule, fans should be a bit worried about the Ohio game. I get it, WVU should beat a MAC school. They should, but on the road with a whole new team that will still be learning how to play each other against a team that won 10 games, a bowl game, and a FBS conference last year? Not to mention right before Rich Rod’s first Brawl since the 07 upset? That’s the definition of a trap game. I’m currently marking it as a close win, but could very well be a loss.
The Pitt game is also a toss up. It’s another I am currently marking as a win purely for the sheer emotional aspect and how important that game will be. However, Pitt returns more and we don’t know which is truly the better team with WVU’s new roster and Pitt’s second half collapse after a great start in 2024. So that could be another loss.
I’m predicting 6-6 because of so much unknown, I just want to go safe down the middle. However, this could be a rough transition for WVU and there’s a slight chance it can be a miracle Cinderella return for Rich Rod.
If you were to ask me though what WVU fans should ask for to feel good about bringing Rich Rodriguez back, it is this season I laid out. 6-6 with a bowl game, win in the Brawl, and not losing to a non-power school is a fair minimum to ask of the new regime and one that should give fans hope going forward.
Luke Blain (WV Sports Now): 5-7
I think there’s a wide range of possibilities for this WVU team. However, I think the chances of them winning seven or more games are very slim. At the end of the day, having success with the most new players on any roster in the country is no easy task.
I see more games I would guarantee as losses (BYU, ASU, Texas Tech) than I do wins (RMU, maybe Houston). Even then, I wouldn’t say I favor WVU in most of the remaining schedule. My bottom line is I can’t confidently pick WVU over more established Big 12 teams with the tremendous roster turnover from this offseason. Maybe the “Hard Edge” mentality will allow the Mountaineers to surprise me, but I see 5-7 at the moment.
Mike Asti (WV Sports Now/Yardbarker): 6-6
Predicting the 2025 Mountaineers is admittedly difficult, even for someone covering the program on an every day basis. Is it possible Rich Rodriguez could make WVU this year’s Arizona State or Indiana. I guess it’s possible. But it just feels unlikely. The talent on West Virginia’s roster just doesn’t have the overall depth.
What should happen is WVU will play hard and compete in every game. With an easier nonconference schedule compared to recent years, there’s also an opportunity to carry momentum into conference play.
Even though more will be expected through his entire second tenure, a bowl appearance and a Brawl win – I do think West Virginia finds a way to win a “rock fight” with Pitt – should enough to consider year one a success and create even more hype and excitement going into year two.
For anyone curious, check out the accuracy (or lack thereof) of the 2024 predictions.
For related content, Mike Asti and Luke Blain previewed the season on Mountaineer Report.
Also, Mike Asti was joined by Steve Slaton as he offered his predictions on a recent show.
