WVU Football to be Winningest Program in New Big 12

With college football royalty Oklahoma and Texas leaving the Big 12 and a new expanded conference taking shape, WVU now has an argument as the new blue blood of the conference.

West Virginia has been playing football since 1891 and is the 15th winningest program in history (Division I only), but how do the Mountaineers stack up with the rest of the new Big 12 from a historical perspective? In terms of winning overall, right at the top.

The WVU football program will now own the most all-time wins in the new Big 12 by a significant margin. Colorado is next up, followed by Utah and TCU. West Virginia, Colorado and Utah are the only three with over 700 wins all-time.

All-Time Wins (national rank):

1. West Virginia – 774 (15th)

2. Colorado – 719 (30th)

3. Utah – 711 (32nd)

4. TCU – 680 (39th)

5. Cincinnati – 656 (44th)

6. Arizona State – 635 (53rd)

7. Oklahoma State – 627 (56th)

8. Baylor – 623 (57th)

9. Arizona – 623 (57th)

10. BYU – 612 (64th)

11. Kansas – 594 (68th)

12. Texas Tech – 590 (71st)

13. Kansas State – 561 (82nd)

14. Iowa State – 559 (84th)

15. Houston – 468 (109th)

16. Central Florida – 287 (119th)

Obviously, to be fair, some of the newer members like UCF haven’t been in existence anywhere near as long as the school’s at the top of this list. But if being entrenched in the fabric of the game forever and winning a lot of games counts for anything, this is how the new makeup of the conference looks.

If you prefer all-time win percentage, arguably a fairer barometer, WVU still clocks in near the top at third.

All-Time Winning Percentage:

1. Arizona State – .602

2. Utah – .596

3. West Virginia – .595

4. BYU – .581

5. Colorado – .571

6. Central Florida – .559

7. Arizona – .555

8. Texas Tech – .552

9. Houston – .547

10. TCU – .543

11. Oklahoma State – .524

12. Cincinnati – .523

13. Baylor – .513

14. Kansas – .469

15. Kansas State – .458

16. Iowa State – .456