These Three Games Could Define the 2025 WVU Football Season

Originally posted on West Virginia Mountaineers on SI
By Schuyler Callihan | Last updated Jun 25, 2025 1:15 PM ET

We're roughly two months away from kicking off the 2025 season, and for the West Virginia Mountaineers, there are more questions than answers heading into the new campaign. How good will this team be? Can they be a dark horse to win the Big 12 or will they be fighting just to get eligible?

There are three games on the schedule where we'll learn a lot about this year's edition of WVU football.

9/6 at Ohio

I know what you're thinking...how in the world is a game against a Group of Six opponent going to be a telling sign of things to come? Two things. One, it's a pretty good football team that doesn't get to host Power Four opponents very often. And two, it's a potential look-ahead game for WVU with the Backyard Brawl on deck. Although it's early in the season (Week 2), it'll be a good barometer for how focused this team will be for the task at hand, rather than peeking ahead. If they don't play up to their capability and somehow lose this game, or barely hold on for a win, buckle up. We'll get some answers as early as Week 2.

9/13 vs. Pitt

This one seems pretty obvious, right? There's going to be a lot of hoopla surrounding this game, as there always is. This year, it may be more than usual because of Rich Rodriguez's return, it being on 9/13, and for the few who remain from last year's team, it's a game they want back. How does this team handle pressure and perhaps a little bit of adversity? This will almost certainly be the first test.

10/3 or 10/4 at BYU

I could have picked a game later in the year, but we're looking for signs early in the season that will reveal who this team really is. There's no such thing as a "defining game" in November unless you're playing for a championship, and those are pretty obvious. How they compete against the perceived top tier of the Big 12 in October should tell us if they're anywhere close to being a contender. BYU is a tough place to play; they have a lot of talent returning from last year's 11-win team, and it's a cross-country trip - they're first traveling through multiple time zones in 2025.