CBS Sports Ranks WVU’s 2025 Schedule Among the Most Difficult in Big 12

Originally posted on West Virginia Mountaineers on SI
By Schuyler Callihan | Last updated Aug 1, 2025 7:44 AM ET

Sometimes, the talent of a team can be hard to gauge because of its schedule.

Last year, Indiana made it all the way to the College Football Playoff, thanks to a very light non-conference slate, and a very favorable Big Ten schedule where Ohio State was the only ranked opponent they played and proceeded to get beaten soundly.

The other end of it can be true as well. This year, Florida has a team talented enough to win the SEC, but the difficulty of their schedule will almost certainly prevent them from doing so.

So, how about West Virginia? How challenging is their schedule in 2025? According to Shehan Jeyarajah of CBS Sports, they have the sixth-toughest slate among those in the Big 12.

"WVU has finally aged out of the miserably hard nonconference schedules, and primarily features the Backyard Brawl against Pittsburgh coming to Morgantown. From there, the Mountaineers play most of the middle class of the Big 12, but miss the elite for most of the year. That is, until the final two games of the season when Arizona State and Texas Tech are on the docket in November. Still, the wave of middle class teams makes for a bumpy road in Morgantown."

If the schedule ends up being as challenging as it appears, winning six or seven games in year one with nearly an entirely new roster is a sign for big things to come in the near future. Should WVU find a way to spring an upset along the way, the optimism around the program will be through the roof this time next year.