For West Virginia football, if you ask anyone inside the building, the number 14 has resonated with them all. Now as the Mountaineers are stringing wins together, that number is still on the front of their minds.
14. That is where West Virginia was selected to finish in the Big 12. Entering the second week of November, West Virginia is 4-2 in the Big 12, and is sitting in a five-way tie for third place in the league.
Not many predicted the Mountaineers to be in this position, as West Virginia was picked to finish 14th in the Big 12 Preseason Poll. And now, with it being mathematically impossible for West Virginia to finish last in the conference, that same mindset of being the underdog and being counted out is what the Mountaineers are taking with them moving forward.
“We’re 14 until proven otherwise,” West Virginia offensive lineman Brandon Yates said. “That’s never going to change. They’re going to look at us as 14. Every team’s going to look at us as 14. I think we just got to go out there and prove people that we’re not.”
The Mountaineers continue are trying to prove to others they belong. West Virginia has beaten two teams picked in the top-five of the league, and three teams picked to finish eighth or higher this season in the Big 12.
“I think that it’s something we keep in front of them because until the year’s over, we still have something to prove,” West Virginia head coach Neal Brown said.
“It all starts with that’s what people thought of us. That’s what they thought of this program at the start of the year and we’re out to prove that wrong right up until the end. We’re using it as motivation. It’s the truth, that’s where we were picked.”
This past week, West Virginia earned their sixth win of the season, dismantling BYU 37-7. With the win, the Mountaineers became bowl eligible. But even after being picked to finish last, they’re not stopping at just becoming bowl eligible. They’re focused on bigger things such as making it to Dallas.
“We didn’t talk about it. We really didn’t. I didn’t say anything about it in the locker room,” Brown said of becoming bowl eligible following WVU’s win over BYU. “Really to me, it’s about, the best teams play their best in November and that was the best game we’ve played this year. We have a four-game stretch in November, that’s the way we’re attacking it, we’re 1-0.”
Safety Aubrey Burks echoed the mindset of having to play your best football in November.
“If you want to win a championship, you have to win in November. That’s just our whole mindset this November, we must win if we want to get to where we want to get to,” Burks said.
What’s fueled West Virginia recently has been the development of their offense. Garrett Greene and company have totaled at least 450 yards per game in each of WVU’s last four games. That is the first time the offense has done that since 2018, as under Brown, the previous longest streak was a two-game span.
Tight end Kole Taylor agrees that being picked to finish last still means there is a chip on the Mountaineers’ shoulder, despite the success they’re having.
“It’s something we carry over every week and we take great pride in,” Taylor said. “It’s something we play with a chip on our shoulder, and I think it’s something West Virginia has done year in and year out, is play with a chip on their shoulder.”
Taylor added the goal of getting to Dallas and play in the Big 12 Championship is still alive, but it starts with winning one game at a time.
“I think the main goal is trying to get to a conference championship,” Taylor said. “We’ve already locked in a bowl, we’re trying to win out. I’m not exactly sure how it all goes for us to go to the conference championship, but the biggest thing for us is just to try to win out, win each week.”
This week, West Virginia’s attention turns to Oklahoma. The Mountaineers and Sooners are two of the five teams tied in the Big 12 race, with the winner keeping their chances alive, and the loser being eliminated from contention.
“We’ve played back-to-back nail biters versus these guys and we don’t expect anything less when we go out to Norman,” Brown said.
