For West Virginia football, the move to the College Football Playoff era hasn’t always been favorable.
Since its introduction during the 2014 season, the College Football Playoffs have seen significant changes due to the CFP. Now that the CFP will have twelve teams in 2024, the postseason will undergo yet another significant change.
With the loss of longtime national powers Oklahoma and Texas, WVU will try to compete at the top of the redesigned Big 12, and they hope to maintain some success and secure their first-ever CFP bid. Their performance since the playoffs were instituted, though, has not been stellar.
In the 10 years that the system has been in place, the Mountaineers have only received two finishes in the final Top 25 poll. Thirty-four programs, including six of the current 16 Big 12 schools and both former Big 12 schools who have been in the league until now for the entire CFP era, have managed more than 25 finishes out of the seventy current Power Four conference schools (which include Washington State, Oregon State, and Notre Dame). Additionally, two Group of Five programs—Navy and Boise State—have made more appearances.
Furthermore, WVU has only needed 14 weeks to make an appearance in the CFP polls; Boise State, Memphis, and 38 other power conference institutions have made more poll appearances overall. This places WVU
Both of the team’s appearances in the final poll came during the Dana Holgorsen era, as Neal Brown has failed to finish the season with a CFP Top 25 team during his coaching tenure. He likely came close to earning that achievement last fall with a 9-4 record — his best yet — but WVU didn’t quite earn the nod. In 2024, WVU will look to take advantage of a Big 12 without two of it’s historically best programs and a roster loaded with returning weapons to begin to change this narrative and earn their first Top 25 finish in a good while.
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