WVU Football: ONE WORD to Describe Each Game of the 2025 Season

Game 1: Robert MorrisSloppyWhile the Mountaineers collected a 45-3 win over Robert Morris, it was not a victory that came in the prettiest of fashions. WVU fumbled the ball 4 times in the first half, and 3 of them resulted in turnovers. Game 2: OhioTroubleWVU took a trip to face off with the Ohio Bobcats in Athens. They fell to the Bobcats by a final score of 17-10. This was a troubling result for the Mountaineers in a number of ways. Firstly, one of the major concerns heading into the season was regarding the WVU offensive line. For the first time (and certainly not the last), opposing defenses took advantage of a weak unit up front. Game 3: PittEpicAfter falling to Ohio, WVU reportedly missed out on the opportunity to host ESPN’s College Gameday against Pitt. In a thrilling come-from-behind victory that went to overtime, a name that will forever be remembered in the Backyard Brawl burst onto the scene. West Virginia running back, Tye Edwards, ran for 141 yards and 3 touchdowns on 25 carries, after not picking up a single carry in the team’s first two games. Game 4: KansasPunchedWest Virginia hit the road to begin Big 12 Conference play against the Kansas Jayhawks. Although Kansas scored on its opening possession, West Virginia’s defense earned 3 consecutive stops that forced the Jayhawks to punt. Unfortunately, the WVU offense was unable to get anything going, and the Jayhawks' offense started to heat up in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, where they scored 27 of their 41 points. Game 5: UtahEmbarrassingWith Marchiol ruled out, Jaylen Henderson did get the start against Utah with West Virginia donning its throwback uniforms from 1965. The first home game in Big 12 play was a major disappointment for Rich Rodriguez and his team. The talented Utes team jumped out to a 28-0 lead in a flat-out embarrassing first half.Game 6: BYUExplosiveWest Virginia did not force BYU to punt until under the 2-minute mark in the 4th quarter. The Mountaineer defense struggled from start to finish, though the Cougars hurt themselves with 3 turnovers. Zac Alley’s WVU defense gave up way too many explosive plays to hang with BYU in Khalil Wilkins’ first career start. Game 7: UCFDiscouragingGame 7 for the Mountaineers saw the 4th starting quarterback in as many games for WVU, with true freshman Scotty Fox Jr. getting the first start of his career. In a lot of ways, this may have been West Virginia’s most disappointing game of the season, and could certainly be classified as the low point of the season. Game 8: TCUFamiliarFor the first time since the victory over Pitt in the Backyard Brawl on September 13th, Mountaineer fans were engaged in a close contest in the 4th quarter. After trailing by two scores for the majority of the game, West Virginia was one 3rd down stop away from getting the ball back with less than two minutes to play and trailing by 6. Game 9: HoustonOutlierThere is no doubt that West Virginia’s best overall performance of the season came on the road in a victory over the 7-1 Houston Cougars. Scotty Fox Jr. and company won the game as a double-digit underdog, 45-35. Game 10: ColoradoOpportunisticTalented freshman Julian Lewis got the start for Colorado and played pretty well considering West Virginia’s defense had 7 sacks and 15 tackles-for-loss. Diore Hubbard once again shone for WVU with 158 total yards.Game 11: Arizona StateEffortRiding a 2-game winning streak and seeking to keep their fight for bowl eligibility alive, WVU visited the Arizona State Sun Devils. After trailing 22-10 at half and the score remaining the same after 3 quarters, WVU put together consecutive scoring drives in the 4th quarter to take a late 23-22 lead. Game 12: Texas TechPitifulThe performance that WVU put forth against one of the nation’s best teams in Texas Tech, was one to forget. West Virginia was shut out in a 49-0 contest that the Red Raiders dominated from the opening possession.