WVU football: Realistic expectations for the Mountaineers in 2023

When Neal Brown came to WVU football after three straight successful seasons at Troy, everyone was excited about the hire. It felt like a great fit, especially since he proved he could turn a program like Troy around in a short period of time.

Brown was 31-8 in his final three seasons with Troy before getting hired at West Virginia. Everyone was on board with that success.

Year one saw some decent results, but no bowl game at 5-7 and then year two was plagued by COVID-19, but Brown still managed to go 6-4, winning the Liberty Bowl. Everything was trending in the right direction.

Year three saw another bowl berth, but a loss that led to a second sub-.500 season in his first three years, but fans couldn’t be too mad at a bowl berth. But 2022 was supposed to be a big growth year, especially with JT Daniels at quarterback, but that fit just never worked out and West Virginia will be moving forward with younger, less proven options.

After a 5-7 season in 2022, the vibes around the program are low, but what are the realistic expectations for this year’s team?

Realistic expectations for WVU football

I’m not super high on WVU heading into the season, especially with all of the disappointment in the past couple of years and the fact that Brown is on the hot seat, but I think freshman quarterback Nicco Marchiol gives this team the best chance to win.

If he starts, I think the Mountaineers could make a bowl game and potentially pull off an upset or two. But right now, Garrett Greene is projected to start.

So with that assumption, looking at the schedule, the Mountaineers will open the season with a loss (maybe an ugly one) at Penn State. They’ll then beat Duquesne and split the Pitt and Texas Tech games at home to improve to 2-2. TCU is going to beat West Virginia to end September and send the Mountaineers into a bye with a 2-3 record. Coming off that bye, they’ll split the next two games against Houston and Oklahoma State, lose at UCF, beat BYU, lose at Oklahoma, and then beat Cincinnati to end the season with a 5-7 record again.

If they start Marchiol, I think they could go 6-6 or 7-5 but if it’s Greene, I see another bowl-less season and likely the end of the Brown era in Morgantown.