West Virginia's Win Total for the 2025 Season Forecasts Rough Year One for Rich Rod

Expectations for West Virginia in 2025 are fairly low, at least from the outside. The massive overhaul of the roster, in addition to a whole new coaching staff, has many believing the Mountaineers will have their fair share of bumps in the road this fall.

FanDuel Sportsbook has set its win total for WVU at 5.5. As of Wednesday morning, bettors can take the over at +154, while the price for the under is at -192.

Why so low?

Well, in addition to the large number of newcomers, the Mountaineers don't have many players with starting experience at the Power Four level. Many of their transfers, including their biggest gets, come from the Group of Five and FCS.

There's also a big question mark at quarterback. Nicco Marchiol is the presumed favorite, but Texas A&M transfer Jaylen Henderson won't go quietly. Regardless of who is named QB1, there's not much faith from the outside that they'll have WVU playing meaningful football in November.

Best path to six wins

West Virginia has to take advantage of its non-conference slate. The road trip to Ohio can be tricky, but they should enter the Backyard Brawl at 2-0. With the Pitt game being at home, WVU has to protect its turf and enter Big 12 action at 3-0. It's not unreasonable to think the Mountaineers can go perfect in non-con play. Doing so would mean WVU has nine opportunities to get three wins to go over the 5.5 mark and become bowl-eligible.

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