It’s no secret one of the downsides to WVU being a member of the Big 12 Conference is the travel. Fans have acclimated to the arduous trips, because the Mountaineer faithful will show up no matter where they play.
But, another football season is on the horizon. Given the fact that the only two schools on the schedule within a six-hour drive of Morgantown are either playing at Milan Puskar Stadium or a neutral site further south, you’ll have to rack up the miles to see the old gold and blue. Read more: Have love, will travel: WVU Football’s road schedule racks up the miles.
Those two aforementioned games include Cincinnati coming to Morgantown, a sub-five hour drive (307 miles) for the Bearcats without traffic, and Virginia. If the game against the Cavaliers was in Charlottesville, it’d only be four hours for WVU (233). Instead, the UVA game is in Charlotte, which still isn’t a bad haul, but still six hours (378).
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The rest? Grab a plane ticket or set aside a day (minimum) each way for travel.
This year’s road gauntlet
Luckily, WVU gets seven home games this year. It doesn’t always shake out that way. Take away the neutral site UVA game in Charlotte and the Mountaineers are only forced to play four true road games.
Those few trips are more than making up for it in the sheer amount of travel. Here are the four stops;
- October 3: Iowa State (860 miles, approx. 13 hours)
- October 24: TCU (1,241 miles, approx. 18.5 hours)
- November 7: Texas Tech (1,466 miles, approx. 21.5 hours)
- November 27: Utah (1,899 miles, approx. 28.5 hours)
It’s not a new concept, as WVU has been the outlier in the Big 12 since it joined before the 2012 season. The truth is — it still sucks.
Granted, it could always be worse. Stanford, Cal, and SMU are currently in the ACC. What does ACC stand for, everybody?
Atlantic. Coast. Conference.
These days there are other teams feeling WVU’s pain around the league, with Utah, BYU, and Colorado being way out there too. More people to commiserate with, I guess.
The bigger issue
The point is, the Big East may not be around for football anymore. And maybe the grass was greener to come to the big leagues and join a conference that used to boast Texas and Oklahoma. But maybe WVU Football Head Coach Rich Rodriguez had a point at Big 12 Media Days this week.
“I love the Big 12,” Rodriguez said. “But it would be nice to have some regional [matchups]. Can’t we all come together and shake hands and give each other a group hug, and then have an Eastern Regional, a South Regional, a North Regional, and everyone just share the money? There’s money for everybody and we can all get along. Sixty of us or so. I think that would be great. I’m gonna put my pitch right now – I’m not speaking for anybody but Coach Rod. He would like for all the Power Four teams to come together, shake hands and let’s get the biggest TV package in the history of TV packages, and [WVU] could have Pitt and Virginia Tech and Penn State and Maryland, Cincinnati and maybe Virginia and North Carolina. All right there. Fans could drive to it. Rivalry every year.”
Unfortunately, that’s never going to happen. It still got me thinking.
Could you imagine, as a fan, waking up every Saturday with a rivalry game nearly every week? Better yet, ones that you can drive to that morning and in some cases return the same night?
You can’t do that in the Big 12 now, or hardly any conference for that matter. You know who does it right, though? The MAC. I’m on my soapbox here, but it’s literally just Ohio, Michigan, and friends. It’s awesome.
That’s not the reality we live in these days, and I doubt it’ll ever turn to that. But while Mountaineer fans travel to the ends of the earth to see their boys play — bringing their love and passion for the team with them — sometimes you just wish it could be the days of Cincinnati, Pitt, Louisville, and the bunch.
No chance in singing Kumbaya
This is all wishful thinking.
Regardless, the program is used to the travel at this point, so I’m probably making a mountain out of a molehill. I just wish the Mountaineers weren’t playing Utah or some other team with minimal connection when it comes down to rivalry week.
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Until next time, grab that Monster Energy patch and wear it proud; this is the Big 12.
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