By: Justin Walker | WV Sports
Could the WVU football program be a Big 12 sleeper? And could they be dominant the next five to ten years? That is what popular Big 12 podcaster Pete Mundo said on his show earlier this week.
On Sunday, Pete Mundo hosted an episode of his popular show, Heartland College Sports. The topic of the episode was five sleeper Big 12 football teams who are poised to move up the Big 12 pecking order and potentially even dominate for the next decade. First on that list was the West Virginia Mountaineers.
While Mundo was not suggesting that WVU football would be back to where they were from 2005-2007, he does think they can become a consistent top 25 team again.
“The program is very underrated when it comes to historical value, when it comes to fan base passion,” said Mundo. “When it comes to their ability to recruit underratedly well, West Virginia has always done that.”
The HCS host would go on to say, “the problem is Dana Holgorsen into Neal Brown set them back a lot, I mean many years. Dana Holgorsen had a nice stretch there 2016-2018, but that was it.”
Then Mundo would begin discussing the Rich Rod 2.0 era in Morgantown and what he likes about it. He begins by talking about Rodriguez’s plan to build the program through high school recruiting.
“This class was third in the Big 12 in 2026. He had 49 high school [and JUCO] prospects come in. And in 2027 his class is currently ranked 4th in the Big 12 Conference. So he’s working hard to find those high school guys, get them in, recruit them, develop them, and then build pieces in the transfer portal around that.”
Mundo would close the segment by speaking about younger Big 12 fans, who may not realize how good WVU football has been in the past.
“If West Virginia gets to that level again, Big 12 fans don’t know it….when this team and this program is elite, it will change this conference and I believe it will change this conference for the better.”
To hear all of Mundo’s comments, check out the full episode here: https://youtu.be/17uiu9JhPyo?si=r1EHyRnxIbtccSXK
Photo Credit: WVU Athletics
