West Virginia Big 12 Rumors: How Will the Mountaineers Fare in the Big 12?

From all the reports we heard yesterday, it sounds almost certain that West Virginia will move from the Big East to the Big 12, even though no official announcement has been made yet.

The Mountaineers will likely be the replacement for Missouri, who has been heavily rumored to be the SEC’s next addition, which would make West Virginia the Big 12’s 10th team.

It looks like a win-win situation for both parties, considering the Big 12 needed to find notable programs after losing Nebraska, Colorado, Texas A&M and now likely Missouri, while West Virginia was searching for a way out of the crumbling Big East.

Even though from a geographic standpoint, the move isn’t exactly perfect, West Virginia was the best option available to the Big 12.

Even though they haven’t represented the conference in a BCS bowl since 2007, the Mountaineers have been the bell cow team of the Big East and the conference’s most nationally-recognizable football program for the past few years.

Now the Mountaineers will be given the opportunity to prove themselves against considerably stronger competition in the Big 12.

Even though the conference has taken a few hits lately, the Big 12 still has its two power programs—Oklahoma and Texas—as well as programs like Oklahoma State, Baylor, Kansas State and TCU that have great potential for the future.

It’s going to be a true test for West Virginia to compete in the Big 12, but the Mountaineers have the perfect leader in Dana Holgorsen to help them make the transition.

Holgorsen is a Big 12 veteran, having coached at both Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, and he’s shown that his offense can have great success in the conference.

It’s no secret that from a talent and recruiting standpoint, West Virginia isn’t quite on the same level as Oklahoma and Texas, but now that the boys in gold and blue are joining the Big 12, it will open up new recruiting avenues in Texas that Holgorsen should be able to take advantage of.

After being dominated by Oklahoma and Texas for so long, this is now a conference that seems to be a little more wide open than in years past.

West Virginia won’t be able to just waltz in, run the table and win a conference championship in its first year, but this is a program headed in the right direction for the future, and this is a logical step to take at this point.

In two or three years, if Holgorsen makes the right moves and builds things the way he wants to build them, West Virginia will have a great chance to start contending with the big boys of the Big 12 for conference supremacy.

With this type of move and step up in competition, some growing pains are to be expected, and it wouldn’t be shocking to see one or two blowout losses in the first year. For the long term, this is definitely a great move for West Virginia football, and Holgorsen should turn the Mountaineers into contenders rather soon.