Hodge hoping to challenge West Virginia in the non-conference, while understanding the difficulties of the Big 12
West Virginia head coach Ross Hodge is embarking on his first season as the head coach of the Mountaineers and with that comes his first non-conference schedule he is building.
Hodge believes in challenging his group, but also recognizes the importance of stacking some wins due to the challenge of the Big 12.
“Historically, we always play like really, really challenging schedules. I like to challenge our team in the non-league. I think it’s the best way that you can figure out who you really are,” Hodge said.
While West Virginia’s non-conference schedule is not finalized, there appears to be a trend of finding challenging games throughout.
The Mountaineers have three guaranteed games against teams that are against Power Five competition, while they also have a fourth game that is rumored to take place.
WVU plays Pitt at home, before they head to the Shriners’ Children’s Charleston Classic in November. There, they will play two games against Clemson, Georgia, or Xavier. Then, WVU is also likely to play Wake Forest at a neutral site, according to a report.
“You don’t want to bury yourselves because as we know, like the big 12 present so many challenges, but you also don’t want to be going into, you know, conference play with like a false sense of security,” Hodge said.
Using the final NET rankings of the 2024-2025 season, WVU would already have two Quad 1 games and two Quad 2 games on their schedule with the selection of those four games.
Last season, WVU played 16 Quad 1 games and seven Quad 2 games. WVU then went 9-0 in Quad 3 and Quad 4 games.
Hodge believes in trying to learn about his team in the non-conference, but knows what’s waiting for him in conference play is an even tougher test.
“You never want to lose any games. You plan on winning every game you play, but you can point to some, some losses early on and that’s how you can grow,” Hodge said.
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