MORGANTOWN — West Virginia and Kansas find themselves in the same, unenviable position this week. Heading into Saturday’s Big 12 opener in Morgantown (noon, ESPN2), both the Mountaineers and the Jayhawks are sitting at 1-2 in desperate need of a win.
“It’s two teams with our backs against the wall,” WVU coach Neal Brown said.
Both programs entered the season on the rise, with aspirations of contending for the 2024 Big 12 championship. Those aspirations are hanging on by a thread after both teams went 1-2 in nonconference play, only defeating FCS opponents.
West Virginia had a disappointing opener against Penn State and lost a heartbreaker to Pitt in last week’s Backyard Brawl. Kansas, meanwhile, has dropped back-to-back one-score games, 23-17 to Illinois and 23-20 against UNLV.
“They’re a team that’s been close and feels they need to get a win and so do we,” KU coach Lance Leipold allowed. “There’s going to be a lot of excitement in Morgantown.”
The biggest disappointment for Kansas so far has been the play of star quarterback Jalon Daniels. Returning from a back injury that made him miss nine games in 2023, Daniels has missed a number of throws and already has more interceptions (six) this year than in any other season in his career.
West Virginia is in a similar boat. After turning the ball over just 14 times in 13 games last season, the Mountaineers have six turnovers in three games this year.
“At times we’ve played really well on offense this year but we’ve had more turnovers,” Brown said. “I think Kansas is the same thing, that’s been their Achilles heel as well. We’ve got to do a better job on offense of protecting it.”
Both coaches are viewing the start of conference play as a sort of soft reset to the season. What teams make it to the Big 12 Championship in Dallas will be decided by the next nine games, not the first three.
“I told the team if were 3-0, 2-1, 0-3, we’d be talking about the same thing,” Leipold said. “It starts over right now.”
Coaches tend to avoid labeling any game, especially one in September, as a “must-win,” but it’s hard to deny the importance of winning Saturday’s contest for both sides.
“Here’s the thing I don’t want to do — I’m not getting into ‘must-wins’ and all that stuff right now,” Leipold said. “We’ve got a lot of football left. If you start putting them all in one basket, either way, you’ve got to get your team ready the next week.”
While wins in September rarely dictate how a season will finish — Oklahoma State lost two games last September and still made the Big 12 Championship — both the Mountaineers and Jayhawks could use a win just to get the bad taste of nonconference play out of their mouths.
“We’re looking forward to getting back on the field,” Brown said. “It can’t get here fast enough and we’ll be ready.”
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