Of course, West Virginia wants to win in 2026, as do the fans. They don't want to hear about next year or anything regarding the future, which is understandable given how six of the last seven seasons have gone. That being said, a schedule change was made to the 2027 slate, which should give me a pass to talk about next year, right?Hint: I'm going to anyway.Wren Baker announced that the team's home game with Ohio has been moved from September 18th to August 28th, making the team's first-ever Week 0 game. Some think it could be the first move to getting Pitt back on the schedule, but it's unlikely. What it will do is give West Virginia an extra bye week. Every team is given one bye week by its conference during league play, and by playing in Week 0, you create another open date since you're already at 12 games and are just relocating one of those games. As we all know, bye weeks are precious, and you need to take full advantage of them to rest, recover, and figure some things out. Having two byes creates an even stronger outlook for the 2027 campaign, which is already looking very favorable. Yes, I know. I have no idea who is going to be good or bad this year, much less a year from now. But when there isn't a single Power Four team in your non-conference schedule, AND you avoid Texas Tech and Utah, who are likely going to remain at or near the top of the league for the foreseeable future, you have to think it's a good thing. Not to mention, because every non-con game will be played at home and the Big 12 is giving WVU four conference home games, that means the Mountaineers will play seven contests inside Milan Puskar Stadium.Also, it will be year three of Rich Rodriguez's return, and you'd like to think that he will have found some players to build this thing around by taking a step forward this year. By doing so, they will also attract more talent out of the transfer portal next winter. I'm not ready to say 2027 is the year for West Virginia to make a run at it, but the stars are aligning for them to make some noise.The updated 2027 schedule8/28 vs. Ohio9/4 vs. Southern Miss9/11 vs. VMIBig 12 home games: Arizona State, BYU, Iowa State, UCFBig 12 road games: Baylor, Cincinnati, Colorado, Kansas State, Oklahoma StateAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow