Many believe Coach Neal Brown needs more than a "competitive" season to keep his job, leading WVU's football team. Courtesy photo

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Change usually comes in small doses and without much fanfare in the college football ranks.

But in the Big 12 Conference this season, those changes come from all angles and are concerned with much more than just the rules, NIL conditions and adjusting to different schedules.

There will be a bloated roster of 14 teams playing in the conference. Oklahoma and Texas don’t bolt to the SEC until the 2024 season.

Cincinnati, Central Florida, Houston and Brigham Young come in this season.

Schools can still play only a 12-game schedule and they all crave home games and opponents that don’t torment head coaches trying to post winning records and find some bowl game, somewhere.

There are probably no teams outside of Texas and TCU that realistically envision staging a season worthy of Top10 national attention.

In West Virginia’s case, there are few pundits that believe the 2023 Mountaineers can find a winning season, much less chase after any glorified national honors.

Many believe Coach Neal Brown needs more than a “competitive” season to keep his job. He has never produced a season with a winning conference record.

The 2023 schedule begins with a road game at Penn State. Next comes a game in Morgantown against Duquesne, a team that is counted on as a win before the next opponent comes in the form of Pittsburgh’s “Backyard Brawl” Panthers. Those three games comprise the non-conference schedule for the Mountaineers.

West Virginia won’t play Texas, Kansas State, Kansas or Iowa State this year.

All the newest members of the league — Central Florida, Cincinnati, Brigham Young and Houston — are on the schedule. Maybe the tastiest game for anyone following the Mountaineers on the road would be the Oct. 28 date in Orlando against Central Florida.

Brigham Young and Cincinnati are coming to Morgantown and the Mountaineers must travel to Houston in addition to the savory date in Florida in late October.

As has become the instant difference maker in college football, the transfer portal has as much to do with the sport’s pecking order as does the presence of mascots like Bevo the longhorn at Texas, Brutus Buckeye at Ohio State or Albert the Alligator at Florida.

West Virginia will see itself covered with an underdog status on many a Saturday afternoon, especially when facing Penn State, TCU in Fort Worth, Oklahoma in Norman and even Texas Tech in Morgantown.

How has the turnstile-like transfer portal affected the Mountaineers this year? Can the Mountaineers find enough depth to withstand the inevitable injuries that come? And can they keep games close enough to be able to get critical wins in those decided by less than a touchdown?

Change is squarely in the view finder. Is that change going to be a positive for the Mountaineers?