West Virginia is 1,200 Miles From Everyone and Still in the Big 12
I need to talk about the geography situation with West Virginia because it’s been bothering me for years.
West Virginia is in the Big 12. The BIG TWELVE. A conference that, until the Pac-12 additions, was entirely located in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Iowa.
Morgantown is in WEST VIRGINIA. That’s on the other side of the country. Well, not the other side. But definitely not the middle. It’s closer to New York than it is to any Big 12 school. It’s closer to CANADA than it is to some Big 12 schools.
The next closest Big 12 team is Cincinnati, which is still like 200 miles away. After that? You’re looking at Kansas, which is 800+ miles. Or the Texas schools, which are 1,200+ miles.
How does this make sense? How is this a conference?
The travel must be insane. Every road game is a cross-country trip. The students can’t drive to away games. The parents can’t make weekend trips. West Virginia is just… out there. Alone. In the mountains. Burning couches after wins.
Mike’s note: The Big 12 added West Virginia in 2012 because they needed members after the mass exodus to the SEC and Big Ten. Geographic fit was not a priority. Revenue and brand were. West Virginia had both — passionate fan base, good football history, large TV market (relatively). The fact that they’re 1,200 miles away from everyone was accepted as a necessary trade-off.
You know what though? I kind of respect it.
West Virginia doesn’t fit geographically. They know it. Everyone knows it. And they just… don’t care. They show up. They compete. They burn couches. They sing “Country Roads” after games like they’re not a complete geographic anomaly.
That’s Big 12 energy. “We don’t make sense but we’re here anyway.”
6-6 is fine for West Virginia. They’re perpetually in that 6-6 to 8-4 range. Never great, never terrible. Just existing out there in the mountains, being weird, confusing conference realignment analysts.
Keep being you, West Virginia. You beautiful geographic outlier.
— Jake