After returning to the Sun Belt Championship Game in 2023, the Mountaineers will look to reclaim the conference title for the first time in five years.

They’re led by fifth-year head coach Shawn Clark, who’s coming off a strong year where he led the Black and Gold to a 9-5 record, a conference championship berth and a Cure Bowl victory over the Miami University RedHawks.

This year’s squad returns many of the most important contributors from last year, including senior quarterback Joey Aguilar, sophomore defensive end Nate Johnson, redshirt senior wide receiver Kaedin Robinson and redshirt sophomore running back Kanye Roberts.  This experience will help them improve upon their impressive performance in 2023.

Clark and his team will have several important games over the course of the season that will ultimately determine whether it’s seen as a success or a failure.

The first true test of the Mountaineers’ season will come against Clemson in Death Valley.  

The Tigers have fallen slightly from the lofty highs of the days when they were annual national title contenders, but they are still a formidable challenge for any team facing them.

On the offensive side of the ball, the Tigers are led by quarterback Cade Klubnik.  Klubnik threw for 2,844 yards and 19 touchdowns in his first season as the full-time starter in Clemson.

Complementing Klubnik is the return of the team’s leading rusher, running back Phil Mafah. In 2023, Mafah ran for 965 yards on 5.4 yards per carry, with 13 touchdowns and should be expected to make an even bigger impact this year with the departure of star back Will Shipley.

The Tigers defense is an elite unit that has produced many NFL draft picks, including five last year, and was top 10 in the country in yards allowed per game. They will be led by senior linebacker Barrett Carter, who had 62 tackles, 9.5 tackles for loss, 3.5 sacks and one interception last year.

All this talent on the Tigers’ roster gives them an advantage over the Mountaineers in almost every facet of the game. In all likelihood, Aguilar and the rest of the offensive skill players will have to play the game of their lives in order to give the Mountaineers a chance.

The Mountaineers will have one advantage going into this game: the Tigers will be coming off a matchup with the SEC juggernaut Georgia Bulldogs, which could wear them down and give the Black and Gold the opening they need to pull off the upset.

One of the biggest home games the Mountaineers have on their schedule is against the rising Group of Five power, Liberty University.

The Flames are coming off a brilliant season where they finished 13-1, won the Conference USA Championship and earned a berth in the Fiesta Bowl.

Liberty’s offense is led by quarterback Kaidon Salter. Salter threw for 2,876 yards with 32 touchdowns and six interceptions and ran for 1,089 yards and 12 touchdowns last season, where he was named first-team All-CUSA and CUSA MVP.

Lining up in the backfield alongside Salter is fellow first-team All-CUSA member Quinton Cooley. The running back ran for 1,401 on 6.3 yards per carry with 16 touchdowns in his junior year and is expected to be a force in what could be his final college season.

The Flame’s defense shouldn’t be slept on either, after finishing the season in the top half of the nation in both points and yards allowed per game.

The Flames and the Mountaineers are both at the top of the pecking order in their respective conferences and mirror each other in other respects as well. They both are returning superstar quarterbacks and other potent weapons on offense that will more than likely make this game a shootout to remember.

The Mountaineers’ offense will likely be able to keep up with the Flames, but the fate of the game may rest on the shoulders of the defense as a key stop could ultimately decide if this game turns out to be a win or a loss.

The Mountaineers’ conference schedule isn’t as challenging as their non-conference schedule, but their late season game against the James Madison Dukes could ultimately decide which of these teams reach the conference championship game.

The Dukes are almost unrecognizable after their head coach Curt Cignetti and star quarterback Jordan McCloud left for Indiana, sparking an exodus of talent that left many holes for new head coach Bob Chesney to fill.

Chesney’s offense will be helmed by redshirt quarterback transfer Dylan Morris. Morris threw for 3,721 yards, 20 touchdowns and 17 interceptions in four years at the University of Washington and sat behind eighth overall pick Michael Penix Jr. the past two.

JMU’s defense was among the nation’s best in 2023, allowing only 19.5 points per game, but the majority of last year’s defense left.

One of only two returning starters is cornerback Chauncy Logan. Logan had 45 tackles, one interception and six pass breakups in 2023, earning himself All-Sun Belt Honorable Mention honors.

The Dukes are an intriguing matchup precisely because of all of the turnover in their program. They are going to be a completely different team than the one the Mountaineers faced last season, so everything we assumed about the program last year can be thrown out the window.

If the Black and Gold can execute, they should be able to pull off the win as this JMU isn’t as good on paper as the team last season, but one can never truly know how the teams match up until they kick off.

The rest of the Mountaineers’ schedule isn’t quite as noteworthy as these three games, considering many of these teams are clear underdogs compared to the Black and Gold.

The Mountaineers could be considered underdogs against Clemson and Liberty, but they could have a shot at pulling off the upset against these two teams, similar to the upsets of Texas A&M and JMU in the recent past.

If they are able to overcome one or both of these teams and win the games they’re capable of winning, they could have an outside shot at an at-large bid into the new 12-team College Football Playoff.

In all likelihood, the team may stumble a couple of times and lose some of the games they are favored in, or lose tough games on the road against strong teams such as Coastal Carolina or Marshall.

Despite this, they should still be able to win the conference in the end, which would be the elusive return to glory Clark and his staff have been looking for since the beginning of his tenure.