West Virginia University confirmed its 2013 football schedule Tuesday, a slate featuring six home games and six on the road.
Another quirk is a Week 2 conference opener at Oklahoma, a change from this season’s schedule in which WVU played all three of its nonconference games upfront. Next year’s trip to Norman figures to be a difficult early-season test for a Mountaineers squad that could return as few as 10 starters.
The schedule release was not so much about the opponents — all of whom were previously acknowledged — but more about the sequential order of the nine-game conference round-robin. WVU’s two bye weeks will precede a home date against Texas Tech and the season finale against Iowa State.
The 2013 schedule:
Aug. 31 William & Mary
Sept. 7 at Oklahoma
Sept. 14 Georgia State
Sept. 21 at Maryland (Baltimore)
Sept. 28 Oklahoma State
Oct. 5 at Baylor
Oct. 19 Texas Tech
Oct. 26 at Kansas State
Nov. 2 at TCU
Nov. 9 Texas
Nov. 16 at Kansas
Nov. 29/30 Iowa State
“It will be our second year in the Big 12 and once again new faces will be coming to Milan Puskar Stadium, while we make our first visit to some new road locations as well,” WVU athletics director Oliver Luck said. “As with any Big 12 schedule, challenging and exciting are two words that come to mind.”
Under next season’s Big 12 rotation, the Mountaineers must play five conference road games and only four in Morgantown.
“I think the schedule provides a good mix of home and away games in each month, which will be beneficial to our team and fans,” WVU football coach Dana Holgorsen said. “We all know how difficult the competition is in the Big 12. This schedule will once again be very challenging for our program.”
The highlight of the nonconference schedule is a Week 4 matchup against Maryland in Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium.
West Virginia will celebrate “Mountaineer Week” preceding the Nov. 9 visit by Texas — the Longhorns’ first trip to Morgantown.
Kickoff times and television schedule will be announced at a later time.