It’s either always too early or never too early to get into preseason football publications. Experience suggests only a few warrant more attention than a brief glance while you’re waiting on your nachos at Sheetz.

One is Athlon, which has been the best the past three years and was expertly exact last year. Athlon places WVU at No. 7 in its national preseason preview with several nice things to say about the Mountaineers.  

Interim head coaches were 1–6 in bowl games this past postseason. The only winner was Bill Stewart, who took over in Morgantown following Rich Rodriguez’s resignation and engineered the Mountaineers’ stunning 48–28 Fiesta Bowl triumph over Oklahoma. For fans who may have been wondering how the players would respond to their new coach, the early results are most encouraging.

So Athlon has spoken. If only the people would listen.