I’m not stumping for a contract extension. In fact, I don’t expect one and I don’t blame the boss for needing to see more before he puts his hands in the wet cement.

I’m weird, but I regularly rank WVU’s 12 opponents. Youngstown State has always been No. 12. Missouri and BYU have been no better than No. 8 and Kansas State no better than No. 6 — and it’s been a while for that. So, in my extraordinarily irrelevant polling, the last eight games feature, at present, the six toughest opponents (and two of the three worst). That’s, at the minimum, different.

But with enhanced opposition comes enhanced opportunity, so I’m also not saying an extension can’t or won’t come in the future. You could convince me a scenario exists in which an extension comes before the end of the regular season — and wouldn’t that be helpful for recruiting when WVU is playing on the first weekend in December and six other Big 12 teams and many other geographical rivals are on the road?

We can put our heads in the sand and choose not to track or deal with this topic, but we can also acknowledge some realities.

The Mountaineers didn’t overwhelm their first four opponents. The offense can’t turn yards into points. The defense hasn’t found much footing. The upcoming schedule — with no open weekends — is really hard. But is it as hard as last October? And is WVU the same team now as it was then? Nine wins in 10 games. Close wins as opposed to close losses. A quarterback who’s settled in and, by the way, much better at home, which is a nice convenience with the toughest remaining games happening at Mountaineer Field. But is that enough to reverse his history against the top of the Big 12?

There’s plenty to consider and debate, but agree on this: The future starts now for Shane Lyons, for Dana Holgorsen and for their football program.