The fun and games are over for the West Virginia football team.

It was a nice run of warmup games following that grueling season opener versus Virginia Tech. Beating up on East Carolina, Delaware State and Kansas got the kinks out. Yet now the real season begins for the Mountaineers.

Like I mentioned last week, the rest of WVU’s 2017 schedule is daunting. Five of their remaining opponents currently sport winning percentages of .750 or better. Oklahoma is still on the table. So is Oklahoma State. The Horned Frogs are a beast at home and have the added juice of ESPN College GameDay setting up shop outside their stadium today.

The good news? WVU took a very, very good Virginia Tech team to the limit. It showed it can hang with the big boys. The not-so-good news? West Virginia’s defense has left something to be desired. The really, really, really good news? Let Mitch Vingle tell you that:

Big news that could impact tomorrow’s WVU-TCU game. Gazette-Mail has learned both David Long and Toyous Avery will play and start for WVU.

— Mitch Vingle (@MitchVingle) October 7, 2017

That’s just the boost the Mountaineers need heading into the teeth of their schedule. We’ll soon see how much it will mean.