Week Zero used to be like an exclusive club in college football. If you weren’t Hawaii, playing Hawaii, or part of a special exception, you waited your turn like everyone else. But not anymore. West Virginia just became one of the first programs to benefit from the NCAA’s scheduling overhaul. The Mountaineers wasted little time making a change to their schedule against Ohio, which was originally set for Sept. 18, 2027. 

West Virginia won’t have to wait until mid-September to host Ohio anymore. The school announced Monday that the matchup has been bumped to Aug. 28, 2027. It’ll also be the first time the Mountaineers have ever opened a season in Week Zero.

College football’s calendar is changing, and West Virginia is one of the first programs to feel it. AD Wren Baker confirmed the change, and it gives the program something it’s never had before: a Week Zero opener. That switch brings the game forward by three weeks and gives West Virginia an opening-night feel it has not had before. 

The change happened because the NCAA decided to shake up the FBS schedule starting in 2027. From next year, most FBS teams will be able to begin play in Week Zero and still keep a full 12-game regular season. The season will then run through the week after Thanksgiving.

There is a built-in exception for seasons that land with 14 Saturdays between the Thursday before Labor Day and the end of November, when schools will still open in Week 1. The next time that happens won’t be until 2030 and 2031. 

For West Virginia, the schedule change gives them an extra week to spread out the schedule, recover from injuries, and build momentum before conference play even begins. This is more than a date change. It is the second meeting in a three-game series that West Virginia and Ohio agreed to back in 2021. The final game of that contract remains scheduled for Sept. 1, 2029, in Morgantown.

West Virginia owns the series at 13-5 overall. At home, the Mountaineers have been even more dominant, posting an 11-2 record against the Bobcats. Strangely enough, they’ve never won in Athens, going 0-3, although two of those defeats came all the way back in 1897 and 1949. While history says West Virginia usually handles business in Morgantown, recent memory tells a different story.

Ohio already proved it can spoil the party for West Virginia 

When these teams met during Rich Rodriguez’s first season back on the West Virginia sideline, Ohio walked into Morgantown and left with a 17-10 upset. The Mountaineers lost RB Jahiem White and WR Jaden Bray to season-ending injuries in that game. The defense did everything it could, shutting the Bobcats out after halftime and keeping their team within striking distance. 

The offense, meanwhile, couldn’t stay on the field. A lot of three-and-outs eventually caught up with them, and Ohio escaped with one of the more frustrating wins for West Virginia. That loss should be enough to remind the Mountaineers not to take the Bobcats lightly.

Other than moving this game to Week Zero, nothing else on West Virginia’s 2027 non-conference schedule has changed. Southern Miss is still set to visit Morgantown on Sept. 4, followed by VMI on Sept. 11. Ohio’s schedule also includes a home game against Marshall on Sept. 11 and at Texas State on the road on Sept. 25, with one remaining non-conference spot expected to be filled by an FCS opponent.

The calendar changed, but the opponent didn’t. But by arriving three weeks earlier, this game suddenly carries a little more attention than anyone expected when it was first scheduled.