MORGANTOWN — Time flies, they say, when you are having fun.

Maybe that’s why it seems like only yesterday when West Virginia football was anything but fun, opening the season picked 14th in a 14-team Big 12 Conference, overmatched losers at Penn State.

But as the regular season ends with a trip to Baylor for a 7:30 p.m. Saturday game on FS1 it is looking more and more like a turning point in modern Mountaineer history.

WVU enters the contest at 7-4 and is favored over a Baylor team that has slid from 12-2 and a 21-7 Sugar Bowl victory over Mississippi in 2021 to a current 3-8 record with just two conference victories this year.

What’s more, the Bears come in expecting starting quarterback Blake Shapen to be absent with a head injury, which can do nothing less than bolster the confidence of the Mountaineers.

Once again, you see, they are winning games. They are scoring points. They are making big plays.

All of that makes it fun again at a school that often found its worth in the football program.

More than fun, though, what Coach Neal Brown has been able to bring back in what well could have been his final season as Mountaineer coach — and still may be, for there has been no announcement of what new Athletic Director Wren Baker has decided from a year-long evaluation — is hope.

Yes, hope … hope that the program’s direction has turned as sharply upward as Baylor’s has shifted downward; hope that while they may not be conference champions today they may develop into such as the new-look, Big 12 moves forward with its realignment.

It is true that against the best the nation and the conference had to offer WVU was overmatched, but that’s best looked at as growing pains for no one — especially Neal Brown — believes the job is done.

Facing Baylor is not a gimme, even though common sense would say otherwise.

“I’m not sure we need to be overlooking anybody,” Brown said at his Monday press conference. “To me, it’s about finishing with a singular focus.”

That is to say, don’t look at the big picture, don’t look forward to the bowl game that awaits or the fact they could end one Hail Mary pass thrown by Houston away from a potential 10-win season.

“This week, it’s only the game,” Brown noted.

The school has been out. No distractions, save for Thanksgiving dinner. Simply concentrate on getting the job done.

He wanted them to heed the warning signs. Historically, WVU is 1-4 at Baylor.

“They’ve really dominated us down there,” he pointed out. “We went down there last year and had a chance to beat them, but they beat us at the end of the game, and they smoked us down there in ’21. We understand it’s a tough place to play.”

But WVU goes in there riding high. Its offense has become a force with national recognition, a run-first, ball-control machine that revolves around quarterback Garrett Greene, who has finally caught on to what Brown has been preaching ever since he put him in as the starter three games from the end of last season.

Whether it is playing power football with CJ Donaldson at running back or explosive football with read options involving the new freshman star, Jaheim White and his 204-yard rushing effort last week, WVU offers a complex menu of problems for opponents.

And if they are to load up at the line of scrimmage, Greene has become among the most dangerous deep-threat QBs in college football, ranking No. 3 nationally with more than 16 yards per completion.

“We now feel like we’ve got some guys who can make some explosive plays, Brown said. “Garrett has had the most by far, but Jaheim, CJ and wide receiver Devin Carter and tight end Kole Taylor have shown the ability, plus our young wideouts.

“I’m kind of excited about them as we finish up the season and head into our bowl prep.”

He’s speaking about Traylon Ray, Rodney Gallagher and Hudson Clement.

They are fun to watch and bring hope back into the program.