First Look: West Virginia Mountaineers

at

4/4 BAYLOR (6-0, 3-0) at RV/RV WEST VIRGINIA (4-2, 2-1) Oct. 18, 2014 | 11:00 a.m. CT Morgantown, W.Va. | Milan Puskar Stadium (60,000) TV: FOX Sports 1

Listen | Gametracker | Notes | Tickets |  Gameday Central

More from our team sites

West Virginia Mountaineers

Follow

OPPONENT: West Virginia Mountaineers
ODB GAME HUB: Baylor Bears vs. West Virginia Mountaineers 2014
ODB PREDICTS: Baylor vs. WVU
MEET THE PRESS: Baylor vs. WVU
OFFICIAL WEBSITE: WVUSports.com
WEST VIRGINIA MEDIA GUIDE: Click for .pdfs (depth chart pg. 16)
LAST MEETING:  71-42 Baylor win in 2013 | ODB Game Hub
LAST GAME (for WVU): 37-33 W vs. OU 71-
SB NATION BLOG: The Smoking Musket, at right
SPREAD: Baylor -8.5 (Open: Baylor -9.5)
TV COVERAGE: FOX Sports 1
WEATHER FORECAST: Cloudy skies with a few showers later in the day. High 57F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 30%.
BAYLOR UNIFORMS: Unknown

SB Nation WVU Preview
BaylorBears.com Preview
Bears vs Mountaineers coverage

These Are Not the 2013 Mountaineers

I'm going to get this out of the way now so we don't have to talk about it a million times this week: last year's game was last year and this year's, this year.  Baylor set all kinds of offensive records against the Mountaineers last year in an absolute beatdown of a game.  Don't expect that to happen again.  WVU is better on both sides of the ball, healthier, and will be playing at home in a place we've already seen them perform quite well.  I feel very confident that Baylor is the better team and that the stats will reflect that as we go through them, but if you're expecting a repeat of 2013, you will be disappointed.

West Virginia Mountaineers 2014 Schedule

WVU is 4-2 at the halfway point this season with losses to Alabama (at a neutral site game in Atlanta) and Oklahoma (at home).  I actually think they should be ranked based off what they've done, simply because I don't see a lot of difference between playing well and losing to those two teams and getting blown out (as A&M did) against Mississippi State and Ole Miss.  But that's none of my business.

WVU Individual Statistics in 2014

Quarterbacks

DID YOU KNOW: By QB Rating, WVU's Trickett has actually been better this season than our own Bryce Petty?  Sure, it's by two-tenths of a rating point (153.8 to 153.6), but still.  Trickett has been very good this season, particularly by completion percentage, and leads the #2 passing offense by efficiency and yards per game in the Big 12.  Don't sleep on Clint Trickett, is what I'm saying, especially since he has possibly the best receiver in the conference at his disposal.

Running Backs

Shell is the man on the ground for the Mountaineers, and he averages a shade under 20 carries per game.  Behind him is Wendell Smallwood, a very similar player in size that basically spells Shell to keep his usage down.  Both are extremely active in the passing game, much  more so than any of our running backs, and that's something our linebackers will have to account for in this game.

Wide Receivers

Simply put, Kevin White is going to be a problem for our defense.  He leads the country in receiving yards per game, receiving yards total (by more than 100 over #2), and is second in receptions per game with 10.2.  The easiest thing to do is definitely just put Xavien Howard on him no matter where he goes, but he's going to get his.  Oklahoma did basically that with Zack Sanchez, and White still caught 10 passes for 173 yards and 1 TD.  He is by any measure the most talented WR we will have faced this season, and I hope Howard has his big boy pants ready to play.

WVU Team Stats and Rankings

This will be Baylor's toughest road game of the season thus far.  WVU has a powerful passing offense led by Trickett and White, and a somewhat less imposing rushing offense.  That probably contributes directly to a lower scoring offense than you'd expect to see and a lot more trouble scoring in the red zone than they probably should have.  The Mountaineers are ranked 50th in the latest F/+ rankings, down 15 spots from last week, with the #26 offense and #74 defense.  S&P+ (where they are 23rd) likes them considerably more than FEI (56th).

QUESTION TIME!

• FIRST -- Do you have any specific questions about WVU that we can have answered? I'm doing a Q&A with the WVU site later this week that would be a perfect opportunity to ask.
• SECOND -- How are you feeling about the Bears coming off the comeback win over TCU?  Do you think there will be any kind of hangover from that kind of game?
  
• THIRD -- How scared are you of WVU's Kevin White (to say nothing of TCU's Kevin White, who tried to rip Antwan Goodley's head from his shoulders)?
  
• FOURTH -- Shock Linwood.  That's not a question, per se, as much as a prompt. 
  
• FIFTH -- What uniform combo do you want to see this week against the Mountaineers?