Texas and West Virginia Square Off In A Pivotal Big 12 Matchup

#12 West Virginia (6-1) @ #15 Texas (6-2)

Stat Leaders:
West Virginia
Will Grier (QB): 154/219, 2,272 passing yards, 25 TDs, 7 INTs
Kennedy McKoy (RB): 64 carries, 366 rushing yards, 2 TDs
David Sills V (WR): 37 catches, 529 receiving yards, 9 TDs
Previous Result: Win over Baylor, 58-14

Texas
Sam Ehlinger (QB): 158/249, 1,817 passing yards, 13 TDs, 2 INTs
Keaonta Ingram (RB): 77 carries, 455 rushing yards, 2 TDs
Lil’ Jordan Humprhey (WR): 46 catches, 645 receiving yards, 4 TDs
Previous Result: Loss to Oklahoma State, 38-35

3 Things To Watch For:
1. How will this young Texas team respond after a crushing loss to OSU?
2. Which version of this West Virginia offense will show up?
3. Which team can keep balance on offense with the run game?

3 Bold Predictions:
1. Will Grier lights up the Longhorn secondary for over 350 yards and 3+ TDs.
2. West Virginia leads this game wire-to-wire.
3. Sam Ehlinger is Texas’ leading rusher despite being hampered by injury.

Game Run Down:

The winner of this game essentially is in the Big 12 title game, so the stakes are obviously quite high. Texas’ young roster is going to be challenged mentally coming off of an upset loss to Oklahoma State, but they will need to right the ship quickly, especially on defense. After their loss to Iowa State, WVU came off a bye week and absolutely lit up Baylor for 58 points. Will Grier looked like his usual self, and his WRs played at the level they were capable of. Texas’ vaunted defense was exposed badly by Taylor Cornelius and the OSU WR core last week, and they can’t afford to play the same way this week. It remains to be seen if Sam Ehlinger is at 100%, but the Texas offense likely won’t be the issue for this team at home. Texas has to get a pass rush on Will Grier and make him uncomfortable, because this appears to be a hungry Mountaineers squad that isn’t going to be stopped by many people. Expect a lot of points in this one, as Grier and Ehlinger duel it out for most of the game. With it being a one possession game in the fourth, I trust the more experienced and focused team in West Virginia to pull this one out, especially knowing that they are led by one of the best QBs in the country. The Mountaineers will take this one, dashing Texas’ hopes of claiming a Big 12 title while also setting up a huge double-header with Oklahoma later in the season.

Score Prediction: West Virginia 41 | Texas 31

Game MVP: Will Grier | West Virginia | QB