WVSports.com: Staff Predictions Week 6: Kansas
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West Virginia will host another Big 12 Conference match up against Kansas in a few hours and that means it's weekly prediction time.
The WVSports.com staff, Keenan Cummings, Patrick Kotnik, Matt Keller, Anthony Krumpach and Vernon Bailey offer their final thoughts on the match up as well as their predictions for the game.
This will be a weekly feature where the performance of each picker will be tracked throughout the season both on wins and losses and actual point differential on the final results.
So who wins week six?
KC: Let's just get this out of the way. West Virginia is a better football team than Kansas and will have the benefits of playing at home. The Jayhawks, while playing more competitive this year, still have not won a road game in the Big 12 in over a decade (Oct. 4, 2008 at Iowa State) a streak of 41 straight road defeats. That isn't ending this week as West Virginia will look to get the bad taste out of its mouth after a second half collapse against Texas Tech and Kansas is in the line of fire. There are some things to really like about this Jayhawks teams especially freshman running back Pooka Williams and defense that has made improvements across the board but the Mountaineers will be too much in this one.
West Virginia 42-14
MK: Kansas has won twice, bless 'em, and the Jayhawks have flirted with being competitive at times with Baylor. But it again looks like the Jayhawks are, by far and away, the worse of the Big 12, albeit 41 points better than Big 10 bottom dweller Rutgers. This is a game in which the Mountaineers should roll, and this one could be put away by the half. With WVU's middling second half performance against Texas Tech providing some motivation, as well as a KU team whose season averages in points allowed will soon balloon, this is a bad match-up on most fronts.
Look for Kansas to shell up and try to eliminate the big play, while trying to keep the ball on the ground and, from their perspective, hopefully gash West Virginia as they did last year. Do that, and this could be a game into the fourth quarter. There are questions about WVU's ability to run the ball, as the Mountaineers managed just 81 yards on 31 attempts versus TTU after subtracting Kennedy McKoy's 38-yard scoring carry. That's just 2.6 yards per rush, and it leaves major questions about the line's ability there, as well as on the interior overall. That's something to eye in this one, which should otherwise be a romp.
West Virginia 42-13
AK: This is an important week for WVU as they look to bounce back from a very sloppy second half against Texas Tech. I think you will see WVU struggle on the first offensive possession and Coach Holgs will rip into the offense. From that point forward the offense will score on 8 straight offensive possessions going up 56-14 in the fourth quarter. The defense will play lights out to make up for last year’s embarrassing performance but poor kickoff coverage will give Kansas short fields for touchdowns in the second and third quarter. West Virginia starters on defense will be pulled before starting offense due to Kansa playing smash mouth the shorten the game late.
By the fourth West Virginia will give Allison a drive with the first team offense and come away with the final points of the game from the Mountaineers. The second team unit will get another drive with Allison with the full aggressive playbook but come up short on a missed field goal. The Jayhawks will score a late TD against WVU’s third team defense. Grier should have a good game as he lights Kansas up for over 400 yards and five touchdowns. Mountaineers backs will have nearly 200 yards rushing and two touchdowns on the ground.
West Virginia 56-21
PK: The Mountaineers shouldn’t have any problems with Kansas on Saturday, but the Jayhawks have improved and will be more competitive this time around. However, West Virginia just has too much firepower offensively and athleticism on defense that will be too much for the Jayhawks to handle. Look for West Virginia to get off to another strong and fast start just like last week and come out in the second half with the same tempo unlike the team did last week against the Red Raiders. Starting and finishing games strong can’t be emphasized enough moving forward and after what happened last week, West Virginia can take a step in the right direction in that department on Saturday.
West Virginia 44-24
VB: West Virginia simply has too much talent to go with anything less than a big win for the home team. Kansas has looked better at times this year but their lack of depth and overall talent will be too difficult to overcome.
Tony Gibson's defense will look to shut down the Jayhawk's rushing attack (6.3 ypc) and get the ball back to the Mountaineer offense. When WVU has the ball look for them to score at "Will". Yes, Grier should have another great day as he continues to stay in the Heisman discussion.
West Virginia fans always point to this game as a chance to do two things. First put up record breaking numbers and to allow playing time for the younger players. While the two don't necessarily go hand in hand we could see both.
West Virginia 52-20
CURRENT STANDINGS:
1. Patrick Kotnik 4-0, 28 point differential
2. Matt Keller 4-0, 35 point differential
3. Keenan Cummings 4-0, 36 point differential
3. Vernon Bailey 4--0, 36 point differential
5. Anthony Krumpach 4-0, 53 point differential
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