Texas Looks to Stay Atop the Big 12 Against West Virginia
The West Virginia Mountaineers and the Texas Longhorns battle on Saturday at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Texas and West Virginia will be on tilt this afternoon as they are fighting for who is in the drivers seat for the Big XII Championship. TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, FOX. LINE: Texas -1.5; O/U: 58 Texas had a clear path to the Big 12 title. They could not quite come through with the game on the line last week. The 15th-ranked Longhorns will try to bounce back and stay in the driver’s seat for a spot in the Big 12 championship game when they host No. 10 West Virginia on Saturday. Texas has held four of its previous five opponents under 20 points. They surrendered 31 in the first half alone at Oklahoma State last weekend and suffered its first conference loss, 38-35. That loss dropped Texas into a three-way battle for first place in the Big 12 with Oklahoma and the Mountaineers. They all enter the week with one loss. West Virginia bounced back from its 30-14 setback at Iowa State by blasting Baylor 58-14 at home last week. WVA owns the toughest remaining schedule among the three schools. They have a trip to Oklahoma State and home dates against TCU and Oklahoma still on the schedule after visiting the Longhorns.Both Teams have Potential to be Great at any Time
West Virginia is 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the Big 12. The Mountaineers have scored at least 35 points in each of their six victories. They looked like they had a dominant offense against Baylor. Quarterback Will Grier threw for three TDs and rushed for another. Grier has racked up at least 332 passing yards in each of the six wins. He was held to 100 yds on 11-of-15 passing in the loss at Iowa State on Oct. 13.“The thing I liked about it is we had a whole bunch of people touch the ball,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen told reporters of Grier’s performance against Baylor. “There were a lot of guys that went in there and touched the ball. (Grier’s) spreading the ball around a lot. He did a good job of preparing all week and made a lot of good checks at the line of scrimmage, which is one thing that he does great.”WR David Sill V is tied for second in school history with 29 TD receptions. He is behind Stedman Bailey, who had 41. Texas is 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the conference. Longhorns quarterback Sam Ehlinger bounced back from a shoulder injury to throw for two touchdowns and rush for two more in last week’s loss at Oklahoma State. Herman would like to take some pressure off his signal-caller.
“We are going to have to run the football. There’s no doubt,” Herman told reporters. “The best way to stop an offense like West Virginia’s is keep them off the field and don’t let them get started. But we’ve also got to score points, too.”Ehlinger owns eight of Texas’ 14 rushing TDs on the season. Running back Keaontay Ingram has 455 yards and two TDs. He was limited to 52 yards on 11 carries in the loss to Oklahoma State. PREDICTION: Texas 28, West Virginia 24
College Football Betting Odds & Trends
| West Virginia Mountaineers | ||
|---|---|---|
| West Virginia is 5-2 ATS in its last 7 games | ||
| West Virginia is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games | ||
| The total has gone UNDER in 8 of West Virginia’s last 12 games | ||
| West Virginia is 4-2 SU in its last 6 games on the road | ||
Texas Longhorns |
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|---|---|---|
| Texas is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games | ||
| The total has gone UNDER in 18 of Texas’s last 25 games | ||
| Texas is 15-8 ATS in its last 23 games at home | ||
| Texas is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home | ||
| The total has gone UNDER in 11 of Texas’s last 16 games at home | ||