W VIRGINIA vs ARMY
When: 12/31/2020 4:00 PM
Where:

TV: 4:00 PM
LINE: 7
PREDICTION: ARMY , W VIRGINIA

Oddsmakers currently have the ARMY listed as 7 point favorites versus the W VIRGINIA, while the game’s total is sitting at 42.

When West Virginia coach Neil Brown gathered his coaches and players for practice on Dec. 21, they were preparing for a Liberty Bowl matchup with Tennessee on New Year’s Eve in Memphis.

Then 2020 intervened.

“We started the day preparing for one opponent and will end it preparing for another, but that’s how crazy 2020 has been,” Brown said.

Tennessee pulled out of the bowl game after coach Jeremy Pruitt and multiple players tested positive for COVID-19. Luckily enough for the Liberty Bowl, it had a better team ready to step in.

Army went from being an outrageous snub to being an attractive catch at 9-2. The Commander-in-Chief trophy winners after a 10-7 defeat of Air Force on Dec. 19, the Black Knights were originally ticketed for the Independence Bowl after winning their sixth game on Oct. 24.

But when the Shreveport-based bowl had to cancel because so many prospective opponents opted out, it left Army in a lurch not of its own making.

Coach Jeff Monken made it clear that he thought his team was getting the short end of the stick, and aside from a handful of ESPN talking heads who had no trouble lugging the Power 5 conferences’ water while leaving Group of 5 schools parched, Monken was preaching to the choir.

As the old saying goes, better late than never. The Knights have their bowl bid, and West Virginia (5-4) has a new, more formidable opponent.

“I have great respect for the Army football tradition and the sacrifice the cadets make daily for our country,” Brown said. “Coach Monken and his staff have done a great job at West Point.”

The Knights own 43 wins in the last five years under Monken, a disciple of former Navy and Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson.

Much like Johnson, Monken believes in triple-option football, a staple at the military academies for most of the last 30 years.

Army finished fourth in the nation this year in rushing, averaging 281.3 yards per game despite having only one player rush for more than 500 yards. But it had four players between 401 and 502 yards, a testament to the balance it possesses.

Most importantly, the Knights played excellent defense, permitting just 14 points per game. Nearly a fourth of their allowance came in a 38-12 loss last month at Tulane. Their other loss was to Cincinnati, 24-10, in September. Cincinnati is now 9-0 and ranked No. 8 in the CFP poll.

“This is going to be a tremendous challenge for us to have any opportunity to win the game,” Monken said. “It’s exciting for our players. They came here to play big-time football against top-level opponents, and I’m glad they have the opportunity to play one in West Virginia.”

The Mountaineers could have easily been 7-2 were it not for one-possession losses at Texas Tech (34-27) and Texas (17-13) in a three-week span. Their final regular-season game with Oklahoma was canceled because of COVID-19 concerns.

West Virginia’s offense is led by Jarret Doege (2,428 yards, 13 TD passes) and Leddie Brown (945 rushing yards, nine TDs).

This will mark the first time the programs have met in 59 years. Army leads the series 2-1.

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W VIRGINIA vs NC STATE
When: 3:30 PM ET, Saturday, September 15, 2018
Where: Carter-Finley Stadium, Raleigh, North Carolina

TV: 3:30 PM
LINE: 4
PREDICTION: NC STATE , W VIRGINIA

Oddsmakers currently have the NC STATE listed as 4 point favorites versus the W VIRGINIA, while the game’s total is sitting at 48.5.

CANCELED

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W VIRGINIA vs TENNESSEE
When: 3:30 PM ET, Saturday, September 1, 2018
Where: Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina

TV: 3:30 PM
LINE: 9.5
PREDICTION: TENNESSEE , W VIRGINIA

Oddsmakers currently have the TENNESSEE listed as 9.5 point favorites versus the W VIRGINIA, while the game’s total is sitting at 61.5.

Dana Holgorsen has changed his scheduling philosophy since taking over West Virginia eight years ago, trading in early-season contests against FCS foes for the likes of Virginia Tech, Penn State and Alabama in an attempt to build a national powerhouse. The 17th-ranked Mountaineers open this season against a Power 5 opponent for the fourth time in five years Saturday when they play a Tennessee program coming off a school-record eight losses in the Belk College Kickoff in Charlotte, N.C.

“Obviously we like it – and it’s not going to end anytime soon,” Holgorsen told reporters. “If you talk non-conference schedules in general, I think there needs to be more of a uniformed policy across the country for people doing this. … I think the biggest thing is we’ve got 11 Power 5 games on our schedule and there are some other teams out there that have eight.” Holgorsen has his best team since arriving in Morgantown in 2011 and it is led by Heisman hopeful Will Grier, who ranked second in the country with 34 touchdown passes and third with 3,490 yards passing last season before suffering a season-ending broken finger in November. New Tennessee coach Jeremy Pruitt, a former defensive coordinator at Alabama, takes over a defense that was besieged by injuries last season, allowing 29.1 points per game – its most since 2012 – and a gaudy 251 yards rushing per contest. The Volunteers also had problems on offense, ranking last in the SEC in scoring at 19.8 points – down from 36.4 the previous season – and total offense at 291 yards per game while going over a month without scoring an offensive touchdown.

TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, CBS. LINE: West Virginia -10.

ABOUT TENNESEE (2017: 4-8): Jarrett Guarantano, who went 4-2 as a starter last season and completed 62 percent of his 139 passes for 997 yards with four TDs and two interceptions, is expected to start at quarterback. Graduate transfer Keller Chryst, 11-2 as starter at Stanford the last two years (54.2 completion percentage, 962 yards, eight TDs, four Interceptions) is also expected to contribute. With John Kelly (778 yards, nine TDs) off to the Los Angeles Rams, sophomore Ty Chandler (305 yards, 4.3 yards per carry) will have a chance to take over as the feature back and take a crack at a West Virginia defense that yielded 204 yards per game in 2017.

ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA (2017: 7-6): Grier (64.4 completion percentage, 12 interceptions) will have two big-time targets returning: senior wide receiver David Sills V (60 receptions, 960 yards), who tied for the national lead with 18 TD receptions last season, and Gary Jennings Jr. (Big-12 leading 97 receptions, 1,096 yards).The Mountaineers return four offensive line starters – three earning preseason Big 12 recognition – to open holes for running backs Kennedy McCoy (596 yards, 4.8 yards per carry, seven TDs), Martell Pettaway and freshman Alec Sinkfield. If West Virginia is going to contend for the Big 12 title, Holgorsen and defensive coordinator Tony Gibson need to improve a defense that surrendered 31.5 points and 446 yards per game – both most since 2013.

EXTRA POINTS 

1. Both teams enter on three-game losing streaks; the Vols lost seven of their last eight and were 0-8 in conference play last season.

2. Tennessee OL Trey Smith, second-team All-SEC and freshman All-American last season, is expected to play either guard or tackle Saturday. He missed spring practice after suffering blood clots in his lungs.

3. Tennessee has won nine straight openers but is 6-34 against ranked teams over the last eight seasons.

PREDICTION: West Virginia 42, Tennessee 24

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West Virginia Mountaineers vs. Iowa State Cyclones
When: 11/26/2016 3:30 PM

TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, FS1.
LINE: West Virginia -7
PREDICTION: West Virginia 38, Iowa State 31

Oddsmakers currently have the Mountaineers listed as 7.5-point favorites versus the Cyclones, while the game’s total is sitting at 57.

Coming off a lopsided and error-plagued 56-28 home loss to Oklahoma that ended its hopes of winning a Big 12 championship, 19th-ranked West Virginia will now try to rebound at suddenly red-hot Iowa State on Saturday afternoon in Ames, Iowa.

Two weeks ago the Cyclones (3-8, 2-6 Big 12) looked like the perfect opponent to play after a crushing loss. No more. Matt Campbell’s squad has won back-to-back Big 12 games for the first time since the 2013 season and come in off a record-setting 66-10 shellacking of Texas Tech.

Saturday’s contest also is Senior Day for Iowa State. Little wonder that West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen has told the Mountaineers (8-2, 5-2) to be ready for their “toughest week of the year.”

“We put a lot into (the Oklahoma) game, and it didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” Holgorsen said Tuesday. “We’re disappointed with it, but we’ve got a tough one on the road against Iowa State, and you saw what they did to Texas Tech. It’s going to be the toughest week of the year, but I’m anxious to see how the guys respond.

“One thing I know about this group is they’re going to continue to fight and continue to work. There’s no doubt in my mind they’re going to prepare and practice and put as much into it as they possibly can. I know they’re going to do that. With that said, it’s going to be a tough week.”

Despite the disappointing loss to the Sooners, the Mountaineers, who finish Big 12 play on Dec. 3 with a home game against slumping Baylor, still have plenty to play for.

The Mountaineers can still set a high for wins since joining the league in 2012. They can also win 10 games for the ninth time in school history. And if it can end Big 12 play with two wins and then pick up a victory in a bowl game, West Virginia can match its school record with a sixth 11-win season.

“We spent the majority of this year with this 2016 team with zero expectations,” Holgorsen said. “We’ve practiced and played pretty good throughout the course of this season. The pressure’s off. We didn’t get it done when it came to the Big 12, but that doesn’t mean that there’s not a lot to play for. I think this group rebounds and gets out there and gets ready to play another game. We’ve still got a lot to play for obviously. We’ll try to get win No. 9 this week.

“A lot of teams wish they were in that position.”

Iowa State comes in off one of its finest offensive performances in school history. The Cyclones set all-time school records for points against a conference opponent (66), margin of victory against a league opponent (56) and points in a quarter (31) and fell just three points short of most points in a half (48) with 45 in the first 30 minutes. Iowa State finished with 608 yards of total offense, its first 600-yard game since 2008.

“To be honest with you I thought we had a great week of practice, and we deserved the right to feel confident going into the football game to play well,” said Campbell, the 2015 Mid-American Conference coach of the year at Toledo, who is finishing up his first year in Ames. “I thought that was closest to the best 60 minutes we played completely this year. I’m really proud of our senior class. Those guys stayed the course and really allowed us to continue to get better as the season went on.”

It was the best game by far for the two Iowa State quarterbacks, each of whom did what he does best. Jacob Park threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns, while Joel Lanning ran for 171 yards and five scores.

“(Texas Tech) played an entirely different defense than we expected or had seen on film,” Campbell said. “I think our ability to adapt within the game, our ability to execute, and the ability to have options is certainly great. I thought both Jacob and Joel played about as fluid and well executed game between the two as I have seen.”

The Cyclones have one more chance to build optimism for the final recruiting blitz and the upcoming 2017 season against a West Virginia team that enters with a Top 25 ranking but enough flaws to make an upset possible. Campbell isn’t under any illusions that the win last week is enough to finish with.

“Obviously, we’ve got one last big challenge left before this season ends,” Campbell said.

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