#10 WVU @ OK State Preview
The West Virginia Mountaineers (6-0) are visiting Stillwater today to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys (5-2) in what has been billed as a pretty tough road test for Dan Holgorsen’s team. That seems to be the consensus every week the Mountaineers hit the field and when they’ve come out on top, they keep being held down. The plus side is they do not seem to let that bother them as they have gone out 6 straight games and took care of business. Let’s break down their road test today to see if they have what it takes, on paper at least, to hand the Cowboys their third loss of the season on their Homecoming at Boone Pickens Stadium.
Offense: Skyler Howard and his offense have not been super exciting but have done what they’ve needed to do to get points on the board. Howard hasn’t thrown an interception in the last two games and he will need to keep that pace in order to come out of Stillwater with another W. Skyler has put up 1821 yards through the air with 12 touchdowns on 4 INTs. Mason Rudolph has impressive numbers at 14 TDs, 2 INTs, with 2259 passing yards. Rushel Shell leads the WVU ground attach with 5 TDs on 465 yards compared to the Cowboy’s Justice Hill with his 4 TDs on 565 yards. Ok States James Washington leads the receivers today with 740 yards and 6 TDs while the ‘Eers Shelton Gibson has 3 TD and 501 yards. The biggest difference between the two is the Cowboys O-line has let Rudolph get sacked 22 times this season already while Howard has only been brought down 9 times. Rudolph has the ability and talent to threaten downfield but their offensive line will need to keep the WVU defense off their QB if they want to put numbers today. WVU has the edge in total yards per game at 510 compared to 480 with the Cowboys having the slight edge through the air while the Mountaineers have the edge on the ground. Bottom line, both teams have the tools they need to put points on the board.
Defense: Ok States defense is allowing 449 total yards and 27 points per game however they lead the Big 12 in takeaways so they are going to make it hard for Skyler to make it 3 straight without a pick. The story of these two however will depend on WVU’s defense shutting down the OSU offense like they did against Texas Tech and TCU. If they do that, they will head home 7-0 and continue to upset the sports analysts that have WVU picked last in the Big 12.
Pick: WVU improves to 7-0
