Morgantown, West Virginia — The first half of this season has been rough for the team and the fans alike. Starting out 0-2 (0-1), winning two straight, getting blown out by Texas, then winning a MUST-WIN game against the defending Conference Champions, Baylor. To say the least, West Virginia has had a roller coaster of a season with its ups and its downs.
ESPN has West Virginia winning two more games. That would put the Mountaineers at 5-7 (3-6) and a very disappointing season.
Stats:
ESPN’s Football Power Index win % odds for #WVU’s remaining schedule:
@ Texas Tech 41.7%
TCU 42.7%
@ Iowa State 35.5%
Oklahoma 58.6%
Kansas State 53.6%
@ Oklahoma State 26.8%
Predicted finish: 5-7
— The Voice of Morgantown (@voicemorgantown) October 16, 2022
WVU has MANY opportunities to win these games, and by no means does this determine how West Virginia’s record will be at the end of the season. The fact that West Virginia has above a 40% chance to beat almost everyone on their schedule (except for Iowa State and Oklahoma State) is a positive sign. A couple of weeks ago (after the Texas game), most of these games gave the Mountaineers less than a 35% chance to beat everyone on this remaining schedule.
Texas Tech is a WINNABLE game for West Virginia this year. Despite beating UT in Lubbock, TTU has not proven to be a team WVU will definitely lose to. As for TCU, we lucked out with this game being in Morgantown instead of Fort Worth. TCU is a REALLY GOOD team this year, and with WVU playing them in Morgantown, it might be the difference in that ball game (hence us getting an almost 43% chance of beating a Top-10 team.
The rest of the schedule is pretty favorable for the Mountaineers this season. WVU plays the conference’s best teams (excluding Oklahoma State) in Morgantown and the conference’s cellar teams away. Again, these games are NOT guaranteed wins, but ESPN thinks that West Virginia will make games close in almost EVERY remaining game they play this season.
West Virginia WON’T make the Conference Championship or anywhere near that, but with how WVU has played to start the season and with ESPN tending to be bias towards WVU (in a negative way), this is a good sign.
