The Voice of Morgantown’s staff picks the winner of today’s game against the West Virginia Mountaineers and UCF.
ORLANDO, Florida — The West Virginia Mountaineers (4-3, 2-2) travel to Orlando to play the UCF Knights (3-4, 0-4) in what is a must-win game for Neal Brown and the West Virginia Mountaineers. Despite UCF going 0-4 in its debut season in the Big 12 so far, the Mountaineers are 7 point underdogs entering the game. Here’s how our experts think the game will play out today:
Wyatt Coffman, Graphic Designer, The Voice of Morgantown, 0-3
The importance of this game cannot be understated. It’s a very winnable game against a 3-4 UCF team. This game will determine the course of the rest of the season. With a loss, WVU will likely only finish 6-6 with a real possibility of even missing a bowl game. However, with a win, this team proves that they’re capable of a 8 win season even after 2 tough losses. With this in mind, Neal Brown’s job could very well be on the line as a 6-6 finish in Year 5 is just simply unacceptable I think WVU will do well enough on offense but may have a critical turnover that keeps UCF in the game. However, in the end I think WVU pulls out the win by a field goal to move to 5-3 on the season and secures the W in Orlando.
WVU 27 UCF 24
Clark Johnson, Senior Writer, The Voice of Morgantown, 5-2
A nightmare in the Bounce House could be brewing today for WVU. Defensively, the Mountaineers have fallen off a cliff. Despite the offense finding a rhythm, I don’t see them doing enough to pull this one out. The season has quickly turned sour.
UCF 31 WVU 17
Brad Smith, Publisher, The Voice of Morgantown, 5-2
West Virginia simply does not have the defensive depth to win big games for the remainder of the season and Neal Brown just doesn’t win big games that he needs to win. UCF is 3-0 when they rush for more than 235 yards and 0-4 when they don’t. Last week, the Mountaineers’ run defense was exposed and I believe it will be a lot of the same today. No bounce back in the Bounce House for the Mountaineers today.
UCF 38 WVU 35
