West Virginia’s Upcoming Game Anything But Automatic

Cover Photo – Robert Ovies, The Voice of Morgantown

Morgantown, West Virginia – While a football game against the Kansas Jayhawks has historically been a virtually automatic win, it’s far from guaranteed for the West Virginia Mountaineers this Saturday.

West Virginia, who lost to hated rival Pitt in the final moments last week in the Backyard Brawl, is ripe for an upset, particularly against an up-and-coming team like Kansas.

Although Kansas finished last season 2-10 overall and 1-8 in the Big 12 Conference, they are a well-coached team that is capable of surprising a vulnerable team like the Mountaineers.

Last season, Kansas upset the Texas Longhorns, 57-56, in a night game in Austin, Texas, near the end of the season. Following the Texas upset, Kansas nearly shocked TCU on the road, losing 28-31, and West Virginia barely got past the Jayhawks in the final game of the season, winning 34-28 in Lawrence, Kansas.

Again, although Kansas was 2-10 last year, they showed tremendous promise and proved that they are no longer the Jayhawks of the past.

In their season opener last week against Tennessee Tech, Kansas took care of business, winning 56-10 at home. Tennessee Tech, a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, is obviously not a dangerous team, but Kansas handled them appropriately and were dominant from start to finish in the game.

Kansas Head Coach Lance Leipold is an outstanding coach and is building this program the right way in Lawrence. Kansas has talent and depth on both the offensive and defensive lines, has a great backfield led by Devin Neal, who rushed for 108 yards and 2 touchdowns in the season opener, and an outstanding talent in quarterback Jalon Daniels, who is a threat on the ground and through the air.

This is a confident, hungry Kansas team that believes that they can go into Morgantown, West Virginia, and upset the Mountaineers on Saturday. West Virginia better put last week’s devastating loss to Pitt behind them and be ready for Kansas, or they will start the season 0-2.