Kansas Jayhawks vs West Virginia Mountaineers Predictions: Phelps, Stills could decide winner.

While Jalon Daniels and JT Daniels will have a big say in the final result, it's the pass rush specialists that might have the biggest impact.

Last week, the Kansas Jayhawks opened the season with a huge 56-10 victory over the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles, which was a bigger margin than anyone here on Blue Wings Rising expected.

But Week 2 sees the Jayhawks travel to Morgantown, WV to take on a West Virginia team that is looking to bounce back from a disappointing loss to their rival to open the season. It's a balance between a step up in competition and the increase in expectations based on last week's results.

Which factor wins out? Will the Jayhawks be able to come away with a win? Will they be able to outperform our expectations again?

Do you disagree with our assessment? Make sure you read them all and then hope over to the Discord or on Twitter to share your own thoughts.

Kyle Davis

Check out our West Virginia Preview for Kyle's full breakdown and prediction.

Brendan Dzwierzynski

West Virginia is coming off an exceptionally emotional game in the return of the Backyard Brawl, and it’s realistic to think a letdown could be in the works even as the Mountaineers return home. KU, meanwhile, is on a wave of nothing but positive momentum entering one of its most winnable Big 12 games. If the KU offensive line can match WVU’s physicality up front and the defense can knock J.T. Daniels around a little bit, a cover and a win are certainly possible.

Kansas 30, West Virginia 28

Derek Noll

Ok, let’s just go ahead and be optimistic. Why not? Kansas exceeded all of my expectations last Friday, so I’m just gonna keep riding the high. Besides, KU has the highest rated QB in the conference, so let’s go to Morgantown and take the dub.

Kansas 31, West Virginia 30.

Lucas Murphy

Kansas sent a message to the 34,902 fans who showed up in person by outplaying Tennessee Tech and winning 56-10. For the first time in a while, it was nice to see the Jayhawks steamroll through a team and prepare for a great matchup between West Virginia. This will be a good test for Kansas as West Virginia is coming off of a hard loss against Pittsburgh. One of the areas I am going to look at for Kansas is their offensive line can it create holes for the numerous running backs, and can they hold strong for quarterback Jalon Daniels? On the defensive side, I expect once again Lonnie Phelps will let his ability be put on full display. The secondary for the Jayhawks is going to be tried by a veteran quarterback. I am going to say Kansas covers the spread of +13.5, and after the big win I am taking another big win on the Kansas moneyline.

Kansas 42, West Virginia 28

Andy Mitts

While I appreciate Lucas' enthusiasm, I think this is going to be a much more difficult game for that Jayhawks. Any win they get will be by a slim margin, and there is a really good chance that relative production levels of Lonnie Phelps and Dante Stills could be the deciding factor in this game.

What seemed pretty clear to me from last week is that offensive coordinator Graham Harrell is not ready to embrace the run nearly as much as his personal would dictate. While I understand the desire to not become one-dimensional, it's not a great sign when all the biggest mistakes came in the passing game, including the game winning pick six that bounced right off the receiver's hand.

The Jayhawks will have to both bring pressure and also handle the pressure, as the Mountaineer defense will be formidable. But Kansas has shown that they are the more disciplined team, with much lower penalty totals last year and in Week 1. That discipline should limit the number of drive killing penalties and keep the Jayhawks in the game.

Ultimately, I think both teams are going to have more success on the ground than in the air. Give me a low-scoring, punishing game between two teams looking to try and make some noise this year.

Kansas 21, West Virginia 17

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