Texas football: 6 Bold predictions for UT vs. West Virginia

Texas and West Virginia both come off bye weeks ahead of their 2:30 kickoff on Saturday in Morgantown. Here are x bold predictions for the Mountaineers and Longhorns.

Devin Duvernay will have double-digit catches again

I don't even know that this is a bold prediction anymore. Duvernay has posted nine or more catches in three of Texas' four games so far. The only game in which he didn't was Rice, a lopsided win that saw him watching from the sidelines for most of the second half.

The Texas offense is extremely friendly to guys in the slot thanks to the size and speed of the receivers on the outside. Add in the fact Texas likes to use its screen game as an extension of its running game and you have all the ingredients needed for another big day from Duvernay.

Sam Ehlinger will go over 400 yards passing

Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger has to be licking his chops looking over at the West Virginia secondary. This group may be a respectable 40th in the country against the pass, but it has given up huge passing plays against the likes of Kansas, Missouri and NC State.

Texas will be the best passing attack the Mountaineers have seen by far. Add in the fact they will be without safety JoVanni Stewart and it's hard to imagine West Virginia having enough manpower to deal with this ever-more-efficient passing game of Texas.

I predict the Longhorns will make some big plays down the field to Brennan Eagles and Jake Smith, Duvernay will break an intermediate route to the end zone for a score and we may even see Malcolm Epps and John Burt get in on the action.

Keaontay Ingram won't hit 100 yards rushing, but will still have a solid game

Few players Texas players went into the bye week with more positive momentum than Ingram, who is coming off only the second 100-yard game of his career against Oklahoma State.

It wasn't just how many yards he gained against the Cowboys, though. It was the way he was able to gain them. Ingram ran through tackles and made people miss at both the second and third levels and looked every bit like the guy Tom Herman was hyping up in the preseason.

Still, there is reason to believe Texas is going to come into this game attacking the Mountaineer secondary. That, plus losing carries to Roschon Johnson and Sam Ehlinger could keep Ingram under the century mark this week. If you are Texas It's not so terrible to have your No. 1 running back stay under 20 carries heading into what will be the biggest regular-season game on your slate in two weeks.

West Virginia will hit some big pass plays

This isn't going to come anywhere close to what the Mountaineers did a year ago in Austin with Will Grier, but facing a banged-up secondary should help West Virginia make at least a handful of plays throwing the ball.

Just like Texas the Mountaineers are coming off a bye and had a full two weeks of practice to get better. That's a big deal when you are playing in a new system with a bunch of new faces the way West Virginia is.

Austin Kendall has shown some flashes of what kept him on the Oklahoma roster for three years and he has a couple of dangerous targets. This, combined with the fact that the Mountaineers have to understand they won't be able to run with any kind of consistent success against what is quickly becoming a dominant Texas front seven and you could see reason to believe West Virginia gets at or around the 300-yard mark throwing the ball.

Texas will record at least five sacks

West Virginia's only hope of staying in this game with Texas is to score points. The Mountaineers' best chance of scoring points will be throwing the ball. Todd Orlando is going to get some chances to dial up pressures and really come after Kendall.

After chasing around Spencer Sanders for four quarters, Kendall is going to seem like a much easier target for pass rushers and blitzers. Joseph Ossai should be disruptive, along with pressures from Brandon Jones and some of his buddies from the secondary.

Texas will win 41-20

The Mountaineers have enough weapons to put up a few points and keep this oneat least entertaining through one half, but this program doesn't have the depth to compete for four quarters with a championship-level program right now.

The Longhorns will struggle to separate through the first half from a pesky West Virginia team and the hostile Morgantown crowd will have something to cheer about, but those same fans will get an opportunity to get an early start on their moonshine-filled Saturday evenings as the Longhorns pull away late.