College GameDay Makes Predictions for West Virginia vs. Iowa State

The picks are in, and there shouldn't be a jinx this week on WVU.

Desmond Howard laughs as fans chant a profane chant relating to Lane Kiffin during ESPN's College GameDay show held outside of Ayres Hall on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville, Tenn. on Sept. 26, 2026. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Moments ago, the ESPN College GameDay crew made their selections for Week 5, and to lead off their pick'ems segment, they predicted West Virginia's matchup with Iowa State.

Here is who each of them picked.

Desmond Howard: Iowa State

As much as I want to go with the Mountaineers, I looked up their stats, and defensively, they are last in the conference in scoring defense and total defense...Go Cyclones.

Nick Saban: West Virginia

"Hey, this is an emotional pick for me. You know, it's time for the Mountaineers to get their s*** together for all the people in West Vigrinia that have passion for this team. Go Mountaineers!

Pat McAfee: West Virginia

"Hell yeah! I like that! You picked them for the first time last week; we all lost. And they got absolutely smacked The good thing about West Virginia, these people know...they are going to go in there and beat the hell out of the Cyclones. The West Virginia Mountaineers to come into the state of Iowa and get a huge dub."

Caitlin Clark: Iowa State

"This is going to be a bad start for me, but I'm taking Iowa State. I said I wanted to get 100% accuracy. You can boo me. I'll make you happy at the end. I got Iowa State. My brother played football at Iowa State. Give me a little break."

Kirk Herbstreit: West Virginia

"I think we saw Iowa State's defense struggle against a very similar offense last week in Utah. Now, here comes Michael Hawkins and Cam Cook, rushing for 295, I think West Virginia on the road they come into Ames and get that dub."

Last week, the entire panel picked West Virginia to beat Oklahoma State, and well, we all know how that one turned out. The GameDay cast always jokes about being the jinx for a team when they all pick the same team, and that was definitely the case last week. A ton of Mountaineer fans were posting on X immediately after they all picked WVU that the Mountaineers were "cooked" and that Oklahoma State would win because of the selections. Jinx aside, West Virginia just did not play well defensively, like at all. If they did, they would be sitting at 4-0 right now and 1-0 in the conference. Instead, they suffered their first L of the season and are looking to bounce back today in Ames.

The Mountaineers and Cyclones are kicking off now on TNT.