Just Hours Before Kickoff, WVU Fans Reveal Their Kansas Game Predictions

West Virginia will open up Big 12 Conference play here in just a few hours as they take on the Kansas Jayhawks in Lawrence. The Mountaineers have dominated the head-to-head series, winning 11 of the first 13 matchups and believe it or not, this is the first-ever time that the Jayhawks enter this game as the favorite.

This isn't the same ol' Kansas anymore. Lance Leipold has turned things around in a big way and many believe the Jayhawks could be a dark horse contender in the Big 12 this year behind sixth-year quarterback Halon Daniels.

After last week's thrilling overtime win over Pitt in the Backyard Brawl and Kansas coming off a bye and off a loss to its arch nemesis, this is widely viewed as a terrible spot for the Mountaineers and a terrific spot for the Jayhawks. Can WVU avoid the hangover and spoil KU's Big 12 opening party?

According to the fan poll we conducted early this morning, there is a great deal of optimism heading into this one for the Old Gold and Blue. 63.5% of the voters see West Virginia winning, 30.2% see Kansas coming out on top, and 6.3% expect the Jayhawks to win by 14+ points. We normally do the poll much earlier in the week and have more participants, but with so much Backyard Brawl coverage leaking into this week, it slipped my mind.

Last week, for what it's worth, the winning vote was West Virginia to beat Pitt, collecting 65% of the votes, which was obviously correct. Can the fans get a streak going?

West Virginia and Kansas will get things kicked off at 6 p.m. ET on FS1.

Be sure to tune into the Mountaineer Postgame Show immediately after the game on our YouTube page, West Virginia On SI. Former Mountaineer running back Eugene Napoleon and I will recap the action, discussing the good, the bad, standout performances, and a peek ahead at next week's game at home versus Utah.

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