Phil Steele Drops Prediction for West Virginia Road Battle in Houston

It wasn't the result West Virginia wanted a week ago, but they did show fight and perhaps promise that this thing could turn around to some degree in the final month of the season. Saturday afternoon, they'll get to take their swing at No. 22 Houston on the road and try to pick up their first win in Big 12 Conference play.

It's Friday, so you know what that means: college football expert Phil Steele makes his weekly appearance on the In the Gun podcast to give his thoughts on this week's Mountaineer game.

Phil's analysis:

“Last week, I liked West Virginia plus the points. I thought scrappy at home, big home crowd, and they did play really well against TCU. Well above expectations. I liked what I saw out of Scotty Fox throwing the football last week, but they are an undermanned team here. They really haven’t had the running backs emerge. Wide receiver Cam Vaughn is emerging, but this is a Houston team that is just gaining confidence by the week and getting better. Last year, I pointed out numerous times that they held their opponents to 75 yards per game below their season average, number thirteen in the country on defense. You knew they had a good defense, but offense is actually where they’re making some hay this year. They’re at home, they’re fired up. I think we have a better team, Houston, at home, so as much as I liked West Virginia plus the points last week, I actually like Houston. It’s a good situation for them this week, minus the points. But I might just be seeing a win for West Virginia next week, but we’ll talk about that next week.”

The Mountaineers will return home next week to face a reeling Colorado squad, so it looks like Phil is hinting at a win in the near future, just not this week.

West Virginia and Houston are set to tee things up at 12 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast on FS1 with

Phil's analysis:

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