West Virginia Opens as Favorite Over Kansas State
Despite coming off of a loss to then 1-3 Texas Tech on the road, West Virginia opens as a 3.5 point favorite over No. 16 Kansas State at home this weekend.
The Wildcats come riding into Morgantown after thumping in-state rival Kansas by a 55-14 score. Phillip Brooks had two punt returns of 50 yards plus that went for touchdowns which is a big reason why K-State only had 381 total yards of offense.
Special teams will play a big factor in this Saturday's game and if West Virginia can't win that side of the ball, it's going to be a challenge for them to come out on top. Kansas State was always sound on special teams under Bill Snyder and that has continued under the leadership of Chris Klieman. As for West Virginia, special teams has always been a main priority for head coach Neal Brown, but he has not been satisfied with the results through the first five games of the season. He wants to see more distance on punts, better coverage on kicks and punts, and better blocking on punt return.
Heading into last week's game vs Texas Tech, the Mountaineers had the No. 1 defense in the country but looked nothing like it and even Neal Brown said he thought his guys "looked tired". This will be a good opportunity for West Virginia to bounce back not only defensively, but on all three sides of the ball and come up with a very big win over a ranked conference opponent.
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