West Virginia Opens as Massive Underdogs for Road Game Against Kansas

What a night it was in Morgantown on Saturday as the West Virginia Mountaineers delivered one of the all-time best finishes in the Backyard Brawl, defeating Pitt in overtime 31-24.

It may not have been pretty at times, and at moments, things looked bleak. But when the Mountaineers absolutely needed to move the ball and put points on the board, Nicco Marchiol and Co. did their thing.

Surprisingly, that result didn't do much in terms of winning over the oddsmakers in Vegas. I just checked the odds over at FanDuel Sportsbook a few moments ago and was stunned to see that Kansas is a 12.5-point favorite.

I'm well aware that the Mountaineers still have a lot of things to sort out, particularly along the offensive line. However, what we saw at the end of Saturday's game should be proof that this team is capable of being, at the very least, competitive in Big 12 play.

A near two-touchdown dog to Kansas? Excuse me? What am I missing here?

Kansas smacked Fresno State and Wagner for their first two wins of the season, and then lost to Missouri 42-31, in a game in which they were out-gained 595-254. They were dominated, but the scoreboard didn't show it

Missouri also out-rushed Kansas 261-31, which should make Rich Rodriguez and defensive coordinator Zac Alley to see. The Mountaineers rank 38th nationally in run defense and just held a dynamic Pitt offense to 46 yards on the ground. Couple that with the fact that West Virginia just found something in Tye Edwards, and you'd have to think the Mountaineers have a pretty good shot of winning this game, regardless of what the odds say.

Not that Rich Rod will use this as bulletin board material, but it can be a bit of a wake up call of sorts to this group, showing that there is still a large amount of disbelief in this WVU team despite beating Pitt. After mentally and physically exhausting win and Kansas coming off a bye week, I understand the Jayhawks having the advantage. That said, Rodriguez will have this group ready to play.

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