Baylor football is reeling after a 59-16 loss to Oklahoma State and looking to rebound at home on Saturday. Here’s the Week 8 preview vs. West Virginia.
Another week and Baylor is still searching for win No. 1. This week, the Bears welcome No. 23 West Virginia to Waco to try to pull off an upset. Baylor has shown flashes this season but has yet to put together a complete game to get its first victory. Last week, the Bears were completely outmatched against Oklahoma State in Stillwater.
This week will test the character of this Baylor team. Will the Bears bounce back and show that same fight that they did against Oklahoma and Kansas State, or will the consecutive losses take a toll? The lone bright spot in last weeks loss was an emergence of a running game. Baylor rushed for 219 yards as a team and Terence Williams accounted for 95 of those.
West Virginia came back from being down 35-17 to defeat Texas Tech 46-35 last week. The Mountaineers held Texas Tech to 71 yards passing in second half and David Sills V put on a show to get the win. This week they have to travel to winless Baylor and there is no telling how this one will go.
Here is how you can watch Saturday’s Baylor vs West Virginia game:
ate: Saturday, Oct. 21
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
Location: Waco, Texas
Venue: McLane Stadium
TV: FS1 or FS2
Live Stream: Fox Sports Go
Keys to Victory
Baylor started off right by going down the field and scoring first but they couldn’t keep up with Oklahoma State’s offense. If they want to try to sneak up on West Virginia, the Bears will have to have a similar game plan and control the clock and establish the running game early.
Defensively, Baylor must stop the run and make the Mountaineers one-demensional. West Virginia has a balanced attack to gain any advantage Baylor must take away their run game and force them to beat you throwing the ball. Baylor has struggled to stop the run so this will be no small task.
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Prediction
Baylor will come out fired up to be playing at home for the first time in a month. The Bears will score first and feel a since of hope that they can pull this off. West Virginia will match the score and this game will be off to the races. This will turn out to be an old-fashioned Big 12 shootout with both Baylor and West Virginia throwing punches. In the end home-field advantage works in Baylor’s favor and the Bears get their first win of the year.
Final Score: Baylor 48, West Virginia 45