Big 12 Football 2018: Usual suspects top Week 1 Power Rankings

West Virginia may have the highest ceiling in the entire conference, but their middle ground and floors are the worst among all the middle line contenders. With Will Grier, and six other offensive starters, including receiver David Sills V, this offense should be spectacular. However, questions about the defense have me concerned about what this team will do against great offenses, of which the Big 12 has plenty.

More than that, I’m concerned about the depth here. If Grier, or a number of other starters gets hurt, West Virginia could completely fall apart. There are five key players on this team (Grier, Sills, Yodny Cajuste, David Long, Dravon Askew-Henry) that I don’t think West Virginia would be able to survive without. That’s very scary, and because of that, I only see seven or eight wins for the Mountaineers.

It’s hard to question Mike Gundy at this point. He’s certainly proven his ability as a talent developer, and he had made great teams out of rosters worse than this one. However, this roster is in a pretty tough place. 12 starters return, seven on defense, but stars like Mason Rudolph and James Washington are both gone. That could cause some issues offensively, especially because I don’t think I really trust Taylor Cornelius yet.

The defense will probably be a lot like every Oklahoma State defense. Decent against bad offenses, and bad against decent offenses. I don’t see Oklahoma State breaking out this year, but I also don’t see them falling too far. I think with Gundy and a decent amount of talent, they’ll probably hover around the eight-win mark.