West Virginia football is back in action this weekend against the NC State Wolfpack, and we’ve got three bold predictions for the matchup.
Neal Brown is preparing for his second home game at Milan Puskar Stadium and expectations are all over the place. Will the Mountaineers come out with a fiery passion after last week’s let down? Or is the team going to just roll over and take another beating? The former is likely, but it won’t ensure the latter doesn’t happen.
Forget the Missouri game. It happened, WVU lost. Put it in the back of your mind. The ‘Eers are playing North Carolina State this week — and former defensive coordinator Tony Gibson. That fact should get the defensive players he recruited excited and, hopefully, the offense, too. We’ve seen Gibson defense’s struggle to stop a nosebleed in the past, but this year’s Wolfpack defense has only surrendered six points in two weeks.
Although the Mountaineers have struggled this year, their 1-1 record is honestly more impressive than NC State’s when you take schedules into account. Home games against East Carolina and Western Carolina are like junior varsity teams compared to who West Virginia played. James Madison isn’t a world-beater by any stretch of the word, but they’re a more formidable opponent than either of the Wolfpack’s opening games. And Missouri is quarterbacked by Kelly Bryant, and we’ve all seen what he can do over the years.
Winning is the ultimate goal, though, and NC State is perfect thus far in that regard. and while West Virginia has to do these things in order to win, we’ve also got three bold predictions that will certainly aid in that effort.