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West Virginia football: Game-by-game predictions for 2020 season

By Phil Poling

MORGANTOWN, WV - OCTOBER 05: Head coach Neal Brown of the West Virginia Mountaineers looks on against the Texas Longhorns during a game at Mountaineer Field on October 5, 2019 in Morgantown, West Virginia. Texas defeated West Virginia 42-31. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
MORGANTOWN, WV - OCTOBER 05: Head coach Neal Brown of the West Virginia Mountaineers looks on against the Texas Longhorns during a game at Mountaineer Field on October 5, 2019 in Morgantown, West Virginia. Texas defeated West Virginia 42-31. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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West Virginia football
Darius Stills, West Virginia football (Photo by Ed Zurga/Getty Images) /

3. 860. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. Baylor Bears. player. Oct. 3. Morgantown (W.V.)

The third game of the 2020 season for West Virginia will be in Morgantown versus the Baylor Bears. They lost a Thursday night Halloween game to the Bears a season ago, but it helped put the national audience on notice of the Stills brothers.

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Darius Stills had a monstrous game, tallying 10 total tackles (eight solo), three tackles for loss, and three sacks. His brother, Dante, only totaled two tackles, but both were sacks. From that point forward, you couldn’t bring up the Mountaineers without mentioning the duo from Fairmont. They officially arrived that Halloween night.

During that contest, the 3-5 Mountaineers pushed the 12th-ranked Bears to the brink, ultimately losing 17-14. If the ‘Eers can get any sort of ground game going this year, things will be easier for not just the offense, but the defense as well. And that won’t be exclusive to the Mountaineers’ early games, either.

With the departure of head coach Matt Rhule, the Baylor football program will look entirely different this season. And that bodes well for a Mountaineer team looking to reach new heights in 2020 so #TrustTheClimb.

Prediction: West Virginia 27, Baylor 14 (2-1, 1-1)

Scouting Report. Oct. 17. Kansas Jayhawks. player. 821. Pick Analysis. Morgantown (W.V.). 4

The early-season schedule for West Virginia really favors the Mountaineers, with Kansas being their fourth opponent. The Jayhawks were Neal Brown’s first taste of Big 12 play a season ago, and the ‘Eers handled business on the road to defeat Kansas 29-24. That win pushed West Virginia to a 3-1 record before they dropped five straight.

Here’s to hoping things go a bit different this time around.

The running game for the Mountaineers was absent most of last season, save for the Kansas game where they piled up a season-high 192 yards. Kennedy McKoy ran 20 times for 73 yards, while Leddie Brown added another 12 attempts for 70 yards. Even Martell Pettaway chipped in 40 yards on six carries. Imagine having a back-by-committee system with that type of production.

West Virginia might not sniff 200 rushing yards against the Jayhakws this year, but that won’t completely stifle their offensive attack. When they played a season ago Austin Kendall was still under center for the Mountaineers. And while he wasn’t terrible, the offense just didn’t move the way they did with Jarret Doege as the signal-caller. Expect that change to be the difference-maker.

Prediction: West Virginia 33, Kansas 20 (3-1, 2-1)

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