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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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Tykee Smith, West Virginia football (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

9. Pick Analysis. Nov. 28. Morgantown (W.V.). Oklahoma Sooners. player. 815. Scouting Report

The 2020 Oklahoma Sooners do not 0- I repeat, do not — have an obvious Heisman Trophy front-runner like in years past, but that won’t stop Lincoln Riley from pushing Spencer Rattler there. He’s only a redshirt freshman, but the former five-star recruit is in a system designed for quarterbacks, just ask Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray or even Jalen Hurts.

And Rattler may get off to a rocky start, but by the time November rolls around and the Sooners are slated to travel to Morgantown, Riley’s offense is going to be humming. It’s entirely possible that the Sooners will be undefeated when they play West Virginia, making for a huge game in the standings, both the Top 25 and in the Big 12.

Oklahoma’s dominated West Virginia during their time in the Big 12, though, winning every contest dating back to 2012. How lopsided does it look if you add up all the scores from each side? Oklahoma 381 — West Virginia 242. Yikes. Maybe we’ll get a Fiesta Bowl-inspired effort from the Mountaineers against the Sooners in 2020. I wouldn’t count on it, though.

Prediction: Oklahoma 49, West Virginia 28 (6-3, 5-3)

Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. Ames (Iowa). Iowa State Cyclones. 10. Dec. 5. player. 837

Matt Campbell and the Iowa State Cyclones put a beatdown on the Mountaineers in 2020, although it looked like West Virginia had a chance early after Tykee Smith scored the game’s first touchdown off an interception. The Cyclones went on to score 38 points, while WVU added just seven more.

West Virginia wasn’t just struggling rushing the ball at this point in the season, passing became an issue, too. And things got worse when Austin Kendall left the Iowa State game after throwing just one pass. To make matters even more worse, Jarret Doege wasn’t the No. 2 quarterback yet, Jack Allison was.

Regardless of who’s quarterbacking the Mountaineers this year, the Cyclones will likely have Brock Purdy under center, who’s arguably the best quarterback in the Big 12. He threw for nearly 4,000 yards last season while tossing 27 touchdowns. Expect to hear his name often this season, and not just because two Power Five conferences aren’t scheduled to play (at the moment).

Prediction: Iowa State 27, West Virginia 23 (6-4, 5-4)

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