Baylor Football: 3 reasons the Bears defeat West Virginia

Baylor Football travels to Morgantown to take on the Mountaineers. Here are three reasons Baylor wins. 

The Baylor Bears and West Virginia Mountaineers are coming off losses before their respective bye-weeks and looking to get into the win column. The Bears ( 3-2, 1-1) found themselves on the short end of a comeback, losing to #9 Oklahoma State 36-25 in Waco. West Virginia (2-3, 0-2) lost a close game to Texas 30-28.

Baylor looks to keep pace in a competitive Big 12 while West Virginia seeks its first conference win and avoid joining Iowa State and Oklahoma at the bottom of the conference. Don’t let their records fool you; these are good football teams. All five combined losses are to groups either ranked or were ranked in the top 25.

Who wins this Thursday night showdown? Here are three reasons Baylor gets the road win.

3. Baylor football should win on the ground

There should be an expectation of some drop-off anytime you lose running backs like Anais Smith and Tristan Ebner. However, the Bears have quite the three-headed monster at running back this season in Richard Reese, Craig Williams, and Qualan Jones, averaging nearly 190 rushing yards per game.

The Bears’ run defense is quite stingy as well. Baylor has allowed 96 yards and 2.8 yards per rush attempt through five games this season. Siaki Ika is a load at nose tackle, and veteran linebacker Dillon Doyle does not miss many tackles.

West Virginia freshman phenom running back CJ Donaldson has been ruled out of this game and will rely on Tony Mathis, Jr. to carry the load. When West Virginia has had success offensively, it has come primarily because of the running game’s success.

West Virginia might struggle to move the football without a successful running game. In addition, being one-dimensional put JT Daniels at risk, and he has a history of injuries.