So we have kind of established that WVU football will beat the bad teams and lose to the good
teams. An unanswered question is how will they fare against more average teams? My gut says that it will depend on the matchup. If the average team can throw the ball well, they will have success against WVU, and the Mountaineers will have to outscore them to win. If the average team is not a good passing team, I like WVU’s chances.
This week, West Virginia travels to Cincinnati – a decidedly average team. They are 5-3 overall
and 3-2 in the conference (tied with WVU). The bad news is that they do appear to be able to throw the ball well. Quarterback Brendan Sorsby is third in the conference in both passing yards and passing efficiency. He has a pair of talented receivers in Xzavier Henderson and Joe Royer.
WVU parted ways with defensive coordinator Jordan Lesley during the bye week, and linebackers coach Jeff Koontz has been elevated to the coordinator role. The big question is what changes might we see in the defense, and how effective will those changes be? I won’t believe any improvement until I actually see it, especially with injury concerns.
So WVU will have to outscore the Bearcats, and given that Cincy does not appear to have a great defense, that is entirely possible. Neal Brown has been noncommittal about Garrett Greene’s availability with an upper body injury, but Nicco Marchiol did look good against a poor Arizona defense. This game has the makings of a shootout, and it could be which team has the ball last to determine who wins.
The men’s and women’s basketball seasons are both under way. The men opened Monday night and the women on Tuesday. I’m looking forward to both, but in different ways. The women are ranked in the preseason Top 20 after a great season in Mark Kellogg’s first year. He added a good recruiting class to a solid squad, so there is a lot of optimism around the program.
The men’s team is unlikely to be ranked this year, and making the NCAA tournament is a stretch, but I’m excited for the future. Darian DeVries checks all the boxes as a good coach for WVU, and he has assembled a good staff on paper. The team is almost all new from last year – only Ofri Naveh returns from last year. But there does appear to be more talent on this team, but they will need to learn to play together and gel as a team. I do think they could be fun to watch and root for, even in a loss.
Notes: Kickoff for the Cincinnati game is Noon on Saturday, and it will be televised by Fox Sports 1 (FS1)…The women’s soccer team lost a heartbreaker in heavy rain at the Big 12 tournament. Kansas upset WVU in double overtime, 1-0. They will find out their NCAA fate on November 11, when the tournament field is announced…The men’s team will host the Sun Belt Tournament this week. The quarterfinals will be played on November 10, and the semifinals will on November 13. The finals are held at the campus site of the higher seed, which could potentially be WVU if they make it that far.
