West Virginia comes into the 2018 season looking to improve on their 7-6 record they put up last year. The Mountaineers come into the season looking to compete for the Big 12 crown let by pre-season Heisman contender Will Grier and wide receiver David Sills. The Mountaineers come into the season with a high powered offense looking to run through the Big 12 which is not necessarily known for having stout defenses.
The Mountaineers defense will be the key for West Virginia to move past the 7 win mark they put up in 2017. West Virginia was able to pick up two key grad transfers (Kenny Bigelow and Jabril Robinson) this off season to boost their questionable defense from 2017. Bigelow and Robinson both defensive lineman come in from USC and Clemson respectively.The two grad transfers come in looking to help out the defensive line which will be important especially in the pass rush department.
The offense as I mentioned looks to be one of the best in the Big 12 as well as one of the best in the nation. Will Grier who had flashes of greatness for most of the season looks to carry this offense along with Sills and Kennedy McKoy who looks to take a majority of the snaps at running back. With an offense scoring 35 points a game last season and a majority of the key pieces back the offense should be high powered once again and I would not be surprised to see them average over 40 points a game and see Will Grier get invited to New York for the Heisman ceremony.
With Baker Mayfield gone the Big 12 is up for grabs and while OU is still the team to beat TCU, WVU and others will look to compete for the title and luckily for WVU they get both of those teams at home and have a fairly favorable schedule. The only thing that could trouble West Virginia is the final 4 games of the season which could be the 4 hardest games of the season. Here is my prection on how the Mountaineers season plays out:
W- at. Tennessee (Neutral)
W- vs. Youngstown State
L- at. NC State
W- vs. Kansas State
W- at. Texas Tech
W- vs. Kansas
W- at. Iowa State
W- vs. Baylor
W- at. Texas
W- vs. TCU
W-at. Oklahoma State
L- vs. Oklahoma