West Virginia Mountaineers 2017 NCAA Football Preview

College Football Predictions – West Virginia Mountaineers 2017 NCAA Football Preview

2016 Recap

2016 Record – 10-3

2016 ATS – 5-8

There were a couple of disappointing moments, but overall, the Mountaineers’ 2016 campaign was pretty good as they finished up at 10-3. This was despite getting beat by Miami in the Russell Athletic Bowl – a 92480357248935935309 star MEGALOCKS STEAMY STEAM MOVE WINNER. They started out 6-0 and their only losses during the regular season came against Oklahoma and Oklahoma St.

2017 MEGALOCKS Opening Power Rating

Big 12 – TBD

OFFENSE

There is a new sheriff in town at QB and his name is Will Grier. The former Florida Gators’ quarterback sat out last season and should fit nicely with the West Virginia offense. The Mountaineers have done a great job running the football the past two seasons (228 yards per game in both campaigns) and look to be loaded at RB in 2017. Leading rusher Justin Crawford (1,184) is back and West Virginia has some talent stockpiled behind him on the depth chart. The offensive line is a bit of a worry as they are very inexperienced compared to the 2016 unit. They will be without their top-2 WRs from last season and will miss the big-play ability of Shelton Gibson (22.1, 8 TD).

DEFENSE

Things look a bit dicey on defense – BUT – the Mountaineers were a lot better than expected in 2016. Only three starters are back on defense and the defensive line features completely new starters. As a team, the Mountaineers struggled getting PENETRATION last season, and they finished up 2016 ranked 8th in the conference in sacks per game and 9th in TFL per contest. It’s hard to predict an improvement this year without knowing the quality of the players that will be asked to step forward. The LB corps looks solid and returns 3/3 starters. The secondary has several new starters but they do get the return of S Dravon Askew-Henry who was 4th on the team in tackles in 2015.

SPECIAL TEAMS

We are not crazy about the looks of things. PK Mike Molina only connected on 15/22 FG attempts last season and was 2/5 from 40+ yards. P Billy Kinney is back. The return units could use some additional spice.

Potential ATS Trouble Spot

Hmm. Hard to sniff one out. The schedule actually looks pretty balanced and the tough games are pretty well spaced out. They finish up with Texas and Oklahoma.

MEGAmazing Tidbits

This happened. West Virginia whooped Clemson 70-33 in the 2011 Orange Bowl as 3-point underdogs. It seems longer ago than that. Amirite ? And your boys Mike Tirico and Jon Gruden called the game with Jaws on the sideline. Amaze your friends with that trivia gem.

MEGALOCKS ATS Value Rating (10) 3.0

MEGALOCKS says:

Overall, we give the MOUNTAINEERS a 3.0 ATS Value Rating (Poor) this season.

This sets up as a challenging year. The Mountaineers are coming off a fine two-year stretch in which they went 18-8. The Big 12 looks really competitive and it doesn’t feel like a year when you can just throw your helmets out there and win 8+ games. From an ATS perspective, it is important to note the HC Dana Holgorsen is just 31-44-1 (41%) vs Vegas during his Morgantown tenure.

We recommend staying clear of West Virginia ATS most weeks unless the offensive and defensive lines prove to be better than advertised.

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