West Virginia vs. Kansas Spread Pick
Can the West Virginia Mountaineers avoid a letdown on Saturday when they host the Kansas Jayhawks at 12:00 p.m. ET on Saturday? The Mountaineers are nearly four-touchdown favorites over the Jayhawks.
Game Snapshot
375 Kansas Jayhawks at 376 West Virginia Mountaineers
12:00 p.m. ET, Saturday, October 6, 2018
Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium, Morgantown, West Virginia
Public Betting Trends
According to oddsmakers from online sports book BetNow.eu, the Mountaineers are 27.5-point favorites to beat the Jayhawks. The total, meanwhile, sits at 61.5 points. As of this writing, 68% of the public betting tickets wagered on this matchup are on the Mountaineers.
Kansas Jayhawks
Kansas redshirt junior QB Carter Stanley has been named starter for Saturday’s game against West Virginia. Peyton Bender opened the campaign as starter, but did not see the field over the weekend. Instead, it was Stanley working in that capacity against Oklahoma State on Saturday. He impressed in that spot, hitting on 24-of-32 passes for 247 yards and a trio of touchdowns. That performance was strong enough for the redshirt junior to earn the starting nod against the Mountaineers, this after beginning the season as a third-string option. He owns an even 13/13 TD/INT ratio for his career.
West Virginia Mountaineers
West Virginia senior QB Will Grier completed 27-of-41 passes for 370 yards and three touchdowns in Saturday’s 42-34 win over Texas Tech. Grier (6’2/223) came out on fire in WVU’s first true test of the season, hitting on a pair of scores in the first quarter and one more in the second quarter. The Mountaineers took a commanding 35-10 lead into the half, and while Texas Tech did make a little noise after emerging from the locker room, that big early lead served as a large enough cushion through to the end of the contest. For the campaign as a whole, now, Grier has thrown for 1487 yards with a 17/3 TD/INT ratio in four games. He’ll look to scorch Kansas next weekend as he attempts to keep pace with Tua Tagovailoa and Dwayne Haskins in the Heisman race.
Betting Trends
Kansas
The Jayhawks are 4-1 against the spread in their last five games versus the Mountaineers.
West Virginia
The Mountaineers have covered four straight spreads.
Prediction
There’s no case to be made for Kansas to beat West Virginia but the Mountaineers are coming off a draining victory last week on the road against Texas Tech and this is a natural letdown spot. The Jayhawks aren’t as hapless as they’ve been in years past and as noted above, they’ve actually had ATS success versus the Mountaineers in previous meetings.
College Football Prediction: Kansas Jayhawks +27.5