Posted:
#1
West Virginia in on course to play in the National Championship with a win on Saturday. Obviously, the public will be all over the superior team here and that has driven this line up much further than it should be. Being a huge rivalry game makes the line even that much more inflated. The Mountaineers had to impress some voters and/or computers along the way but that is not needed here as a win and they are no matter if it by one or 100 points.
It hasn't been a good season on any level for the Panthers, but they do have one final chance to get some satisfaction out of this season. Pittsburgh is not going to a bowl game and will finish with its worst record since 1998, win or lose. But don’t think for a second that they have given up on the season, on the coach or on themselves. They would almost take a win against West Virginia than a bowl game and in reality, this is their bowl game. They are just not getting any respect.
The West Virginia running game is obviously what Pittsburgh needs to try and slow down and if the Panthers are to pull off the upset, they'll have to do a much better job of defending the read-option offense. The Mountaineers are averaging 310.1 ypg on the season and if they get to that 300-yard mark, it is lights out. For the win yes but for the cover, that isn’t the case. The Panthers have allowed 300 yards or more six times in the past five years, going 0-6. However, the losses were by an average of only16 pg.
In a season where almost every conceivable thing that could go wrong did, the Panthers are imagining the unimaginable. This season, nothing is a given. Twelve top-five teams have lost to unranked teams this season, a major reason there are no undefeated teams in the six major conferences heading into the final weekend of the regular season. Can Pittsburgh win this game? Sure it can. Will it? Probably not but this game will be a lot closer than people think
glta
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