Texas vs. West Virginia: Who the experts are picking to win
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Texas will welcome West Virginia to town in Week 5.
The Longhorns badly need a bounce back performance after being upset by Texas Tech in overtime last week. The Mountaineers began the season 0-2 but have since defeated Towson and Virginia Tech to become .500 on the year.
It’s still unclear whether or not Texas will have starting quarterback Quinn Ewers under center or not. He has practiced with the team over the last two weeks, but Steve Sarkisian opted to go with backup Hudson Card against Texas Tech last week. It will be interesting to see whether or not Sarkisian chooses to hold him out until the Oct. 8 game against Oklahoma.
Texas could be without star wide receiver Xavier Worthy as well, as Sarkisian noted that he is day-to-day this week after suffering a lower body injury against Texas Tech.
According to ESPN’s Football Power Index, the Longhorns have an 85.1% chance to defeat the Mountaineers in Austin this week. How confident is the national media that Texas will in fact escape with a win?
College Football News
Texas just can’t seem to finish the drill.
It was one stop away from beating Alabama. It was one stop away from beating Texas Tech. It has yet to go full-throttle with the go-go style Steve Sarkisian wants to play, but the deep shots will be there to open things up just enough to give Robinson room.
Daniels will do fine against the Longhorn secondary, but Texas will get out with a good win with a bit more happening from the run D. – Pete Fiutak
Prediction: Texas 40, West Virginia 26
Heartland College Sports
Can Texas find a way to win close games? We have seen this song and dance before: Texas gets a double-digit lead and finds a way to squander it in the second half. I started drinking the Kool-Aid two weeks ago when I saw Texas put the UTSA game out of reach in the third quarter, but the same problems that we saw from Sarkisian teams last season came back in last week’s loss to Texas Tech. They’d better get it figured out, or this season might start to spiral out of control in a league that is seemingly much tougher than it was a year ago.
These teams are in very similar situations and the loser will be the unquestioned No. 10 team in the league going into next week at 0-2 in Big 12 play. In a close game, I think that Quinn Ewers and Bijan Robinson find a way to lead Texas to a nail-biting win. However, I could see this game going either way and if West Virginia is able to grab some second half momentum, watch out. – Bryan Clinton
Prediction: Texas 31, West Virginia 30
Horns247
Chip Brown: Texas 31, West Virginia 24
Jeff Howe: Texas 35, West Virginia 24
Taylor Estes: Texas 34, West Virginia 31
Mike Roach: Texas 38, West Virginia 30
Hudson Standish: Texas 52, West Virginia 35
Hook 'em headlines
This game will serve as an opportunity for the Longhorns to right the ship and build some momentum before Red River arrives next weekend.
It will be big if Texas can get the duo of redshirt freshman quarterback Quinn Ewers and star sophomore wide receiver Xavier Worthy for this game. Ewers practiced since last week and could return from a clavicle sprain he suffered a few weeks ago. And Worthy was limited last weekend when he suffered a lower-body injury early on against Texas Tech.
As long as Texas is able to maintain a solid level of play for four quarters against the Mountaineers, this should be a spot where the team can get a comfortable first win in Big 12 play this fall.
There should still be some confidence on the Texas side that this team is improved compared to last season. But they’ll need to show that a complete 60-minute effort with some killer instinct in clutch time can finally shine through against a Big 12 foe. – Andrew Miller
Prediction:Texas 41, West Virginia 28
Longhorns Wire
Cami Griffin: Texas 34, West Virginia 28
CJ Mumme: Texas 38, West Virginia 35
Joey Hickey: Texas 34, West Virginia 27
