Texas Tech vs. WVU Prediction
Will Texas Tech finally end its losing streak against West Virginia or will the Mountaineers cover the spread as a small favorite?
THE ODDS: According to oddsmakers from online sports book Bovada.lv, the Mountaineers are now 3.5-point home favorites to beat the Red Raiders at 12:00PM ET this afternoon. West Virginia opened as a 7-point favorite but the line dropped immediately to 3.5. As for the total, the number hit the board at 80.5 but was bet down to 79.
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TEXAS TECH: The Red Raiders racked up 313 yards on the ground last week in their win over Kansas and also produced five rushing touchdowns as well. Coach Kliff Kingsbury loved what he saw.
“It was important to get it going after the previous week of not being able to establish it versus Oklahoma State,” Kingsbury said. “I didn’t think we were physical enough, and those guys at Oklahoma State did a good job up front of slowing us down. It opens up everything for us offensively. It allows us to get guys open in the back end that are talented players, and if we can’t run it they’re going to drop everybody out of there and nobody will be open. We know going in that’s what we have to do, and we’ll work to do that.”
WEST VIRGINIA: The Red Raiders haven’t beaten the Mountaineers in three seasons but West Virginia has its own streak going. For one reason or another, the Mountaineers can’t beat ranked teams. They’ve lost nine straight games against top 25 competition and Tech comes into this game ranked No. 24 in the nation.
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OUR PREDICTION: This isn’t the most explosive team Kingsbury has had in Lubbock but it also might be his best. The Red Raiders remain among the national leaders in turnover margin and rank fourth nationally and first in the Big 12 in that category at plus-9 this season. Through five games, the Red Raiders have already forced 14 turnovers this season, which is one more than their top from the entire 2016 season. Conversely, Tech has protected the football as well, ranking 12th nationally and second in the Big 12 with only five turnovers lost.
As previously mentioned, the Red Raiders are running the ball better than they did a year ago. No longer are they relying solely on Patrick Mahomes to win them games through the air. Quarterback Nic Shimonek continues to improve as a first-year starter and believe it or not, Tech is playing some defense this year, too. (Well, relatively speaking.) I like high-scoring teams getting points and Texas Tech fits the bill this week.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 7 PREDICTIONS: TEXAS TECH RED RAIDERS +3.5