West Virginia 2011 Season Odds
(The Spread) – It was an offseason to forget for the West Virginia Mountaineers, but can the team rally to overcome the adversity and contend for the 2011 Big East Championship.
After his third straight season of 9-4 football, Bill Stewart was told that Dana Holgorsen will be taking over for him in 2012. Soon, rumors came out that Stewart was trying to soil his successor’s name, which forced him to step down now, giving Holgorsen the keys to the car a year early.
Now, Holgorsen is left to attempt to keep the players unified as they look to repeat as Big East champs. Holgorsen returns 13 starters this season, including 8 on offense.
According to oddsmakers the Mountaineers have 35/1 odds to win the 2012 BCS National Championship and 7/4 odds to win the Big East. The over/under odds for total wins this season for WVU has been set at 9.5.
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WVU has won 14 conference titles in program history, six of which are Big East Championships. The Mountaineers have yet to win the national title.
If WVU is to repeat as conference champs or even win it all, it will need a big performance from quarterback Geno Smith. Smith threw for 2,763 yards and 24 touchdowns as a sophomore and is now back to lead an offense that averaged over 25 points per game. Oddsmakers have given Smith 90/1 odds to win the Heisman Trophy this season. Defensively, the Mountaineers return just 4 starters, but do bring back Bruce Irvin, who led the team in 2010 with 14 sacks.
The Mountaineers went 9-4 the last three seasons, but had won 11 games in the three seasons prior to that. This season, WVU gets LSU and Maryland in non-conference action. In conference play, the biggest tests will be hosting Pittsburgh and traveling to South Florida and Cincinnati.
WVU was 8-5 against the spread in 2010, which was the first time the Mountaineers had a winning record against the spread under Stewart. West Virginia also hit the under in 8 of 13 lined games last season. They went under the point total in 4 of 5 road games in 2010.
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