The West Virginia Mountaineers host the Arizona Wildcats in an early kickoff in Big 12 play. These two teams are all gas and no brakes (and no defense either), so both teams will come out of the locker room on the attack. The Mountaineers beat Virginia, but they are 0-2 in conference play with losses to Oklahoma St and Iowa St. The Wildcats are 1-1 in the Big 12, beating Cincinnati last weekend but losing on the road to BYU. Look for this game to light up the scoreboard like a classic Big 12 shootout. I am taking the game total over 61.5.
This game opened with the highest game total on the board, and that usually means it is too low. Rich Rodriguez and West Virginia can pile up points in a hurry, even with just the ground attack. They had 2 different backs carry the ball 20 times for over 140 yards last week, and they have twice been over 500 yards of total offense (437 is the “low” mark so far). On the other hand, the Mountaineers can’t play defense, and don’t seem to be too terribly worried about that. Arizona has a veteran QB with a prolific air attack, and they can match the Mountaineers score for score. I don’t see any universe where this game is a 17-13 kind of game, and it would be surprising if both teams don’t end up in the 30s. Both teams will also feel the pressure score touchdowns rather than settling for field goals. Let’s pile up some points.
Arizona vs West Virginia Prediction: Over 61.5 (-110) available at the time of publishing. Playable to 64.5.
