This is a huge game, both for the teams and for the Big Gold Trophy. The Baylor Bears, ranked number 4 in the country by the Associated Press, are 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the Big XII. They also have the momentum of a miraculous, come-from-behind victory at home to knock off Texas Christian and take the UCFC. If they win this game, they will take the trophy back home for a game with Kansas on November 1. If they win that game -- and they would be heavily favored -- then they will take the trophy up to Norman, Oklahoma for a showdown with the Sooners. Whoever wins that game will probably go undefeated for the rest of the year, win the Big XII, and take the trophy to the NCAA football playoff.
But it is by no means certain that Baylor will beat West Virginia. The Mountaineers have their own momentum, as they rallied from 14 points down in the fourth quarter to beat Texas Tech 37-34 down in Lubbock. This will be West Virginia's third game of the year against a team ranked in the AP top five, and while they lost the two prior games, they put up game efforts against both Alabama (23-33) and Oklahoma (33-45). Those are their only two losses, leaving them 2-1 in the Big XII and 4-2 overall. And they will be tough at home, as they always are.
The folks in Vegas expect Baylor to win another high-scoring contest. They have installed Baylor as an 8-point favorite with an over-under line of 80. That would work out to a 44-36 victory for the Bears, which still seems a little bit low-scoring to me. Given how shaky Baylor's defense looked last Saturday, I would not be surprised by a West Virginia win. Given how quickly Baylor can score, I wouldn't be surprised if the oddsmakers were right. This is a very difficult game to predict.
I will not be live-blogging this game, as I will be attending a showdown in the Southern Athletic Association between the Sewanee Tigers and the Centre Colonels. But we will have a post-game report sometime next week.
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