Phil Steele Reveals Who He's Taking in the West Virginia-Cincinnati Matchup

Phil Steele's pick is in for this weekend's Mountaineer game.

Aryanna Frank-Imagn Images

This morning on the In the Gun podcast, college football analyst Phil Steele revealed his thoughts on West Virginia's road matchup against Cincinnati, and which side he is taking with the spread.

Phil's thoughts on Cincinnati

“I tell you what, this is a great game. And as you know, I pick teams as play-on teams. Unfortunately for me, these are two play-on teams. You look at the entire year, even the Texas Tech game, I thought they outplayed Texas Tech on the road in Lubbock. They had a 29-21 first down edge, 555-442 yard edge, came up three points short. I love the way they went on the road and beat UCF; they clubbed a really good Arizona State team at home, they shut out Houston, they have the big comeback loss against Pitt. They probably should have won. They had that thing won. I thought they took the foot off the pedal in the second half. Their worst game of the season was the second half against Colorado. They had them even, it was 14-14, and then it sort of came apart from there. Coming off a bye, they’ll be ready."

The West Virginia side of it

"And as you know, I’ve been high on West Virginia all year. I liked them at Arizona. Probably the most disappointing game for me for West Virginia was that Kansas State game. But as we know, they outplayed Kansas State in the first half and then were beat up in the second half. I think they’ll be healthier than they were for the second half against Kansas State. I think Nicco (Marchiol), if he does start, this will be his third start, and he’s got that road start under his belt, so he’ll improve."

Phil's play for WVU vs. Cincinnati

"This will be a really good game. I’m surprised the number is over a field goal. I would have put this one at Cincinnati getting a home-field edge -3. I’ll take West Virginia plus the points. I think it comes down to the wire, and I’m really excited to watch this game and learn more about the two teams.”

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