Score Predictions for West Virginia vs Baylor

The Mountaineers Now staff makes their pick for Thursday night's game.

The West Virginia Mountaineers (2-3, 0-2) will host the Baylor Bears (3-2, 1-1) Thursday night at 7:00 p.m. with the action broadcasting on FS1. 

Schuyler Callihan: Baylor 33, West Virginia 30

All of the trends are pointing to the Mountaineers in this matchup, but I'm not sold on this coaching staff fixing most of the major issues during the bye week. In addition to that, WVU is going to need to find a way to run the ball with consistency against one of the best run defenses in the Big 12, without CJ Donaldson who just so happens to be their best back. West Virginia gets out to a hot start, but fails to finish and falls to 2-4 (0-3) on the season.

Christopher Hall: West Virginia 27 Baylor 21

West Virginia is desperate for a conference win while Baylor is looking to remain in the conference title hunt after dropping its first Big 12 game in the last outing to Oklahoma State. 

Baylor is/was the preseason favorites to win the league after taking the crown last season but had to replace a lot of key pieces and have gotten off to a bit a slow start. 

Sophomore quarterback Blake Shapen is coming off a career-best 345 yards with a pair of touchdowns, but two interceptions were the difference in the game, while freshman running back Richard Reese leads the team in rushing. 

If the defense can limit the explosive plays and force Baylor to work the ball down the field, the Mountaineers have a chance, but the offense will have to get off to a better start than they did in their last outing versus Texas. 

Baylor dominated WVU last season in Waco but much like the Mountaineers did to Iowa State last year where they took a dominating loss the year prior and flipped the script with a win in Morgantown, coupled with Baylor has never won in Morgantown, West Virginia edges Baylor 27-21.

Julia Mellett: Baylor 30 - West Virginia 27

Baylor has never won at Milan Puskar Stadium... but I'm not as convinced in this iteration. West Virginia has a laundry list of injuries, and I anticipate them being felt. CJ Donaldson is out. Mike O'Laughlin is out. Charles Woods is out. The injuries pile up, and WVU's depth has proven ill-equipped to handle the Big 12 opposition.

Enter Baylor. 358-lb NT Siaki Ika holds the defense down up front. His conference and national accolades round a city block. S At Walcott and LB Matt Jones leads the Bears' defense with 32 and 28 tackles, respectively. Baylor is No. 18 in the nation in rushing defense, holding opponents to 2.85 yards per rush. The defense allows 223.2 yards through the air, and the WVU offense will need to make use of holes in both of those in order to produce any kind of offensive success.

When it comes down to it, West Virginia's late-down conversions are actually nationally significant. The Mountaineers rank No. 15 in 3rd down conversions (.494) and No. 9 in 4th down conversions (.800). Both West Virginia and Baylor have offenses keen on going for it on 4th down, so I think we'll see a lot of game-changing momentum shifts in that area.

Overall, Baylor wins out and finally collects a win in Morgantown, 30-27.

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