Phil Steele: WVU is 'Clearly in the Mix to Get to Big 12 Title' with Win Over K-State

One of the best college football experts out there has a strong belief in the Mountaineers.

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As rough as the last seven days have been for West Virginia head coach Neal Brown, he can get things turned around in a big way with a win over No. 17 Kansas State on Saturday night under the lights at Milan Puskar Stadium.

The Mountaineers struggled mightily to get anything going offensively after the opening drive in the loss to Iowa State, but somehow, the result of the game wasn't the main topic of conversation 48 hours later. Instead, it was a quote from the head coach in what ended up being a poorly delivered message to the fans which he eventually owned up to during his radio show on Thursday evening.

A win won't completely earn the trust, respect, or whatever you want to call it back from the fans, but it will at least cool the conversation regarding his job.

In our final episode on In the Gun this week, I asked college football expert Phil Steele if he still believes West Virginia has a chance to be in the discussion for the Big 12 title game considering this is a 3-3 team that has lost to three undefeateds and has only beaten an FCS team and a pair of Big 12 teams that are now 0-7 in league play.

Steele on West Virginia's Big 12 title hopes:

“Yeah, if they play like I think they will this weekend and beat Kansas State, they’re clearly in the mix to get to the Big 12 title game. Now, that at Cincinnati game is going to be extremely difficult. The at Texas Tech game, difficult. But I believe Arizona is a winnable game on the road. Baylor at home, UCF at home. I think they can win at Texas Tech, I watched Cincinnati go in there. I think the Cincinnati game is probably the toughest one after this and if they end up the season, even if they lose that Cincinnati game with two losses, they have a chance of getting there. But as long as they beat Kansas State this week like I think they will, they are a legitimate Big 12 contender.”

Why Phil might be right

The road ahead is one of a handful of reasons why West Virginia will have an opportunity to get to Dallas. No game in the Big 12 is going to be easy, but Arizona is in a tough spot right now and if they lose again this weekend to Colorado, they'll be searching for answers with dashed confidence.

Coming out of the bye week, the Mountaineers have a difficult game at Cincinnati but then have two home games against a pair of struggling teams in Baylor and UCF before wrapping things up on the road at Texas Tech.

It's been a disappointing start to the season so far for the Mountaineers, but they still have a lot to play for, starting tonight.

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