Kansas State vs West Virginia Big 12 Football Picks and Odds

Kansas State vs West Virginia Betting Preview

WagerTalk college football handicapper Las Vegas Cris offers his Kansas State vs West Virginia Big XII football betting preview for Saturday, November 13 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas. At the time of posting, the Wildcats are a 6.5-point home favorite over the Mountaineers with the total sitting at 47 points.

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Kansas State vs West Virginia Predictions

• Kansas State Wildcats -6.5 vs West Virginia Mountaineers
• Total: 47 Points
• West Virginia has won each of the last five meetings in this series, covering the point spread in each of the last four.
• Kansas State is 5-2 against the spread in the Wildcats’ last seven conference home games.

Both West Virginia and Kansas St are out of the Big 12 conference race, but this remains an interesting matchup between two solid and possibly ascending programs. West Virginia is just 4-5 but Neal Brown is building this program the right way, and there’s plenty of motivation to reach a bowl game and reap the benefit of extra bowl practices. Kansas St is 6-3, winning three in a row to move to 3-3 in conference play.

West Virginia prefers a balanced offense. RB Brown will face a defense that has improved at stopping opposing RB’s. QB Doege is a high percentage passer but his TD to interception ratio is not ideal. His ability to move the chains through the air could have a positive affect on the run game. Kansas St allows 69% to opposing QB’s and I look for Doege to come close to that mark in this game. The area of concern is pass protection. He’s projected to be sacked approximately three times in this game. With a clean pocket, West Virginia can achieve run-pass balance. Without a clean pocket, the ability to mix in the run could be affected. RB Brown averages 4.4 yards-per-carry. I’m projecting 20-80 in this spot, very dependent on West Virginia using the pass attack to open up more rush lanes.

Kansas St has a savvy, veteran QB in Skylar Thompson. RB Vaughn has exceeded 100 yards on the ground five times, and ran for 99 a 6th time. Like his counterpart, he is also effective catching passes out of the backfield. Very much like West Virginia, I expect the Wildcats to achieve some run-pass balance. It’s very difficult to run on a Neal Brown team, but the overall rushing numbers favor Kansas St to do just that. Vaughn might be slowed down (Oklahoma and Oklahoma St held him to a combined 28-73) but I project an estimated 19-93 in this spot.

Both teams have efficient kickers, so in a close game there is no edge. Neal Brown excelled when in the role of a road underdog at Troy, and is only now finding its footing in that role. Kansas St could win by more than a touchdown if they get to QB Doege and play to their expected rushing advantage. Still, as long as the turnover margin stays flat, West Virginia projects as capable road underdog in what should be a very tight game. Kansas State’s three losses are to Oklahoma State, Iowa State and Oklahoma, all teams better than West Virginia. One the flip side, two of their three wins included a 25-24 massive comeback win vs. Texas Tech and an expected win vs. Kansas. These two teams are not on par with West Virginia.

My recommendation is to take West Virginia, with Kansas State projected to win by about three to four points. I’d further recommend waiting to see if the line can climb to plus seven.

✏️Which injuries should you be monitoring this week? What are some historical trends and angles that can help you break down the NCAAF Week 11 card? Take a flip through @thegoldsheet notes and let’s look forward to a profitable weekend ahead.https://t.co/JuKpDVYqpL

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Kansas State vs West Virginia Analysis from The GoldSheet

Presuming the Mountaineers are going to handle Kansas in Lawrence to end the season, they’ll need to upset either K-State this week or take down Texas in next week’s home finale in order to clinch a .500 regular season. After pulling off an upset of Iowa State, West Virginia went up 3-0 against Oklahoma State in the opening quarter but never scored again, losing 24-3. Quarterback Jarrett Doege was sacked eight times and running back Leddie Brown averaged just 2.4 yards per carry in an ugly loss where the WVU offense gained 133 total yards, turned it over twice and finished just 2-for-14 on third down.

The Mountaineers definitely need this game more than the Wildcats, whose three-game win streak has already claimed bowl eligibility. K-State has covered in wins over Texas Tech, TCU and Kansas. Its defense has allowed an average of 15.3 points in those victories after surrendering 33.7 in setbacks against Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Iowa State. K-State hasn’t defeated the Mountaineers since 2015 and only one of those games has featured more than 50 points combined.

College Football Daily

Join Joe Raineri, Dave Cokin, Adam Trigger and Bryan Leonard for College Football Daily as we preview the marquee College Football Week 11 matchups, including Kansas State vs West Virginia; Iowa vs Minnesota; and Penn State vs Michigan. We cover the Kansas State vs West Virginia matchup at the 12:50 timestamp.

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WagerTalk’s live odds screen features up-to-the-minute lines from a variety of offshore and domestic sports books. Track the moneylines, point spreads, first half lines and betting percentages for all of the College Football Week 11 matchups, including this Kansas State vs West Virginia showdown, from your desktop or phone.

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