Big East Football Previews – No. 25 West Virginia Mountaineers vs Rutgers Scarlet Knights
The West Virginia Mountaineers will look to bounce back from a tough conference loss this upcoming Saturday afternoon when they take-on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in a battle of two teams that still have designs on the Big East title.
Date/Time: Saturday, Oct. 29 3:30 p.m. (ET)
Venue: High Point Solutions Stadium, Piscataway, NJ.
Broadcast: ABC
Mountaineers at Scarlet Knights lines by BetOnline.com
Point spread: Mountaineers -7
Over/Under: 53.5
Kick-off is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. and the game will be broadcast nationally on ABC.
West Virginia’s steady climb up the national rankings came to a screeching halt this past Friday after losing to Syracuse 49-23 as a 14-point road favorite. The loss dropped the Mountaineers to 5-2 straight-up (3-4 against the spread) overall and to 1-1 SU in the Big East. The total easily went ‘over’ the 60-point line in that game and has now gone ‘over’ in their last six games.
There is no problem with West Virginia’s offense as it is averaging 38.3 points a game, but its defense has now given-up a total of 96 points in its two losses this season.
Rutgers is off to a surprising 5-2 start both SU and ATS that has it currently in the lead in the conference at 2-1 SU. The Scarlet Knights have already knocked-off Syracuse (19-16 as 1.5-point road underdogs) and Pittsburgh (34-10 as 6.5-point home underdogs), but come into this game with a bad taste in their mouth after dropping a 16-14 decision to Louisville last Friday as one-point road underdogs. The total has stayed ‘under’ in their last four games. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The claim to fame for this team this season has been a stingy defense that is only allowing an average of 16 points a game, which is currently ranked ninth in the country. The most points it has given-up this season was 26 in a 12-point win over Ohio.
The Mountaineers are 4-1-1 ATS in their last six conference games and the total has gone ‘over’ in their last four games in the Big East.
The Scarlet Knights are 5-2-1 ATS in their last eight games overall and the total has stayed ‘under’ in five of their last seven games as underdogs.
Head-to-head, the Mountaineers have won 10 games in-a-row SU, but the series is tied at 2-2-1 ATS in the last five meetings. The total has gone ‘over’ in three of the five games. This time around it will be West Virginia’s high-powered offense against Rutgers stout defense, but stick with the Mountaineers to get back-on-track with a road victory that keeps them in the national rankings for at least one more week.
The Pick: West Virginia 28 vs. Rutgers 20
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