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NCAA Football

Mountaineers vs. Panthers Preview/Pick

The West Virginia Mountaineers hook up with the Pittsburgh Panthers in the annual “Backyard Brawl” that is slated to begin at Noon ET at Heinz Field. WE preview and pick this week 14 matchup…

NCAAF Gambling – West Virginia Mountaineers at Pittsburgh Panthers

The West Virginia Mountaineers (7-3 SU, 4-5 ATS) will be looking for a bit of payback on Friday afternoon when they hook up with the Pittsburgh Panthers (7-3 SU, 4-6 ATS) in the annual “Backyard Brawl” in NCAA college football sports betting action that is slated to begin at Noon ET at Heinz Field (natural turf) in the Steel City.

Friday, November 28
BetUS NCAA Football Betting Odds: WEST VIRGINIA -3.5

Here are some of the NCAA college football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:

* WV has won six of its last seven games SU
* WV has played four of its last five games OVER the total
* WV has covered six of its last eight road games
* WV has won 18 of its last 22 road games SU
* PITT has covered four of its last six games
* PITT has won seven of its last nine games SU
* PITT has played four of its last five games OVER the total
* PITT has covered one of its last seven home games
* PITT has played four of its last five home games UNDER the total

Also…

* WV has covered nine of the last 13 meetings
* WV has won four of the last six meetings SU
* WV has won and covered four of the last six meetings as the road team

This is the 101th renewal of the “Backyard Brawl.” In the 100th edition, West Virginia came in as a 29-point favorite, ranked second and ready to win and move on to the national championship game. Instead, they were held to just 104 rushing yards and dealt a 13-9 defeat by the charged-up Panthers – in Morgantown no less. So needless to say, there is a huge revenge angle on the part of Bill Stewart’s squad.

White’s passing performance has been underrated (I65.5%, just four INT’s in 191 throws), and he ran for 200 yards in last week’s game against Louisville, in the 35-21 win. Noel Devine added 154 yards in that game, and now has 1121 yards (6.8 per carry) on the season.

After dropping games to East Carolina and Colorado, the Mountaineers have won six of their last seven games, with the only loss an overtime thriller against Cincinnati. Pittsburgh is much less reliable. The Panthers screwed the pooch in the season opener against Bowling Green. They came back to beat Buffalo, Iowa, South Florida, Navy and Notre Dame (in four overtimes), but last week’s game against Cincinnati was a regression, with just 35 rushing yards, with Tony Pike of the Bearcats throwing for 309 yards and three TD’s.

LeSean McCoy had a nice stretch where he went for 149, 142, 156, 146 and 169 yards in consecutive games, and he’ll have to recapture that form for Pitt to have a chance (had only 121 combined yards last two games). And Pitt quarterback Bill Stull (only six TD passes), who was expected to be a big boost coming back from injury this season, does not operate behind great protection (sacked 25 times).

With the chip on their shoulder and a more efficient and varied running game, West Virginia will make its revenge angle work here. Let’s go with the Mountaineers, the 3.5-point favorite in the BetUS NCAA college football sports betting odds.

Our PLAY: WEST VIRGINIA -3.5 ***