You said toss-up. Where’s the line today now that he officially hit the portal.
Backyard Brawl just got a lot closer
- Thread starter Sean Miller Fan
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As of this moment the only place in town I see that has a number up is Will Hill/Caesars, and as of now they are at (wait for it) still Pitt -9.5.
Agreed. The number doesn’t move that much on a WR.
It moved, I believe, 7 points when Aaron Rodgers announced he wouldn’t play due to Covid issue.
That being said, this is a game between comparable teams. 9.5 is ridiculous. I’d bet the max limit on WVU. It’s apples and oranges comparing ACC to XII teams. Has an ACC team ever beat a XII team in the last 10 years in a meaningful game (ie. Not a dumb bowl game where some players play or not)?
how foolish. you just went against your own proclamation that addisons transfer would impact the line...now suddenly you are predicing the line will move by kick off which is like saying the sun will rise tomorrow.
the line will move but if addison had an impact in the line the books would have moved it monday.
smf debunked again. you have a less than a 500 record on this board in being right.
you really should be at 500 since you constantly do both sides of an argument so you be right.
so put those roller skates on your goalposts so i can see your reply
dude he cant help himself. phil the groundhog is correct more and both have about as much thought and science behind their predictions
My favorite thing about SMF, which he's done in this thread here, is that he'll make a prediction and then change what the actual prediction is or throw out 50 different variations and hope nobody notices. Then when the final result is something different from what he originally predicted, he can still try to find a way he's right.
Because 100% if (and this is purely hypothetical) Pitt suffered a serious injury to key player(s) that moved the line the day before the game, SMF would totally claim he's right in this prediction even though it's nothing related to what he originally predicted.
Because 100% if (and this is purely hypothetical) Pitt suffered a serious injury to key player(s) that moved the line the day before the game, SMF would totally claim he's right in this prediction even though it's nothing related to what he originally predicted.
If Pitt suffers a serious injury, I won't claim I'm right. Nobody is even betting on this game now. It'll be -4 by kick.
In which case it will have nothing to do with Addison whatsoever. Meaning your prediction is wrong and irrelevant.
It'll be right. When the money starts coming in and bettors see Addison not there, it will drop to -4
I certainly hope so - but you do know they return their entire starting OL? Much like we do, they expect that 5 returning starting OL will play significantly better than last season.
Put me in the “this one is going to be close” camp.
WVU’s OL was very young last year. They have everyone back - including two all-Americans. They also very, very good. The problem was QB play. The defense only had to defend 15 yards from the LoS.
Forget the losses to the portal. Only one player - Mesidor - was an impact player. WVU added far more from the portal than they lost.
The 2022 squad - if Daniels is as expected - is the best team WVU has had since joining the Big 12.
The future is bright for Neal Brown. The roster is loaded with talent and a great mix of experience & young talent.
Neal understands he can’t lose to Pitt.
Forget the losses to the portal. Only one player - Mesidor - was an impact player. WVU added far more from the portal than they lost.
The 2022 squad - if Daniels is as expected - is the best team WVU has had since joining the Big 12.
The future is bright for Neal Brown. The roster is loaded with talent and a great mix of experience & young talent.
Neal understands he can’t lose to Pitt.
I hope they are! I’d rather have both teams come into the game with some hype and expectations, makes the game more fun. Plus, the winner would get a “resume bump.”
I can’t stress enough how bad QB play has been at WVU since Grier left.
The roster Neal Brown inherited from Holgorsen had almost zero P5 talent. The spring of Brown’s first year he said they didn’t have a P5 caliber offensive lineman. It was that bad.
Brown had to rebuild the program and this is the year it pays off.
Far too much has been made of WVU’s losses in the portal. The fact is WVU gained more than it lost. 4* QB, JT Daniels and 4* RB Lyn-J Dixon at the top of the list. Brown was able to fill almost every area of need
It’s difficult to look at WVU’s roster and not believe there’s more talent now than ever before. Most of the talent is young, so mistakes born of inexperience are expected - especially in the secondary.
Note: somebody is funding the NIL trust setup by Ken Kendrick & Oliver Luck to the point where WVU is able to make a splash on the transfer market. Part of WVU’s recruiting pitch is an NIL offer sheet. Rumor has it they current players are rumbling about the money offered to new recruits is more than their existing NIL deals. The point being somebody has upped their financial support for the trust to allow WVU to offer “SEC” like deals to recruits.
This happened after Mesidor unexpectedly left for Miami. Mountaineer fans spontaneously raised over $100k in two days the weekend Mesidor announced he was going into the portal.
The point being WVU plans to add 2 or 3 more transfers before the Brawl. They want a RT and an experienced CB.
Probably right… we gotta take them seriously. As serious as we take Psu.
Fans thinking this will be an easy game are gonna be real upset.
from what I understand not many of the transfers were starters?!
I’ll be honest idk for sure just repeating what their fans are saying?
this is spot on… they are gonna treat this game like it’s their super bowl and we need to do that same. That’s on Narduzzi he has to have them ready right out of the gate.
wv fans say their OL is the strength of their team. Two All Americans.
This will be WVs super bowl. Can we match their intensity?
100% correct… we need to match their intensity.
They’ve gained the upper hand in this series because we haven’t really taken them seriously like we should. This will be their SUPER BOWL, and it damn well better be ours.
Treat them like they are Penn St because Penn St isn’t coming back on the schedule probably until we are elderly.
So what happened at the end of the Holgorsen era? WVU was ranked in the top ten his last season there. Did he just give up on recruiting the last few years? Seemed really odd from an outsider’s perspective.
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agree with this…. I wanna see this team focused and ready… need to treat WV like they are OUR #1 RIVAL!
There were nine different players recognized as All Americans by at least one of the five official NCAA designated selectors. Exactly zero of those nine guys played for West Virginia.
The wikipedia page for last year's All Americans has links to nine different groups than named teams. Your center was second team on two of the nine, and he was the only West Virginia lineman mentioned on any of them.
He kept filling in holes with transfers instead of recruiting and developing young talent. It caught up with us.
That makes sense. Sounds familiar to the end of the Jamie Dixon era. Guess he saw the writing on the wall and bolted for Houston?
They did not want him back. Gee did not like him personally for a lot of reasons which still have not been openly discussed. Dana mixed with "regular" people much better than he did with brass and big money.
Don't you know their line is full of All Americans, their RBs are studs, and the WRs are studs. Just ignore the fact that they couldn't run the ball at all, or keep their QB from getting sacked at one of the highest rates in the country.
It was all the QB's fault, totally, all him. It's all good now. The statue they brought in at QB will fix everything.
They downgraded, Holgerson was a better coach. Now you're stuck with Brown like Pitt is stuck with Capel in basketball, because of an unnecessary and untimely contract extension.
You need an experienced CB because you lost your starting experienced QB to the portal.
This “we didn’t lose much to the portal” stance is such an odd take from WVU fans.
also at this point there’s no way you can call JT Daniels a “4 Star.”
He’s been in college long enough and not flashed much of anything. He’s more like a 3* transfer.
He’s been in college long enough and not flashed much of anything. He’s more like a 3* transfer.
West Virginia lost its starting QB, Doege, both starting cornerbacks, leading tackler (LB Semedo-Chandler), starting DT, Mesidor, starting RB, Brown, 3 of its top 5 receivers and roughly a quarter of its roster to the portal, yet this 6-7 team is now going to be world beaters? Got it. 😆
Doege was “rann oft.” Have you seen any Mountaineer game with Doege at QB? Obviously not.
About the CBs… WVU couldn’t play man coverage because the CBs lacked the speed to do it. WVU would trade the players they lost - Kerry Martin, Darryl Porter, Jackie Matthews, and Nicktroy Fortune - for Charles Wood, Marcis Floyd, Andrew Wilson-Lamp, Jasir Cox or Saint McLeod, Aubrey Burks and Hershey McLaurin every day of the week.
The former had some of the lowest game grades on the entire team. While the latter are bigger, stronger and faster.
Secondary coach ShaDon Brown says all you need to know: https://www.si.com/college/westvirginia/football/quick-hits-shadon-brown-pleased-with-depth-versatility-of-secondary.
Sure WVU lost Leddie Brown to graduation, but the 2022 RBs have more talent and speed. Lyn-J Dixon alone would be an upgrade over Brown, but Tony Mathis is expected to start. Mathis has more speed and balance than Leddie and runs harder even though he’s smaller.
Yet r-fr Jaylen Anderson maybe the best of the RBs. WVU hasn’t had a RB like Anderson since Slaton/Devine. The kid has it. He’s always one cut away from a TD.
Likewise WVU thinks they are better at LB too. Josh Chandler-Semedo played hard, but he was slow. Syracuse transfer Lee Kpogba is a huge upgrade over Josh. He’s a beast.
Neal Brown’s recruiting starts to pay off this year. One of those kids is linebacker Lanell Carr.
At WR WVU lost Sam Brown, Isaiah Esdale, Sean Ryan, and Winston Wright. Esdale, a possession type receiver, was the best of the lot. Sam Brown & Winston Wright had speed but concrete hands. Wright was best as a KR.
Returning are Bryce Ford-Wheaton, Kaden Prather, Sam James, Preston Fox and Reese Smith.
Ford-Wheaton and Sam James are big play receivers who were frustrated by Doege’s inability to get them the ball. When he did, they caught it.
Preston Fox and Reese Smith are possession receivers. Fox catches everything near his vicinity.
Kaden “The Truth” Prather has everything it takes to be a superstar. He’s tall, fast and fights for the ball. He owns 50/50 balls. Prather, as a true freshman, came on late last season as an antidote to the “drops.”
WVU is very excited about the a couple of JuCo newcomers too.
Losing Mesidor hurt, but it was a position WVU has great depth and talent. Let’s start with all Big 12 Dante Stills. Stills - already supremely talented - transformed his body for his final season. He’s NFL ready. Stills must be double-teamed or the QB is going down.
Behind Stills is a host of talent and experience. Taijh Alston, Jordan Jefferson, Sean Martin, Hammond Russell, Taurus Simmons, Jalen Thornton and Edward Vesterinen.
Add to that group transfers Zeiqui Lawton and Mike Lockhart and it’s easy to understand why Mesidor’s departure didn’t change the outlook for 2022.
This group of defensive linemen are arguably the deepest, most talented group, to ever play at WVU. WVU is able to rotate linemen and keep the 1st team fresh. The depth allows them to play a 3 or 4 man front and sometimes flex into a bear look.
More about QB… How bad was Doege? Well, WVU should have been 8-4 instead of the 6-6. Doege’s poor decision making and weak arm cost the Mountaineers the Maryland and Texas Tech games. And he almost blew it against VT.
He held on the ball too long and was often sacked. When he wasn’t sacked he threw into double coverage or fumbled. He missed wide open receivers and ran like a 3-legged baby deer.
WVU was limited to the handful of plays Doege could execute and defenders quickly learned his arm was so weak they could basically play a cover 0 and dare Doege to beat man coverage. He never beat 0 coverage.
Why did Brown stick with Doege? Dana Holgorsen. Holgorsen failed to recruit a single P5 caliber QB. Brown signed Garrett Green and Goose Crowder but both were not ready to be QB1.
WVU’s QB room now has JT Daniels, Garrett Greene, Will Crowder and WVU’s next great QB Nicco Marchiol. Daniels, when healthy, is better than Will Grier. His arm is stronger and he’s more accurate than Grier.
WVU was more than happy with the talent they had at QB. But Brown decided an experienced QB the quality of Daniels would give the Mountaineers a legitimate shot at the Big 12 championship game. WVU’s internal analytics guy predicts 9 or 10 wins with Daniels at QB. Considering WVU plays 11 P5 games a 9 win season is remarkable.
In short the players that left WVU mostly did do because they knew they would lose their jobs. Mesidor is an exception, but considering Brown landed LB Austin-Cave from Miami we consider it a Mesidor for Austin-Cave trade. WVU had plenty of DL but needed LB depth.
Brown has 2 open scholarships. He plans to use them to add experience at CB or the best players available.
WVU has committed to pay for play. The “Country Roads Trust” allows the Mountaineers to be competitive with all but the outlaw programs.
Out of context WVU’s portal loses paints an inaccurate portrait of the program. If you compare the players lost and the players behind them it’s clear what happened.
Mesidor was the only head scratcher and his loss didn’t hurt.
WVU’s portal additions however, improved the team and changed the outlook for the season.
So believe what you want, just be forewarned the Mountaineers that play Pitt on 9/1/22 are vastly different than the team you expect. Instead of a team gutted by portal losses, Pitt gets a team that expects to reach the Big 12 title game.
This next statement isn’t hyperbole. The 2022 Mountaineers are the most talented and deep team WVU has fielded in the Big 12. Overall the talent & depth might be exceed the 2007 team.
Pitt better be ready. They had best take the game as seriously as WVU and match the intensity of the Mountaineers.
If Pitt underestimates WVU, if it doesn’t match WVU’s energy, then Pitt gets blown out of Heinz.
