WV Fans

[Realistic WVU Fan]

Not trying to down your team mountaineers, but the truth is you would be on the same level as Kentucky, Vandy, and maybe most like Mizzou (with the similar offenses) but your recruiting is on the same level as those teams I just mentioned. Your coaching staff hit a home run in 16 with David Sills. But the truth is we have 10+ starting players with that kind of playmaking ability or higher! You have a scheme that works against your conference (sometimes) and with Butch Jones you likely beat us. Pruitt will outscheme you guys on D, and Helton and company will dial up a run it down your throat + home run passes. I know we weren’t anything to be scared of last year, and I’m damn sure not saying we’re going to win the SEC E. I guess my whole point is to let you know your highly overrated and will lose to a team who is ranked passed 70 something. Lower your expectations and hope for 6-7 wins with your powder puff schedule WV fans. GBO!

Yeah you're right Tenn probably going to beat by four touchdowns by the way you sound.

 

[Realistic WVU Fan]

How good is Texas supp to be this year?

Who knows they win 1 game against anyone and "Texas is back" begins ringing all over ESPN.

 

[TGFHeupel16]

Yeah you're right Tenn probably going to beat by four touchdowns by the way you sound.

If it was later in year, that’s a possibility... But because Pruitt is coaching his first game with a team that highly underachieved last year it will be a close game. Your team is Highly overrated, and our team is very underrated, a dark horse even. Not saying we win 9 games, but we will win the first one. I also think we end up in a bowl.

 

[Realistic WVU Fan]

If it was later in year, that’s a possibility... But because Pruitt is coaching his first game with a team that highly underachieved last year it will be a close game. Your team is Highly overrated, and our team is very underrated, a dark horse even. Not saying we win 9 games, but we will win the first one. I also think we end up in a bowl.

I like your confidence and we haven't played yet how are we overrated before playing a game? I get we have a suspect defense, but who knows how they will be this year anything can happen. And the fact you say you have 10+ players at David Sills level or better is ridiculous just because higher recruits doesn't make them better.

 

[TGFHeupel16]

I like your confidence and we haven't played yet how are we overrated before playing a game? I get we have a suspect defense, but who knows how they will be this year anything can happen. And the fact you say you have 10+ players at David Sills level or better is ridiculous just because higher recruits doesn't make them better.

Well if 80% or higher of the recruiting ratings is wrong, then you are right. West Virginia has always been fun to watch, but it just seems like most big time prospects choose other schools. Our players haven’t been seen yet IMO. What I mean by that is Butch Jones didn’t put players where they needed to be, nor develop them, and his schemes were PREDICTABLE. If the other team already knows what your doing it makes it hard for playmakers to make plays. I believe Pruitt has already changed that drastically, but I still know it’s just the beginning and we have an up hill battle. How is WV going to prepare? No one but the Tn staff and players really know what our game plan is. All we have to do is disrupt the qb to slow down the spread air raid attack. (that I love watching btw) I think we will force your offense to be one dimensional. I also Believe our Oline is going to be drastically improved,(not best in SEC by any means) enough to run the ball down your throats and open up some passing lanes. I’ll be there to witness it. GBO!

 

[VFL-82-JP]

Short answer: I think WVa would go 5-6 or 6-5 against our schedule. I think we would go 8-3 against theirs.

Now, the longer answer to explain why.

The top half of the Vols' card (#1 Bama, #3 UGa, #9 Auburn, #22 South Carolina, and #25 Florida) is significantly tougher than the top end of WVa's schedule (#7 Oklahoma, #15 TCU, #19 Texas, #31 Okla St, and #37 Iowa St). Average of Tennessee's top five opponents is a #12 ranking. Average of WVa's is #21.*

Now, the Vols' bottom half (Mizzou, Kentucky, Vandy, Charlotte, UTEP, and ETSU) is significantly weaker than WVa's bottom half (NC St, Kansas St, Texas Tech, Baylor, Kansas, and Youngstown State). But see, once the opponents get to a certain level of weakness, it doesn't really matter if this one is 20 points weaker than that one; you should beat all of them, anyway.

So it is really the top half the schedule that you have to compare.

I think the Vols can reasonably win 7 games this season, on our OWN schedule, which puts us smack dab in the center of the 5- to 9-win range of realistic possibilities. The five I think we'll have the hardest time with are those five at the tough end of our card: Bama, UGa, Auburn, USCe, and Florida. They're all ranked, pre-season.

But if we were playing WVa's schedule, only the top three teams would be ranked: OK, TCU, and Texas. The next toughest, Oklahoma State and Iowa State, are matched most closely to Mizzou on our ticket. With (fingers crossed) new and improved coaching, we should certainly be able to beat Mizzou this year. And we would be able to beat OK St and Iowa State, I'm pretty comfortable.

So yep, we would go roughly 8-3 against WVa's schedule.

On the flip side, ESPN's FPI is saying that WVa will struggle against six teams on their calendar: OK, Texas, OK St, Iowa St, NC St, and Texas Tech. That means (with the noteworthy exception of being slightly favored over #15 TCU) there should be no way WVa would fare well against any of the top six teams on our calendar. So...5-6 or at best 6-5 (if we give them an SEC equivalent upset to match what FPI thinks they might get over TCU).

Bottom line: the math, the objective reasoning based on CBS' pre-season rankings and ESPN's FPI, says we'd do better with WVa's schedule (8-3 or so) than they'd do with ours (5-6 or 6-5).

Seems reasonable to me.



* I used CBS' pre-season rankings for this comparison, because they go 1-128. College Football Rankings. Also used ESPN FPI for WVa: West Virginia 2018 FPI - Mountaineers - ESPN

 

[Realistic WVU Fan]

Well if 80% or higher of the recruiting ratings is wrong, then you are right. West Virginia has always been fun to watch, but it just seems like most big time prospects choose other schools. Our players haven’t been seen yet IMO. What I mean by that is Butch Jones didn’t put players where they needed to be, nor develop them, and his schemes were PREDICTABLE. If the other team already knows what your doing it makes it hard for playmakers to make plays. I believe Pruitt has already changed that drastically, but I still know it’s just the beginning and we have an up hill battle. How is WV going to prepare? No one but the Tn staff and players really know what our game plan is. All we have to do is disrupt the qb to slow down the spread air raid attack. (that I love watching btw) I think we will force your offense to be one dimensional. I also Believe our Oline is going to be drastically improved,(not best in SEC by any means) enough to run the ball down your throats and open up some passing lanes. I’ll be there to witness it. GBO!

I'll also be there. I get what you are saying, but our team has a lot to prove also. They have to live up to the hype, we have a coach on the hot seat, and we have to play with a chip on our shoulder since our guys were under recruited and finally get to go up against a big name team. So I believe we will be motivated and not overlook your team. If we do then it is the coaches fault.

 

[TGFHeupel16]

I'll also be there. I get what you are saying, but our team has a lot to prove also. They have to live up to the hype, we have a coach on the hot seat, and we have to play with a chip on our shoulder since our guys were under recruited and finally get to go up against a big name team. So I believe we will be motivated and not overlook your team. If we do then it is the coaches fault.

If you guys could keep running the scheme you run, but with an elite coach who can Recruit. You guys would be in the discussion for the CFP almost yearly. It will be fun. I wonder If there will be more Vol fans or Mountaineer fans? I know Tn is much closer.

 

[Realistic WVU Fan]

If you guys could keep running the scheme you run, but with an elite coach who can Recruit. You guys would be in the discussion for the CFP almost yearly. It will be fun. I wonder If there will be more Vol fans or Mountaineer fans? I know Tn is much closer.

The problem is keeping an elite coach. WV has no interest of major elite coachers because we don't really have anything to offer them. Yes we pay our coaches great money, but other than the money we don't have much too offer. I'm hoping for at best a 60% Tenn 40% Wvu crowd. I bet it will look great and be loud for both teams on TV.

 

[VFL-82-JP]

....I wonder If there will be more Vol fans or Mountaineer fans? I know Tn is much closer.

Not as much as you might think.

Sure, the University of Tennessee is significantly closer to Charlotte than West Virginia's campus. But fans don't just come from the universities' home towns. They come from all over their respective states. And in many ways, this is an easier road trip for Mountaineers than it is for Volunteers:

Nearest Points:
-- Hartford, TN to Charlotte - 171 mi
-- Ingleside, WV to Charlotte - 173 mi
--> call this one a tie

Universities:
-- Knoxville, TN to Charlotte - 231 mi
-- Morgantown, WV to Charlotte - 376 mi
--> Tennessee is closer, by about 145 miles

Center of Mass:
-- Murfreesboro, TN to Charlotte - 409 mi
-- Charleston, WV to Charlotte - 264 mi
--> West Virginia is closer, by about 145 miles

Farthest Points:
-- Lawrenceville, WV to Charlotte - 460 mi
-- Memphis, TN to Charlotte - 620 mi
--> West Virginia is closer, by about 160 miles

I'd expect turnout to be roughly 50/50, just based on geography, with a slight advantage to WV.

 

[White Bread]

Same question to you all, other than our game how do you think you would do with our schedule?

WV vs Youngstown St.
WV @ NC State
WV vs K State
WV @ Tex Tech
WV vs. Kansas
WV @ Iowa St
WV vs. Baylor
WV @ Texas
WV vs. TCU
WV @ Ok State
WV vs. OU

You all have like an impossible three game skid when you play UGA Auburn and Alabama in consecutive weeks. God bless you. Our November should be extremely difficult and interesting if we are somehow in the hunt for the Big 12.

vs Youngstown St. W
@ NC State W
vs K State W
@ Tex Tech W
vs. Kansas W
@ Iowa St W
vs. Baylor W
@ Texas W
vs. TCU L
@ Ok State W
vs. OU L

 

[TGFHeupel16]

The problem is keeping an elite coach. WV has no interest of major elite coachers because we don't really have anything to offer them. Yes we pay our coaches great money, but other than the money we don't have much too offer. I'm hoping for at best a 60% Tenn 40% Wvu crowd. I bet it will look great and be loud for both teams on TV.

Yeah it will be awesome. I bought The tickets just last week so we’re sitting up high in the bleachers. But it’s not as big as Neyland so hopefully it’ll still be a good view.

 

[TGFHeupel16]

Short answer: I think WVa would go 5-6 or 6-5 against our schedule. I think we would go 8-3 against theirs.

Now, the longer answer to explain why.

The top half of the Vols' card (#1 Bama, #3 UGa, #9 Auburn, #22 South Carolina, and #25 Florida) is significantly tougher than the top end of WVa's schedule (#7 Oklahoma, #15 TCU, #19 Texas, #31 Okla St, and #37 Iowa St). Average of Tennessee's top five opponents is a #12 ranking. Average of WVa's is #21.*

Now, the Vols' bottom half (Mizzou, Kentucky, Vandy, Charlotte, UTEP, and ETSU) is significantly weaker than WVa's bottom half (NC St, Kansas St, Texas Tech, Baylor, Kansas, and Youngstown State). But see, once the opponents get to a certain level of weakness, it doesn't really matter if this one is 20 points weaker than that one; you should beat all of them, anyway.

So it is really the top half the schedule that you have to compare.

I think the Vols can reasonably win 7 games this season, on our OWN schedule, which puts us smack dab in the center of the 5- to 9-win range of realistic possibilities. The five I think we'll have the hardest time with are those five at the tough end of our card: Bama, UGa, Auburn, USCe, and Florida. They're all ranked, pre-season.

But if we were playing WVa's schedule, only the top three teams would be ranked: OK, TCU, and Texas. The next toughest, Oklahoma State and Iowa State, are matched most closely to Mizzou on our ticket. With (fingers crossed) new and improved coaching, we should certainly be able to beat Mizzou this year. And we would be able to beat OK St and Iowa State, I'm pretty comfortable.

So yep, we would go roughly 8-3 against WVa's schedule.

On the flip side, ESPN's FPI is saying that WVa will struggle against six teams on their calendar: OK, Texas, OK St, Iowa St, NC St, and Texas Tech. That means (with the noteworthy exception of being slightly favored over #15 TCU) there should be no way WVa would fare well against any of the top six teams on our calendar. So...5-6 or at best 6-5 (if we give them an SEC equivalent upset to match what FPI thinks they might get over TCU).

Bottom line: the math, the objective reasoning based on CBS' pre-season rankings and ESPN's FPI, says we'd do better with WVa's schedule (8-3 or so) than they'd do with ours (5-6 or 6-5).

Seems reasonable to me.



* I used CBS' pre-season rankings for this comparison, because they go 1-128. College Football Rankings. Also used ESPN FPI for WVa: West Virginia 2018 FPI - Mountaineers - ESPN

Forgot they only play 11. I would think 8-3 also

 

[bam4wvu]

Not trying to down your team mountaineers, but the truth is you would be on the same level as Kentucky, Vandy, and maybe most like Mizzou (with the similar offenses) but your recruiting is on the same level as those teams I just mentioned. Your coaching staff hit a home run in 16 with David Sills. But the truth is we have 10+ starting players with that kind of playmaking ability or higher! You have a scheme that works against your conference (sometimes) and with Butch Jones you likely beat us. Pruitt will outscheme you guys on D, and Helton and company will dial up a run it down your throat + home run passes. I know we weren’t anything to be scared of last year, and I’m damn sure not saying we’re going to win the SEC E. I guess my whole point is to let you know your highly overrated and will lose to a team who is ranked passed 70 something. Lower your expectations and hope for 6-7 wins with your powder puff schedule WV fans. GBO!

Lmao really? Wvu has way more talent then Tenn and has for the better part of 15 years. Besides Bama, and UGA your schedule is a complete joke. Look at any site, our SOS is above yours and it's not even close. WVU would have dominated the SEC East in most years. And we are going to dominate you in 17 days. We will have our way with you all game long. 44-17 Wvu. And that's only bc Dana calls the dawgs off in the 2nd half

 

[utchuckster]

.

 

[82_VOL_83]

Not a WVU fan (I dont do meth). I think they would go 6-5 (likely) or 7-4 against our schedule. Losses to Bama UGA Auburn and USCe with UF being tossup...

Either the meth is kicking in or you are just not counting the opener?

 

[0nelilreb]

Lmao really? Wvu has way more talent then Tenn and has for the better part of 15 years. Besides Bama, and UGA your schedule is a complete joke. Look at any site, our SOS is above yours and it's not even close. WVU would have dominated the SEC East in most years. And we are going to dominate you in 17 days. We will have our way with you all game long. 44-17 Wvu. And that's only bc Dana calls the dawgs off in the 2nd half

Prepare yourself for the can of worms you just opened

 

[VolunteerCeltic]

UT does not need to overlook the Mountaineers. UT has consistently lost to teams like Vandy, Kentucky and Missouri over the past few years, so the talent level at WV is inconsequential, this game will be decided IMHO by how Pruitt prepares and manages his first HC coached game.....We have no idea at this moment how he is going to handle it.

 

[White Bread]

Does WVU run a 3-3-5 only or do they run multiple D?

 

[ProudVOLfan]

Not a WVU fan (I dont do meth). I think they would go 6-5 (likely) or 7-4 against our schedule. Losses to Bama UGA Auburn and USCe with UF being tossup...

Not following the meth part of that statement.

 

[ProudVOLfan]

Lmao really? Wvu has way more talent then Tenn and has for the better part of 15 years. Besides Bama, and UGA your schedule is a complete joke. Look at any site, our SOS is above yours and it's not even close. WVU would have dominated the SEC East in most years. And we are going to dominate you in 17 days. We will have our way with you all game long. 44-17 Wvu. And that's only bc Dana calls the dawgs off in the 2nd half

 

[Realistic WVU Fan]

Does WVU run a 3-3-5 only or do they run multiple D?

They say it's a 3-3-5, but I'm not really sure we mix it up a lot depending on the team we play. Haven't really had much of a defense since 2011. I imagine we will the stack the box against UT and make their QB make the plays.

 

[Johncarter53]

I’m guessing we will see a lot of 4-3 with a safety walking up.

 

[White Bread]

They say it's a 3-3-5, but I'm not really sure we mix it up a lot depending on the team we play. Haven't really had much of a defense since 2011. I imagine we will the stack the box against UT and make their QB make the plays.

I’m curious to see what they come out in. In the Big 12, where passing offense is the norm, a 3-3-5 makes sense. You can use safeties as LB’s or as DB’s. With the SEC being a run heavy league, defenses are built to defend that, particularly defensive line. What’s the average weight on WVU’s DL? Will your DL get gassed from the physicality or will our OL struggle? I think that’s the ball game right there.

 

[Boca Vol]

If it was later in year, that’s a possibility... But because Pruitt is coaching his first game with a team that highly underachieved last year it will be a close game. Your team is Highly overrated, and our team is very underrated, a dark horse even. Not saying we win 9 games, but we will win the first one. I also think we end up in a bowl.

Well that's a huge accomplishment in this day and age. LULZ!