Colorado Buffaloes (1-2) @ West Virginia Mountaineers (2-1)
Football: United States, NCAA Football
Thursday, 1st October 2009, Kickoff 7:30pm (ET)
Venue: Morgantown, West Virginia

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These are two teams who entered the season with hopes of a good season, both teams have got off to a mediocre start and will hope to liven the campaign in this matchup.

Previous Meetings

2008 West Virginia 14-17 Colorado

Colorado Buffaloes:

The Buffs would have expected to be at a 3-0 record by this point of the season, losses to rivals Colorado State and a shocking performance at Toledo have left them struggling. On the plus side the last game saw a good defensive performance to shut out Wyoming.

The key for Colorado will be to get the running game going, they have had a tendency to over rely on the aerial attack, this is not their strength and the coach’s son Cody Hawkins is not of Division 1 calibre and the wide receivers are mediocre.

A much simplified defence appeared to be greatly improved against Wyoming and they will hope to build on that for this game.

West Virginia :

The Mountaineers have been major contenders for the last decade but things appear to be on the slide, since the departure of Pat White and Steve Slaton a huge hole has appeared in the offence.

Noel Devine has done an admirable job at running back and expect him to pound the Colorado defence. QB Jarrett Brown will need to be more conservative after throwing 4 picks against Auburn.

The defence is of more concern, they are keeping the yardage down to an acceptable 312ypg but all opponents so far have managed to score at least 20 points and this will be of great concern.

The Betting Verdict :

West Virginia will have enough in the tank to win the game but will not have enough to cover a very optimistic spread.

The Pick :

West Virginia 31-21 Colorado

HANDICAP BETTING :

Take Colorado +17.5 points to keep the score closer than that.

Low value pick, small stakes only