Baylor at West Virginia Lines, Free Pick & TV Info

Baylor and West Virginia were the final two teams in the Big 12 without a loss so obviously they hoped they would be playing this Saturday with the conference championship and a major bowl game on the. However, both have faded and that’s not the case, although West Virginia should get a good bowl slot with a win here. No. 18 WVU is favored in college football betting at home.

Baylor at West Virginia Lines, Free Pick & TV Info

When: Saturday, Dec. 3, 3:30 PM ET
Where: Milan Puskar Stadium, Morgantown
TV: Fox Sports 1
Stream: Fox Sports Go
Radio: Baylor / West Virginia
Opening NCAA Football Lines: WVU -17 (66)

Why Bet on Baylor?

The Bears (6-5) have really fallen apart as they lost to Texas Tech 54-35 last week, BU’s fifth straight loss. Patrick Mahomes threw for 586 yards and six touchdowns to lead the Red Raiders. In three career games against Baylor, all at the Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium, Mahomes threw for 1,599 yards and 15 touchdowns. But, this was Tech’s first win in the series since 2010 when the game was played at the Cotton Bowl.

Baylor freshman quarterback Zach Smith provided some fireworks of his own, completing 30-of- 46 passes for a career-best 377 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. As a team, Baylor rushed for 257 yards on 53 attempts for a 4.8-yard average. But sophomore right tackle Patrick Lawrence said, “We needed to put more points on the board. It’s that simple.”

RB Shock Linwood (4,184 career rushing yards) moved into 5th all-time in Big 12 career rushing yards, passing Oklahoma State’s Kendall Hunter (4,181). KD Cannon (132 receiving yards) had his 9th career 100-yard receiving game, which moved him into a tie for 8th in career 100-yard games at Baylor — has 3 this season.

Baylor has lost 5 straight games for the first time since losing 8 straight to end the 2007 season. Baylor is 17-24 when allowing 35+ points since 2010 and 46-2 when allowing less than 35 points in that span. Baylor has scored in a school-record 123 straight games — the previous school record was 89 games from Dec. 31, 1979 – Oct. 23, 1987.

The Bears are just 2-3 away from Waco in 2016 and 2-2 in true road contests. Baylor is 13-5 in true road games over last 3+ years, after going 7-17 in the previous 5 years. Smith will make his 3rd-career start for injured senior QB Seth Russell. Smith has thrown for 635 yds (57-of- 91) with 6 TDs and 4 INTs in his first two starts. BU is facing its 2nd-ranked opponent of the season at West Virginia, but is 12-10 overall vs. AP Top 25 teams since 2011. BU lost its first game against a ranked foe 45-24 at Oklahoma on Nov. 12.

Why Bet on WVU?

The Mountaineers (9-2) beat Iowa State 49-19 last week. Fourth-string tailback Martell Pettaway had his redshirt lifted and he responded with a 30-carry, 181-yard rushing performance to lead WVU. Pettaway was forced to get the bulk of the carries because senior Rushel Shell III was unable to go during pregame warmups, Justin Crawford was wearing a walking boot by the third series of the first quarter and Kennedy McKoy was shelved after two carries.

“It was either Martell or Eli (Elijah Wellman) because we had no one left,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. “It was walking wounded for us with 10-to- 15 guys standing on the sidelines unable to play. But our guys stepped up and I’m proud of them for the way we played.”

Meanwhile, quarterback Skyler Howard completed 12 of 21 passes for 330 yards and five touchdowns, and an opportunistic Mountaineer defense came up with four turnovers, including senior corner Rasul Douglas’ eighth interception of the season. Two of Howard’s TD tosses went to Shelton Gibson, who finished the game with three catches for 161 yards. The 613 yards of total offense marks the 13th time WVU has eclipsed the 600-yard mark under Holgorsen and the fourth time this season.

West Virginia improved to 107-13 when scoring 30 or more points in a game and 55-5 when scoring 40 or more points in a game. In the Holgorsen era, WVU has scored 30 or more points in 50 games and 40 or more points in 26 games.

WVU is 2-2 all time vs. Baylor and 2-0 at home. Last year, Baylor rolled 62-38. The Bears threw six touchdown passes in all and posted 389 passing yards in the contest. The offensive showdown saw WVU with 471 yards of total offense on 83 plays, while Baylor collected 693 total yards on 84 plays. Howard finished with a solid 289 yards passing and four touchdowns for WVU.

Baylor at West Virginia Free Pick: West Virginia

Bears are 0-6 ATS in their last 6 road games.
Over is 15-5- 1 in Bears last 21 games following a straight up loss.


Take WVU and go over the NCAAF betting total.