College Football News Preview 2020: Previewing, predicting, and looking ahead to the West Virginia Mountaineers season with what you need to know.
CFN in 60 Podcast: 2020 West Virginia Mountaineers
West Virginia preview in 60 seconds
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– Contact/Follow @ColFootballNews & @PeteFiutak
– What You Need To Know: Offense | Defense
– Top Players | Key Players, Games, Stats
– What Will Happen, Win Total Prediction
– Schedule Analysis
– West Virginia Previews 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015
2019 Record: 5-7 overall, 3-6 in Big 12
Head Coach: Neal Brown, 2nd year, 5-7
2019 CFN Final Opinion Ranking: 65
2019 CFN Final Season Formula Ranking: 94
2019 CFN Preview Ranking: 45
NOTE: Obviously, no one knows what’s going to happen to the 2020 college football season. We’ll take a general look at where each team stands – doing it without spring ball to go by – while crossing our fingers that we’ll all have some well-deserved fun this fall. Hoping you and yours are safe and healthy.
5. College Football News Preview 2020: West Virginia Mountaineers Offense 3 Things To Know
– It was supposed to be a bit of a rebuilding year for the program overall – with a whole new set of starters for a new coaching staff – but it’s West Virginia. It’s not supposed to rank dead last in the Big 12 in total and scoring offense. Having the nation’s third-worst running game is one thing, but not being able to move the ball at all for long stretches is another.
But again, it was a rebuilding run.
The quarterbacks are good, and they should be better. Former Oklahoma transfer Austin Kendall had a legitimate shot at taking the Sooner gig a few years ago before Kyler Murray went Kyler Murray, but he struggled last season with 1,989 passing yards and 12 touchdowns with ten picks before suffering a chest injury. Former Bowling Green starter Jarret Doege stepped in and was a bit sharper. Now they have to do more down the field.
CFN in 60 Video: West Virginia Mountaineers Preview
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– The receiving corps gets a pass – it was really, really young, with three freshmen and two sophomores among the top seven targets. Just about everyone of note is back. Sophomore Sam James is a speedy target on the outside, but he averaged just 9.8 yards per grab on his team-high 69 catches.
6-2 TJ Simmons is a bigger receiver who finished second with 35 catches, but a deep threat has to emerge in place of the one big loss, George Campbell, who averaged close to 25 yards per catch with a team-high seven scores.
– The offensive line did an okay job in pass protection, but it struggled mightily to generate even the slightest push for the ground game. Three starters are gone, hurt most by the loss of now-San Francisco 49er Colton McKivitz at left tackle. Two starters return, led by senior guard/center Chase Behrndt, for a line with decent size, but without a whole ton of bulk. Losing guard Josh Sills to Oklahoma State doesn’t help.
Leading runner Leddie Brown only rushed for 367 yards and a touchdown, and Kennedy McKoy is done, and Martell Pettaway left for Middle Tennessee. Brown is a good-sized back who can catch – he’s fine if the blocking gets the job done – and Alec Sinkfield adds a little flash.