The Kansas Jayhawks (0-3) travel to Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, W.V., for a Big-12 showdown with the West Virginia Mountaineers (2-1). Kickoff will be Saturday at noon ET. Below, we analyze the Kansas-West Virginia college football betting odds and lines, with picks and best bets.
Kansas at West Virginia: Betting odds and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Friday at 9:45 a.m. ET.
- Money line: Kansas +800 (bet $100 to win $800) | West Virginia -1429 (bet $1,429 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: Kansas +22.5 (-115) | West Virginia -22.5 (-106)
- Over/Under: 51.5 (O: -110 | U: -110)
Kansas at West Virginia: Three things to know
- The Jayhawks are averaging 14.7 points per game this season. The Kansas offense has produced just 4.2 yards per play; that mark ranks 74th out of 76 in the nation. Quarterback play has been a spotty, three-headed cluster, and neither senior Thomas MacVittie, junior Miles Kendrick nor freshman Jalon Daniels have given head coach Les Miles much to hang any of his many hats on.
- West Virginia RB Leddie Brown has averaged 5.1 yards per carry on his way to 320 yards and four touchdowns. The Mountaineers have exhibited a balanced 53-47 run/pass mix through three games. The WVU aerial action is orchestrated by junior QB Jarret Doege who has completed 66.3% of his pass attempts.
- WVU defeated Kansas 29-24 in last year’s meeting in Lawrence, Kansas. The Jayhawks put together four scoring drives of 70-plus yards and outgained the Mountaineers in total yardage but were undone by a minus-2 in the turnover exchange.
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Kansas at West Virginia: Odds, betting lines and picks
Prediction
West Virginia 35, Kansas 17
Money line (ML)
STEER CLEAR of the big juice and well-bracketed true odds.
Against the spread (ATS)
The Jayhawks have been awful through three games; there is no way around that. Kansas has been pushed around in the trenches and on offense plays behind schedule so much as to put way too much pressure on unproven quarterbacks.
West Virginia derives most of its value from its defense. In their two games against FBS opponents (Sept. 26 at Oklahoma State, Oct. 3 vs. Baylor), the Mountaineers struggled to get anything going early. They score only 13 points in the OSU game and 14 in regulation time in the Baylor game.
The Jayhawks are 5-1 ATS in their last six road games against teams with winning records. WVU is 1-4-1 ATS over its last six contests following a straight-up win. Kansas was a minus-3 in turnover margin against Coastal Carolina; the Jayhawks coughed up 16 points on defense-and-special-teams scores against Baylor. The probability of a two-to-three-score loss here is heavy enough to WARRANT A PLAY ON KANSAS +22.5 (-115) plus the hefty point total.
Over/Under (O/U)
There is a slight LEAN TOWARD THE OVER 51.5 (-110) here, just on the grounds Kansas forces West Virginia into a game not devolving into a 35-7 walk-over.
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