West Virginia will look to win again against the college football odds against instate rival Marshall on Friday in a game that will be televised by ESPN. West Virginia will likely be the choice by gamblers in this game especially after Marshall was routed last week by Ohio State in college football betting lines. Marshall has never beaten West Virginia in history, losing all five meetings. Last year was one of the closer contests but West Virginia still won 24-7. The Mountaineers did not cover the 20-point college football betting lines in that game. The last two times the teams have played the games have been at West Virginia. They met in Marshall three years ago and West Virginia won 48-23.
Marshall Could Have an Edge – Marshall is coached by Doc Holliday who was on West Virginia’s coaching staff last season. He has a lot of knowledge about West Virginia’s players but it will still be up to the Marshall players to make plays. Marshall didn’t make many last week when they were blown out 45-7 by Ohio State.
Numbers Don’t tell the story – West Virginia defeated Coastal Carolina 31-0 last week but they didn’t play that well, especially on offense. The score sounds good but Coastal Carolina is not a quality opponent. West Virginia has talented players like Noel Devine, Jock Sanders and Tavon Austin in addition to Chris Neild, Robert Sands and J.T. Thomas. They have a new starting quarterback in Geno Smith who made his first start last week. He threw two touchdown passes and Noel Devine rushed for 111 yards and a TD. The West Virginia defense was the positive last week as they totally dominated Coastal Carolina. It was the first shutout for West Virginia since 2005.
Laying Points with WV is Risky – Do you really want to lay points with West Virginia? You simply can’t trust a team coached by Bill Stewart. West Virginia should dominate Marshall based on talent but Marshall is at home, the Mountaineers are not that great on offense and Stewart will find a way to mess up the game. The Mountaineers will probably get the win but the game will end up closer than it should have been which means Marshall covers the college football odds at the Sbg global sportsbook.