76 Days Until Kansas Football: Previewing the West Virginia Mountaineers

This year, Kansas is getting in on the early-season-conference-matchup fun. And the opponent is West Virginia, who the Jayhawks will face in Morgantown on September 10 for all the world to see on ESPN+.

It’s an early test against a team that was not a world-beater a year ago, but did play in a bowl game. Time to get to know the first conference opponent of 2022.

Pre-Game Notes

The Kansas-West Virginia matchup goes back to 1941, when the Mountaineers came away with a definitive 21-0 victory at home. That Jayhawk squad under Gwinn Henry was 3-6 that year while averaging a robust 8.2 points per game.

Then the rivalry took a brief 71-year break until WVU joined the Big 12 and the two squads began playing every year in 2012. Kansas and West Virginia split the first two games but since then, it’s been all Mountaineers, as they have won the last eight straight. Kansas has kept the margin to six or fewer points twice, including a 34-28 defeat to end last season.

Scouting Report

Many of you probably know that off-season previews (and the idea for the 100 Days Until Kansas Football countdown overall) was the brainchild of former Rock Chalk Talk editor Mike Plank, who came up with a four-down approach to breaking down opponents. I didn’t want to completely take his format for these, but instead, moving forward, the Scouting Report section will be the Mike Plank Four Down Scouting Report. Celebrate responsibly.

First Down

The West Virginia offense was not a juggernaut a season ago, ranking ninth in the league in scoring and yards per play during Big 12 games. However, the Mountaineers completely revamped that side of the ball. This makes it tough to predict what the 2022 Mountaineers will look like.

This starts with the hiring of former Texas Tech quarterback and most recently USC’s offensive coordinator Graham Harrell to take over the offense in Morgantown. History would say the Mountaineers will be slinging it around the field if they have the right quarterback to make it happen.

Second Down

The likely starter at quarterback is a familiar name to college football but not to Morgantown. Former Georgia and USC QB JT Daniels committed to West Virginia in late April, right before the spring game, which means it may take a bit before he gets adjusted to the offense and playbook. This also makes the KU-WVU matchup a Daniels v Daniels matchup (and a J Daniels v JT Daniels matchup at that) at quarterback.

The Mountaineers are only returning 33% of their rushing production from last year and 53% of their receiving production. There is a committee of running backs ready to take over from Leddie Brown, including Tony Mathis, who had 118 yards rushing against KU last year.

Third Down

The area with the most returning consistency is in the offensive line, where WVU brings back all five starters from last year. Though it looks like the coaching staff is moving the group around a bit in order to optimize production. Still, it’s a good starting point for Daniels’ success.

Fourth Down

Dante Stills is a returning First-Team All-Big 12 selection and the anchor of the defense on the defensive line. But keep an eye on the secondary early. Only one defensive back from the Mountaineers’ nickel look is back this year, so WVU will be relying on transfers and freshmen to step up.

Matchup On Paper

West Virginia had a decent passing game at 248 passing yards (4th best in the league) and 1.5 passing touchdowns per game in 2021. However, it took WVU QB Jarret Doege leading the conference in pass attempts, while also leading the conference in interceptions at 12. The running game was less impressive, as the Mountaineers’ 123 rushing yards per game was last in the Big 12–behind ninth-place KU by 16 yards per game. WVU’s 25 ppg was only better than Kansas as well last year.

The rushing game was Kansas’ biggest weakness last year on defense, so from that perspective, this is a decent matchup. Meanwhile, WVU was solid on the passing game (only allowing 220 yards per game through the air), but as mentioned earlier, the secondary is going to look quite a bit different. And there were still outliers. Maryland’s Taulia Tagovailoa threw for 332 yards and three touchdowns against the Mountaineers in last year’s opener, and Baylor threw for 354 yards and four TDs later in the year. Jalon Daniels could have opportunities to take some shots downfield.

Way-too-Early Trend Lines

A line already exists for this game and it’s West Virginia -12, and you can get Kansas outright at +350. Last year, that line was WVU -15, which Kansas covered. In fact, the Mountaineers were just 1-4 against the spread in their final five games while KU was 3-2 and hit on its last three contests.

Given that this is an early-season contest with lots of turnover on WVU's side, keep an eye on that number as we get closer to September. 

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