Through the first 11 games of the bowl season, Patrick Pishko is in the lead in the HailWV Bowl Pick ‘Em competition.

Pishko correctly forecast 10 of the 11 games, winning on the tie-breaking combined score of the Holiday Bowl. Apparently Pishko was banking on he resurgence of the Baylor defense? It is amazing that the Baylor defense was able to keep the UCLA offense off balance. What was more remarkable was the running game and the emergence of Lache Seastrunk as a legitimate star in the Bears offense.

Dec. 26, 2012; Detroit, MI, USA; Western Kentucky Hilltoppers tight end Jack Doyle (82) dives for a ball but is unable to make the catch in the fourth quarter of the 2012 Little Caesars Bowl against the Central Michigan Chippewas at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Even with the high scoring Holiday Bowl, I thought that I had a great shot at winning this thing. Unfortunately I got screwed out of the mix when Western Kentucky failed to come back against Central Michigan. Freaking Toppers! Had WKU comeback to win the Pizza Bowl, I would have been in prime position to take Segment 1.

Now we are into Segment 2 of the Pick ‘Em, and I am already missing picks left and right. The Navy pick was my wildcard and I whiffed hard. The rest of my picks in Segment 2 do not look so hot either.

For a recap of the picks made by your favorite HailWV staffer, you can see the original article here.

Looking ahead at the rest of the slate of bowl games, I would not expect me to come out on top. I think it will become a two horse race down the stretch between Pishko and Miller, but stranger things have happened.

September 29, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers running back Andrew Buie (13) runs 1 yard for a touchdown against the Baylor Bears in the third quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. West Virginia defeated Baylor 70-63. Mandatory Credit: Rob Christy-US PRESSWIRE

A quick glance at our predictions reveal that lo and behold, we did a pretty good job overall at predicting big games for Geno, Stedman, and the offensive line. Pishko even came pretty close to predicting stats for the secondary. What none of us did predict was that the offense would explode for 807 yards and 70 points. We also did not think that the secondary would play so terribly against the Bears. Oh well. A win is win, right?

Now lets take a closer look at those predictions:

Ken Durbin’s Prediction: I’m predicting that the offensive line will clear room for the Mountaineers to rush for 125 yards and will keep Geno sack free.

The offensive line exceeded my wildest expectations in this game. Geno was sacked once in the first quarter, but other than that, he was kept upright for most of the game. Baylor eventually abandoned the pass rush, only sending three rushers after Geno for most of the afternoon.

The running game clicked well. Buie carried the load for the Mountaineers, contributing 82 yards and 2 touchdowns. As a team, the Mountaineers rushing attack gained 151 yards on the ground, providing balance to Geno’s high flying passing display.

Outside of the sack, I was dead on with this prediction. My score prediction (51-40) was a little low, but I had no idea that the secondaries of both teams were content to play two-hand touch.

Brandon Miller’s Prediction: Geno Smith is going to have a huge game and cement himself as the #1 contender for the Heisman. I predict he’ll be 35-42 with 415 yards, 5 TDs, and 0 INTs.

Bold prediction recap: Hit the nail on the head again, as Geno Smith had a great month yesterday. He certainly is light years ahead of everyone else in the Heisman race. If ANYONE even attempts to argue that he is not the best QB in the country or is not the leader in the Heisman race, please refer that person for mental help. I’m not even going to touch my score prediction- no one could have called that. I will say that the game today is probably the most fun and exciting game I’ve ever been to.

Now it’s off to Austin in search of defense and a road victory…

Alan Searles’ Prediction: I would look for Stedman to have a similar week to what Tavon had last week on less touches.  A pair of TDs and 150-170 yards.

My response: I was right.

Patrick Pishko’s Prediction: Karl Joseph: 2 pass break ups, 6 tackles, 1sack. Pat Miller: 1 pick, 9 tackles, 2 qb hurries.

My predictions were pretty consistent with what actually transpired. S Karl Joseph had 6 solo tackles, 2 ast. and one pass break up, albeit he did get burned for a long TD.

Now I turn my attention to Pat Miller, who had the lovely task of trying to guard the smooth operations of #2 Williams. Needless to say, it was a long afternoon for Miller. He registered 4 tackles and 4 Qb hurries, but could not cover Williams who set the Big 12 single game receiving record.

This secondary must right the ship before their trip to the Lone star state this coming weekend.

September 29, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers wide receiver Stedman Bailey (3) catches a touchdown pass thrown by Mountaineers quarterback Geno Smith (not shown) in the second quarter against the Baylor Bears at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Christy-US PRESSWIRE

Let’s first take a look at the individual single game records:

1. Geno Smith completed 45 passes, beating his own record of 38 completions against LSU last year.
2. Geno Smith threw for 656 passing yards, eclipsing the mark he set against LSU in 2011.
3. Geno Smith (surprise, surprise) set the record for passing touchdowns in a game at 8. He previously held the mark for his 6 touchdown passes in the 2012 Orange Bowl against Clemson.
4. Geno Smith set the school record for total offensive yards in a game with 687 yards, smashing his previously held record of 468 yards against LSU last year.
5. Tavon Austin had a record 14 receptions, one-upping his and Stedman Bailey’s record of 13 (Austin against Maryland this year and Bailey against JMU and Baylor this year).
6. Stedman Bailey dismantled the receiving yards in a game record with 303 yards. The record was previously held by Chris Henry with 209 yards against Syracuse in 2003. Tavon Austin also surpassed Henry’s record against Baylor, moving to second on the list with 215 yards.
7. Stedman Bailey set the single game receiving touchdown record previously held by teammate Tavon Austin. Bailey caught 5 touchdowns against Baylor, besting Austin’s 4 touchdown performance against Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl.

Give your eyes a break. That is just the individual game records. We now take a look at the team single game record set yesterday.

September 29, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers wide receiver Tavon Austin (1) reacts during a timeout in the second half in the game against the Baylor Bears at Milan Puskar Stadium. West Virginia defeated Baylor 70-63. Mandatory Credit: Rob Christy-US PRESSWIRE

1. The Mountaineers offense set the record for most yards in a game at 807 yards. The previous record was 655 yards against Marshall in the season opener.

Finally, we look at the career records set against Baylor.

1. Tavon Austin captured the career receiving yardage record with 2,684 yards. Austin passed David Saunders previous mark of 2,608 yards.
2. Stedman Bailey beat out teammate Tavon Austin for the top spot on WVU’s all-time receiving touchdowns list. Bailey now hold the record at 26 touchdowns, two better than Austin’s 24 touchdown receptions. The record was previously held by Cedric Thomas with 23 touchdowns.

The Mountaineers offense has been hitting on all cylinders virtually the entire season. The way this offense has been playing, don’t be surprised to see many of the records set during Saturday’s game to be taken down as the season progresses.

September 29, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers quarterback Geno Smith (12) drops back to pass in the first quarter in the game against the Baylor Bears at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Rob Christy-US PRESSWIRE

Today, in men’s college basketball, the West Virginia Mountaineers defeated the Baylor Bears by a final score of 70-63. What is that you say? This wasn’t a round ball game? My mistake. You see a score that high, you instantly  think that it is either basketball or arena football.

Everyone knew that this game would feature a lot of offensive fireworks, but I don’t think many people thought that it would be a total shootout. Neither defense is what you would call ‘marquee,’ but you would have thought that there would have been a few more defensive stops in this game. Got to give credit to both offenses for putting together impressive schemes and executing them to perfection.

For the Mountaineers today, you can look at the game as being an incredible, dominating offensive performance. You can also look at it as a laughably awful defensive effort. We’ll take a look at this game as being both glass half full (offensively) and glass half empty (defensively).

Let’s start with the bad news: the defensive secondary is weak. Baylor’s receivers exposed the secondary for 581 yards through the air. Now, Nick Florence is a good up-and-coming passer, but he is not an elite quarterback like Geno Smith. The Mountaineer secondary practices daily against the top arm in the country and against a very similar offensive scheme. The secondary should have been able to defend this kind of attack. The secondary looks lost at times in their coverage schemes and just did not come up with the tackles they needed to keep the Bears out of the endzone.

The secondary, curtousy of Darwin Cook, did come up with an interception on the first drive of the game. After that, it was bombs away. Baylor converted 9 of their 14 drives for touchdowns. The defensive front seven did what they could to put pressure on Florence, sacking him 3 times. As the game progressed, Baylor’s offense settled into a nice rhythm, and the defense could not get the Bears out of sync.

In total, the offense gave up 700 yards of offense and 9 touchdowns. Yes, Baylor has one of the more impressive offenses in the country. But no, the Mountaineers defense should not be giving up that many points. The Mountaineers defense needs some major adjustments if WVU is going to win the Big XII this season.

Now that we’ve covered the doom and gloom of the defense, let’s take a look at the phenomenal offensive performance put on by the Mountaineers. If Geno Smith was not #1 on everyone’s Heisman trophy list coming into this game, he most certainly is #1 now. Smith followed up a down performance against Maryland with yet another lights out performance. Geno completed 45 of 51 passes (88.2% completions) for 656 yards (no, that is not typo) for 8, I repeat, 8 touchdowns. That is NCAA 13-type numbers. Many pundits want to compare Geno’s numbers to RGIII’s numbers from a year ago, but let’s face it, Geno is better than RGIII. Geno is putting up insane passing totals with astronomical completion percentages.

Geno’s success would not be possible if it were not for his NFL caliber wide receivers Bailey and Austin. Tavon Austin put up impressive totals again this week, snagging 14 passes for 215 yards and 2 touchdowns. With the 215 yards, Austin has moved into first place on WVU’s all-time receiving yards list with 2,684 yards.

Stedman Bailey would not be out done by his star teammate. Bailey turned in the performance of his career today with 13 receptions for 303 yards and 5 touchdowns. The 5 touchdown grabs moved Bailey past Austin to take over first place on WVU’s all-time receiving touchdowns list.

Of course, West Virginia’s offensive performance would not have been possible had it not been for the stellar performance of the offensive line. After getting pushed around by Maryland defensive front, the Mountaineers line looks to have made some major improvements in just a week’s worth of practice. The offensive line kept the Bears defense off of Geno all day, only allowing one sack. When it came to running the ball, the offensive line did a great job of opening up creases  for Buie to run through. The Mountaineers were able to dash the Bears defense for 151 yards on the ground, a testament to how well the line blocked down field.

In all, the offense went off on the Bears for 807 yards of total offense and 10 touchdowns. You can’t really get much better than that.

One last note on the game: today’s game marks the third time in the last five games (going back to the 2012 Orange Bowl) that the Mountaineers have scored 10 touchdowns in a game. That is just ridiculous! The Mountaineers offense just might be the most prolific offense in the country. Good thing, given the play of our defense.

For the complete box score, visit wvusports.com.

September 22, 2012; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers center Joe Madsen (74) prepares to snap the ball at the line of scrimmage against the Maryland Terrapins during the fourth quarter at Milan Puskar Stadium. The West Virginia Mountaineers won 31-21. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-US PRESSWIRE

The West Virginia Mountaineers, after a lenghty legal battle and months of waiting, finally get to play in the conference they desire: the Big XII. The inaugural Big XII game comes against the 25th ranked Baylor Bears. The game promises to be quite the high scoring affair, as both teams are well equipped in the passing game. Both teams have put up tons of points and features many future NFL prospects. The difference is that Baylor isn’t in Kansas anymore (yes, Baylor is in Texas, I’m aware), this is West Virginia. The Mountaineers fans will show the Bears just how loud Milan Puskar Stadium can be, and hopefully for Oliver Luck’s sake, how well we can stripe a stadium!

Now to the good stuff:

Ken Durbin:

West Virginia’s offensive line got pushed around by the Terrapins last week. This week, I’m expecting the line to put up a big redemption performance. WVU will need to be able to run the ball effectively to temper the Bears pass rush. I’m predicting that the offensive line will clear room for the Mountaineers to rush for 125 yards and will keep Geno sack free.

As far as the game is concerned, I think this game will be somewhat of a shoot out. After watching Louisiana Lafayette air it out on the Bears secondary, I have no doubts that Geno will shread them. The biggest concern is whether our defense will be able to match-up with a deep Baylor receiving corps. I think our defense will come up with a pair of turnovers that will make the difference in the game. The Mountaineers will win their first Big XII game by a final count of 51-40.

Brandon Miller:

Last week, the WVU offense struggled to find rhythm and was inconsistent throughout the game.  The coaches and players won’t let that happen this week.  WVU’s offense will be running on all cylinders.  Most people think this game will be a shootout, and I agree.  Neither defense is very impressive and will be able to consistently stop the opponent.  The game very will could come down to what defense is able to make a crucial stop though.

Onto predictions… Expect lots of scoring and lots of big plays.  Geno Smith is going to have a huge game and cement himself as the #1 contender for the Heisman. I predict he’ll be 35-42 with 415 yards, 5 TDs, and 0 INTs.  This is going to be a close game, with both teams scoring early and often.  But sometime in the second half, WVU’s defense will come up with a big turnover or stop and turn the tide of the game, allowing WVU to pull away late for a 48 – 38 victory.

Alan Searles:

I am predicting 48-36 Mountaineers; after all we like bear hunting and have the rifles to do so.  I would look for Stedman to have a similar week to what Tavon had last week on less touches.  A pair of TDs and 150-170 yards.  I would also look for guys like JD Woods to get involved in decent yardage as well.  This should be a shootout and hopefully we are still living afterwards.  How our defense performs will show us a lot of what we should expect the rest of the year.

Patrick Pishko:

Abbreviated prediction cause I’m on the road! I’ll swing my attention back to the D this week. The WVU secondary will have its work cut out for them as Baylor uses every last inch of the playing surface. Look for Pat Miller to make a pick and Karl Joseph to apply pressure to the QB in specialized blitz packages.

Karl Joseph: 2 pass break ups, 6 tackles, 1sack

Pat Miller: 1 pick, 9 tackles, 2 qb hurries.

It’s the football offseason, and the basketball team is causing everyone to pull their hair out in frustration.

I recently came up with the idea of simulating games between WVU and the 2011 Big 12 (minus Texas A&M & Missouri.)

Just think about this for a minute… WVU gets to the Big12 a year early… 2011, which was also Dana Holgorsen’s first year as Head Coach.

Every game was simulated only once. I mean, honestly, these teams only have one chance per season to win, so why should I have to simulate a game 10 or even 100 times? I don’t have the time to do that (I do have a day job, like most of you do, I’m sure). There was a particular site I used to simulate these games, and after this simulated season, I will give them a plug.

Game #1 is against Baylor, Octobe 1, 2011. This one should be a doozy with Geno Smith vs. Robert Griffin III. Coming off a loss to LSU, the Mountaineers look to change the momentum with their Big 12 debut against the Baylor Bears.

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Just imagine this scenario…

WVU went to the Big12 a year earlier. In the transition year. TCU also got in the Big12 a year earlier.

So, for the next 10 weeks, we will be posting results of games against Big12 teams from the 2011 season.

After the jump is the entire schedule.

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The 6^th ranked Baylor Bears were able to hold off the West Virginia Mountaineers in overtime to remain undefeated.

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Mountaineers who were able to overcome a ten point deficit to tie and eventually lead 76-73 with only 33 seconds remaining in the game. Jabarie Hinds was fouled and missed the free throw shot. Dominique Rutledge grabbed an impressive offensive rebound and made the basket. Unfortunately, a questionable offensive foul was called. This negated the play and gave Baylor’s Pierre Jackson time to knock down a three to tie the game. The Bears had another opportunity to win with a few ticks on the clock but Quincy Acy couldn’t connect.

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Daily Mail: Done deal: West Virginia headed to the Big 12 Conference

WV Metronews: Multiple Reports: WVU To The Big 12

What a great day for Mountaineer Fans everywhere, especially those in the midwest.

After the jump is our reaction to it all… you all should check out Smoking Musket’s reaction first.

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Was I surprised at my findings? Not really. However, others may be… I’ll be posting the chart and a small write-up after the jump.

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