Big XII football always has and always will revolve around the state of Texas. The biggest school in the biggest state in football is the Texas Longhorns, regardless of how good they are or aren’t. It is going to be very interesting to see how the West Virginia Mountaineers do in their very first trip to Austin, a trip that is going to very potentially make or break the season for either of these teams. Both squads have upper echelon talent, and both have gotten through the first month and change of the season with great records intact. Join us for our Texas vs. West Virginia picks for the very first game in this newly born rivalry.

West Virginia Mountaineers @ Texas Longhorns Picks & Info
West Virginia Mountaineers @ Texas Longhorns Date: Saturday, October 6th
West Virginia Mountaineers @ Texas Longhorns Location: Royal Texas Stadium, Austin, TX
West Virginia Mountaineers @ Texas Longhorns Spread: Texas Longhorns -7

There is no doubt that what makes the West Virginia offense move is its passing attack. The team really has a knack for getting up and down the field this way, and why not? QB Geno Smith is clearly one of the top quarterbacks in the country and a legitimate pro prospect, while WRs Stedman Bailey and Tavon Austin might both also be future NFLers. Ivan McCartney is the underappreciated receiver of the bunch, and the work of RB Dustin Garrison will likely end up going overlooked as well. Defensively, Head Coach Dana Holgorsen knows that he has his work cut out for him. His 3-3-5 unit does return seven starters, but there is going to be a real question as to how the ‘Neers are going to be able to contend with the Texas running game with just three returning starters up front.

Thus far this year, Smith has had himself a heck of a year, and he is coming off of one of the best passing games that a quarterback has ever had in college football, throwing for over 600 yards and eight TDs against the Baylor Bears. The defense though, is predictably not all that great, knowing that this unit just allowed 63 last week as well.

West Virginia Mountaineers vs. Texas Longhorns Past Games (Since 1995)
None

This is going to be a great make or break type of a game for the Longhorns. They clearly haven’t hit the hardest part of their schedule, and losing this one clearly will separate the idea of a BCS type of a team and one that is going to be mired in the middle of the field with seven or eight wins that can only hope for a bid in the Alamo Bowl (or one of the sorts). The defense will have its work cut out for it going against Smith and the gang, but the offense might finally really have a chance to shine against a sometimes very weak unit. QB David Ash have had a few confidence boosting games in front of him to start off the campaign, and he has numbers that stack up against most of the Big XII quarterbacks right now. The good news is that this defense isn’t going to be all that good that he sees on the other side of the ball, but the bad news is that he is going to have to score a ton of points to get the win. Watch out for RBs Malcolm Brown, Joe Bergeron, and DJ Monroe to try to control the clock by keeping the ball on the ground, which could make for some room for Ash to get the ball up the field as he has done over the course of the first few games of the campaign.

West Virginia @ Texas Free Picks^^: We really want the points on our side in this game. West Virginia is a team that is built just like your average Big XII team, and in fact, it almost might have seemed displaced in the Big East in the past. Texas is starting to creep back towards the somewhat dominating team that it had over the course of the middle and end of last decade, but there is still quite some ways to go. Will the Longhorns get there? Sure they will… eventually. This probably isn’t the time for them to be laying 6.5 in a game like this one quite yet, though.

^^Notice: The NCAA football picks & predictions listed on the sports betting blog are made by our staff writers early in the season and do not represent the Bankroll Sports expert handicapping team’s actual premium service releases. Click Here to receive our expert handicappers premium college football picks for the 2012 football season.

You can purchase our premium West Virginia vs. Texas picks from our experts on 10/6/12