Baylor set to welcome West Virginia to Big 12

The unfortunate thing about football is that there is always a loser, no matter what your Pee Wee league coach told you as a child.

When Baylor (No. 25) and West Virginia (No. 9) play each other this weekend, someone will lose and their 3-0 start to the season will come to a quick halt.

“We’re both 3-0, these are both of our first Big 12 conference games, this is their homecoming, and we know that they’re going to be trying to take shots at us,” junior nickel back Ahmad Dixon said. “They don’t want to get embarrassed on their homecoming, and we’re trying to embarrass those guys on their homecoming.”

Baylor plays in Morgantown, W.V., where they are hoping to give a strong, but maybe not so friendly, welcome to the Mountaineers as they play their first game of their first season in the Big 12 conference.

“They’re new to the conference, so they really don’t know what to expect, and they’re new to us so, so we don’t really know what to expect,” junior safety K.J. Morton said.

Morton said the Bears can’t focus on the fact that they’ve never seen West Virginia on the field. The most important thing is going out there and playing like they are up against the rest of the guys at practice.

“We both play football, and football can’t be done much different,” Morton said.

Statistically, both teams are built pretty evenly. Neither team has a defense that ranks in the top five in the Big 12, while both teams have explosive offensives that combine for an average 98.6 points per game.

In fact, the only offensive chart on which West Virginia has the upper hand is the pass offense. West Virginia claims a 78.5 passing percentage, while Baylor has been held to a 65 percent passing efficiency. But I guess that could explain why West Virginia’s quarterback is already a huge part of the Heisman discussions.

In scoring offense, total offense, and rushing offense, Baylor has been more successful than the Mountaineers so far this season.

As the Bears play West Virginia this weekend, they are looking to turn their nine-game win streak in to a ten-game win streak. In addition, it may help them earn some of the respect that always seems to be so hard for them to grab on a national stage, no matter how well they perform.

Baylor is hoping to shake up the rankings this weekend with a win, and with eight games left for West Virginia after this one, the Bears are hoping to show them that even though the Mountaineers started off the season strong, they are now part of what is arguably the best conference in the nation this year, and the road may only get tougher from here. -- Savannah Pullin