Mountain West Connection previewed West Virginia as part of previewing each teams opponents.

Strengths of West Virginia

The Mountaineers have liked to throw the football around a lot under Bill Stewart, but that should have to change this year. With the Mountaineers not returning their starting QB and them also returning starting RB Noel Devine, we should see a lot more handoffs in this offense. Now don't get me wrong, Stewart isn't going to completely abandon the pass. He does have to great receivers returning and that will make the load on the QB much easier. But do expect to see Noel Devine getting a lot of carries.

West Virginia's defense will be good this coming season. They return 9 starters with them only losing two defensive linemen. They should be a great defense at defending the pass, with the entire secondary and linebacking core returning. They should be good on defense unless going up against a team with a particularly good Running Back (Pittsburgh).

Weakness of West Virginia

On Offense, their isn't much of an issue. Running really won't be a problem with a star running back and 4 out of 5 offensive linemen returning. Two of the three starting receivers are returning plus the Tight End, so there isn't going to be much of a catching problem. If there is any issue on offense, it probably is QB. This will be Bill Stewart's third starting QB in 3 years which means that there isn't much cohesion between the QB and really anyone.

The Mountaineers' Defensive issues aren't many, but the main one could be stopping the run. They don't return half their defensive line and their linebackers are made for pass coverage, not run stoppage. Depending on how the two new Defensive Linemen play when they step in will say it all when it comes to stopping the run for this defense. This defense should stop any Air Raid team or Spread offense. But the issues are going to be stopping a dominant running back. This defense will be dominant in probably 10 out of 12 games this season.