Smoking Musket College Pick 'Em Gauntlet Week Six Results, Plus Predictions For The Shootout In Lubbock

The Smoking Musket Pick ‘Em Gauntlet is an online college pick ‘em game where we will try to pick the winners of the weekly Big 12 contests plus Yahoo! editors' selected games (usually the games involving the top 25 teams). We do pick against the spread (when available). There are usually 20-30 games to pick each week and each correct pick is worth one point. The winner (excluding Musket staff) will be the person at the end of the regular season who has the most correct picks/points. Points are cumulative, so don't worry if you happen to miss a week or two. We will award the winner a WVU Nike T-shirt at the conclusion of the games in December.

All participants are subject to the Official Rules as determined by SB Nation.

We actually filled the first group, so we had to open a second league to fit everyone in. The second league will serve solely as an extension of the first league, and is not a standalone league. If you are in the second league, you are still competing with those in the first league.

Our game, as in the past, will be hosted by Yahoo! Fantasy. GAME LINK

Group Name: The Smoking Musket II

Group ID: 10963

Group password: LetsGo

We have 23 games to pick this week, at 7:00 PM ET on Friday. Deadline for each pick is 5 minutes before kickoff.

Here are the leaders (top 10) after week 6. Congratulations to WVUMAN2 for winning week 6 (all you win for this is kudos).

Now, onto business. NO MORE BYE WEEKS! EIGHT STRAIGHT SATURDAYS OF MOUNTAINEER FOOTBALL!

Let’s take a crack at predicting West Virginia’s first road game with their trip into hostile territory as they take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock, TX.:

Robert Hurst

WVU is an unknown commodity right now. They are 4-0, but 1-3 against the spread. Can they stop a prolific offense, on the road? No one knows. I'll take the Mounties, but I'll say they still don't cover.

Final Score:
West Virginia 31
Texas Tech 30

John Radcliff

They put up 38 on Kansas St. and that was their lowest output of the year. So we should at least expect them to do the same to us. I seriously think we're going to put up 50+ to win this game.

Final Score:
West Virginia 55
Texas Tech 45

SmithFire13

Good ol' fashioned shootout. Both offense torch the defenses, but I think WVU has a decent enough D to be the difference.

Final Score:
West Virginia 45
Texas Tech 38

WVUNite

Texas Tech gives up nearly 0.6 points PER PLAY. WVU has run an average of 78 plays per game, which equates to 46 points against Texas Tech. It's going to take more than that to beat TTU and I fully expect WVU to run more than 78 plays. Kansas State gives up 0.3 points per play and held TTU to 38 points. WVU comes in at 0.233 points per play. TTU would need to run 220 plays to match their average scoring output to hang 50 on WVU. I like our chances, just not at noon in Lubbock.

Final Score:
West Virginia 49
Texas Tech 42

Matt Kirchner

I hate Lubbock. Lubbock is stupid. Nothing good ever happens for Lubbock.

We win, but it's stupid and we all lose a few years off our life.

Final Score:
West Virginia 45
Texas Tech 42

sb1wvu

I want to believe...but i'm not there yet. The winds of Lubbock and Patrick Mahomes sabotage the Mountaineers 4-0 start as WVU ends up on the other side of a close game for the first time this season.

Final Score:
West Virginia 34
Texas Tech 41

WVUIE97

Good thing is, after this nobody can say we haven’t played a real road game. Lubbock of all places, where crazy things tend to happen. That said, the Tech defense is just what this WVU offense needs after a week of wizardry. The question remains though if the WVU defense is up to the task of slowing down this TT offense themselves. I think we slow them down just enough, but it’s still a fairly wild one.

Final Score:
West Virginia 51
Texas Tech 42

abpriddy

Four years ago a one-dimensional but undefeated WVU team with a historically awful defense rolled into Lubbock and was embarrassed. Now armed with a well-rounded offense, an effective running game and an opportunistic defense the Mountaineers are once again undefeated and looking to keep on rollin'. They do enough to beat the Red Raiders and set up the biggest home game in Morgantown in 2 years.

Final Score:
West Virginia 44
Texas Tech 31

John Lowe

WVU Defense > Texas Tech Defense

Final Score:
West Virginia 49
Texas Tech 31

statsboyandi

Final Score:
West Virginia 49
Texas Tech 35

Michael Miller

I hate playing Texas Tech in Lubbock. It’s our first true road game. We’ve escaped with the win in the closing minutes of our last two games. That’s not something you want to have to depend on in Lubbock.

Fortunately for us, Texas Tech’s defense is hot garbage, and we have a nice run game. If we keep it on the ground, we should be able to run all over the Red Raiders and get out of there with a comfortable win.

Final Score:
West Virginia 42
Texas Tech 24

Will Hirsch

Not much defense in this one. High flying offenses put up insane numbers in this desert shootout. A 5-0 Mountaineer squad gets a lot of people talking about their chances to win the Big 12.

Final Score:
West Virginia 52
Texas Tech 48

Dustin White

There's a great chance that for the third straight week WVU fans will be on the edge of their seat at the end of the game. And for the third straight week, the Mountaineers escape with the win.

Final Score:
West Virginia 38
Texas Tech 35