West Virginia Mountaineers Vs. Missouri Tigers Preview: Season 125, Episode 1 - The One Where We Get Football Back

We're less than 24 hours away from kicking off the 2016 season as the West Virginia Mountaineers prepare to do battle inside Milan Puskar Stadium against the Tigers from Columbia, Missouri.

By JohnLowe24@JohnEverett24 Sep 2, 2016, 4:05pm EDT

OPENING THOUGHTS

Happy Gameday's Eve to Mountaineers everywhere!! I hope you've all dried your tears from Mitch Vingle's very, very sad article that was released yesterday. If you haven't read it, STAY AWAY!! This will be your reaction:

Today's not the day for that kind of sentiment. We've got one more day of mediocre games tonight (minus K-State at Stanford) and then MOUNTAINEER FOOTBALL IS BACK!!!

We've gone 35 Saturdays without WVU football and now we're here!!! I hope all of you are as excited as I am.

WHEN/WHERE

Date: Saturday, September 3rd

Kickoff Time: Noon ET

Where: Mountaineer Field, Morgantown, WV

Tickets: General Public ; WVU Students

WATCH/LISTEN

TV: FS1

Streaming Video: FoxSportsGO (or the FoxSportsGO app for iPhone and Android)

Radio: WZST Variety 101 (100.9 in Morgantown) and the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG (Radio Affiliates)

Streaming Audio: Locate the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG on TuneIn Radio (or the TuneIn Radio app for iPhone and Android)

Satellite Radio: Sirius 119; XM 199; Internet 953

ODDS

Spread: WVU by 9.5 to 10.5 (according to OddShark)

O/U: 49.5-51

Bill C:

Spread (Home)	S&P Projection	Margin	Win Prob.	S&P+ Pick (ATS)	F/+ Projection	F/+ Pick (ATS)
-10	West Virginia (29.6-21.3)	8.4	68.5%	Missouri	West Virginia by 4.1	Missouri

Most betting organizations have WVU winning by around 10. I'd say a pretty satisfying victory over SEC competition.

WEATHER FORCAST

We'll be tailgating in the mid-60s, but by the time the game kicks off it'll be in the mid to upper 70s. Not a cloud in the sky. Perfect weather for a football game in Morgantown.

THE ENEMY

Where are they from? Columbia, Missouri

All Time Series: Mizzou leads the series, 3-2.

Last Game: 1998, the Tigers defeated Don Nehlen's Mountaineers 34-31 in the Insight.com Bowl

SB Nation Blog: Rock M Nation

Last Season: 5-7 (1-7 SEC)

Head Coach: Barry Odom (played middle linebacker at Mizzou from 1996-99)

KEYS TO THE GAME

-Test Skylar's arm, but not too much. Skylar had some definite consistency issues last season. He had a very productive season, but he was 50/50 on most of his passes. He can't afford too many bad passes against Mizzou's impressive secondary.

-Keep the fans engaged. The better it looks on the field, the more the Mountaineer faithful will rattle Missouri. The Tigers are looking forward to get back to some normalcy after a very turbulent 2015, so DON'T UNDERESTIMATE THEM!!

-Stay healthy. West Virginia, for the time being, has a significant depth issue. Don't over work players in Week 1.

HOW AFRAID SHOULD WE BE?

On a scale of 1-10, I'm at 4. I think this is a great opening game for WVU, but as a Mountaineer fan I always err on the side of caution before assuming that WVU will win. Missouri, despite a losing season last year, is a tough team and will want to open the Odom era on a high note. So, I'd say the level of afraid that parents are when their kids get on the elementary school bus.

PREDICTION THAT WILL BE WRONG

I think that WVU will have some defensive troubles in the first half, so I think the score will be close to tied at halftime. Skyler and the receivers will have a crazy second half and the score will look like more one-sided than it really was.

West Virginia 41, Missouri 27

Thanks to GoAUpher at The Daily Gopher for the format.