Smoking Musket College Pick 'Em Gauntlet Week Four Results, Plus WVU/Kansas State Staff Predictions

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 24 games to pick this week, at 9:00 PM ET on Friday. Deadline for each pick is 5 minutes before kickoff.

Here are the leaders (top 10 and ties) after week 4. Congratulations to WVMoonshiner for winning week 4 (all you win for this is kudos).

The Mountaineers take on the Kansas State Wildcats, a team they haven’t been able to beat since joining the Big 12 Conference. Will this be the season we get past Bill Snyder and whatever magic spell he casts? TO THE PREDICTIONS! (again, in no particular order):

John Radcliff

I keep wanting to say magic isn't real, but we keep losing to the wizard and Kansas State. So I give up. I've surrounded myself with chicken bones and voodoo dolls. And that will be the difference.

Final Score:
West Virginia 31
Kansas State 24

WVUIE97

The KSU defense is no joke, but neither is the WVU offense this year. That said, Wizard gonna do Wizard things and it's another close one.

Final Score:
West Virginia 24
Kansas State 20

abpriddy

After 4 years of futility Holgorsen finally breaks through against Snyder. The struggles are back in the red zone but that's OK as Gibby's DAWGS force a trio of turnovers. It's a solid effort but still not what we know this squad is capable of but hey - nobody ever won anything peaking in September.

Final Score:
West Virginia 26
Kansas State 13

BartiumusPrime

Do we really know who or what Kansas State is? They haven't even played three full games. We can see from their game against Stanford they are capable of containing one great player, but I'd like to think WVU has more weapons than Stanford. Again, we just have more potential to score than the opposition.

Final Score:
West Virginia 30
Kansas State 24

WVUNite

I have no confidence we can beat Kansas State. We held them to 1 yard rushing in 2014 and lost. We knocked out their 3rd string QB and lost to a converted WR. Something stupid and weird will happen.

Final Score:
West Virginia 24
Kansas State 27

Patrick Southern

Kansas State's two wins have both come against cupcakes, but the Wildcats acquitted themselves well in their season-opener at Stanford as well. Statistically, they boast the league's best rush defense, pass defense, and scoring defense (again with the caveat that two of their three opponents weren't exactly titans). And while their pass offense is essentially nonexistent, they do boast a respectable rushing attack. Given the issues WVU had stopping BYU's ground game -- the Cougars averaged 7.0 yards per carry -- I can't shake the feeling that KSU's Bill Snyder will get the better of Dana Holgorsen and the Mountaineers yet again.

Final Score:
West Virginia 23
Kansas State 27

Robert Hurst

Enough fatalism. The Mountaineers break the streak and get the monkey of their backs. Balanced offense and plenty of good enough run defense push WVU over the hump.

Final Score:
West Virginia 31
Kansas State 21

statsboyandi

Bill Snyder finally fails a roll and his spell cast fizzles.

Final Score:
West Virginia 31
Kansas State 16

Matt Kirchner

I've been super fatalistic about this game because why shouldn't I be?

That being said, we've been moving the ball well and should hopefully see less issues offensively than we have had in the past against the Snydercats.

The biggest risk is getting sucked into the Bill Snyder TOP Black Hole of Doom, but I think we make just enough plays to pull it out.

Final Score:
West Virginia 27
Kansas State 20

sb1wvu

WVU gets the Wildcat off their back, wins another close one, and breaks the top 25 in both polls.

Final Score:
West Virginia 28
Kansas State 24

WillHirsch

Tough defensive battle with both offenses struggling. Mountaineers big play WR's score one late TD trailing 20-14 and the Mountaineer defense holds steady for the win. A much needed win versus a KSU team that seems to have WVU's number.

Final Score:
West Virginia 21
Kansas State 20

Michael Miller

Kansas State may be a bigger question mark than the Mountaineers at this point. Milan Puskar Stadium will be rocking for the Big 12 opener, but the Wildcat special teams will take the wind out of the sails with a kickoff or punt return somewhere around midway through the game. It’s going to be another nailbiter this week, but Skyler Howard leads a game winning drive in the final minutes to give Dana Holgorsen his first win over Bill Snyder, noted wizard.

Final Score:
West Virginia 31
Kansas State 28

SmithFire13

This isn't going to be an easy one for the Mountaineers. K-State's strengths are rushing offense, rushing defense and special teams. The three things WVU did not do well the past few games are rushing offense, rushing defense, and special teams. I think the fact that the Wildcats haven't played a real road game and that WVU will have a rowdy Homecoming environment will put them over the top.

Final Score:
West Virginia 38
Kansas State 34

Dustin White

Thanks to a balanced offensive attack and some timely forced turnovers on defense, the Mountaineers are finally able to take down the Wildcats.

Final Score:
West Virginia 31
Kansas State 30

JPFanshawe

Kansas State is 10th in Pass Efficiency Defense and 6th in the nation against the run. Sounds like trouble for the Mountaineers? No...the Mountaineer offense clicks along at its best rate yet and WVU wins going away.

Final Score:
West Virginia 44
Kansas State 14