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: 10859

Group password: letsgo

We have 25 games to pick this week, starting FRIDAY AT 9PM EST. Deadline for each pick is 5 minutes before kickoff.

Here are the leaders after week 4. Congratulations to Tidester7 for winning week 4 with 20 correct picks (all you win for this is kudos).

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And now, the predictions

WVUIE97

This one scares me because of what happened in 2012, but we have a HC with experience now and a QB who seems pretty unflappable under pressure, two things we didn’t have in 2012. We also have a proven DC and a solid defense, two more things we didn’t have back then. TT will still get more points than we’ve been giving up, but the D does enough and the offense continues to do it’s thing.

West Virginia 47 - Texas Tech 35

Robert Hurst

An early kick means a slow start for both teams, but that doesn’t last and a shootout breaks out mid way through the second. Texas Tech’s improves defense can’t slow down the Mountaineers as much as Gibby slows down the Raiders in the end.

West Virginia 49 - Texas Tech 35

Matt Kirchner

The 3-3-5 successfully bamboozles Alan Bowman into some freshman mistakes and West Virginia strikes early and often. Dana exercises his 2012 Lubbock demons.

West Virginia 45 - Texas Tech 28

Jordan Pinto

Despite the plethora of new faces, Tech will undoubtedly be our defense’s toughest test of the young season. They may have the best group of receivers we’ll face all season, and with freshman Alan Bowman exceeding all expectations at quarterback, the Red Raiders predictably rank near the top of the country in scoring and total offense. However, their defense also lives up to their traditional reputation, especially in the secondary which ranks 110th nationally against the pass.

I expect a shootout, but we’ve developed a pretty good blueprint against Tech over the last few years, and even our lord and savior Pat Mahomes struggled against Gibby’s 3-3-5 the first time he saw it. I think we force Bowman into a couple of timely mistakes, and are ultimately able to get outta there with the W.

West Virginia 48 - Texas Tech 31

WVUNite

The Battle for John Denver will be a barn-burning shootout in Lubbock. Grier will continue his Heisman campaign. This will be the week that Grier starts hot and stays hot because he has to at some point, right? I like our 5th year senior QB vs a true freshman, no matter how good he may be.

West Virginia 49 - Texas Tech 35

BartimusPrime

Whew boy, this one became really interesting because Tech looked good in one game. The Raiders were able to take down an OK State team that had been punching above its weight for the first three games of the season, but were undone.

Tech was able to slow down OSU’s rush attack, but in their two losses, their opponent ran the ball more than 43% of the time, something OSU did not do. Expect WVU to force Tech’s D to play the run, and then watch Grier throw play-action bombs to our talented receivers.

West Virginia 35 - Texas Tech 32

Michael Miller

We find out just how good West Virginia’s defense is on Saturday when the 3-3-5 holds the Red Raiders to their lowest offensive output of the season. Will Grier looks fantastic, once again, and the Mountaineers begin to pick up steam as they roll into October.

West Virginia 42 - Texas Tech 17

Statsboyandi

Unlike 2012, WVU does not run into a buzz saw. Instead they win in a shoot out. People complain about the defense.

West Virginia 45 - Texas Tech 34

John Radcliff

I feel like we are going to be ready for this game, unlike a certain other time we went to Lubbock. I kind of feel like we’re not going to see the same Raiders team that whooped OSU last week. I’ll question their consistency until they prove me wrong. It won’t be a blowout, but it won’t be that close either.

West Virginia 31 - Texas Tech 17

Nick Shoemaker

I predict that this will be the first truly stressful and close game of the season. I think it will be a back and forth game throughout the first half and into the third quarter, but a late defensive stop will secure the win for WVU.

West Virginia 48 - Texas Tech 38