This week's picks

Big Al's CFB Lab

Data updated
Big 12

West Virginia

5–3 (2–3 Big 12). 2026 season, games through Oct 24, 2026.

SP+ rating-0.876th of 138
SP+ offense34.023rd of 138
SP+ defense34.9126th of 138
PRIME1.960th of 138
Elo136894th of 138

Offense

StatValueRank
Points per game35.928th
Yards per play6.8026th
Success rate45.2%56th
Explosive play rate15.1%18th
Yards per carry5.3259th
Yards per pass attempt11.593rd
Sack rate allowed8.9%118th
3rd down conversion52.8%7th

Defense

StatValueRank
Points allowed32.2121st
Yards per play allowed7.07128th
Success rate allowed45.6%108th
Explosive plays allowed14.4%123rd
Yards per carry allowed5.33100th
Yards per attempt allowed9.15123rd
Sack rate5.7%77th
3rd downs allowed38.1%64th

Players

Cam Cook (RB), DJ Epps (WR), Michael Hawkins Jr. (QB).

Results

WeekOpponentResult
1vs. Coastal CarolinaW 31–24
2vs. UT MartinW 52–7
3vs. VirginiaW 38–27
4vs. Oklahoma StateL 24–41
5at Iowa StateL 42–45
6vs. ArizonaL 31–52
7vs. CincinnatiW 45–42
8at TCUW 24–20

Ranks are out of 138 FBS teams. Stats from play-by-play; scoring counts FBS opponents only. Compare West Virginia with any team.

Site
Picks two teams at random. Any FBS team can come up.

How we picked it

Three ratings look at a team in three different ways. Big Al's pick is the team at least two of them favor.

Where the game is won

Each row puts one team's unit against the unit it faces, by national rank out of all FBS teams. An edge is a gap of 25 spots or more.

What these mean

  • SP+ Bill Connelly's opponent-adjusted efficiency rating. Points better than an average FBS team on a neutral field.
  • PRIME A second opponent-adjusted rating, built from possession efficiency, on the same points scale. SOS is schedule difficulty; SOR is wins above what an average team would get against that schedule.
  • Elo A results-only rating that moves after each game based on the score and the opponent. 1500 is average.
  • Success rate Share of plays that stay on schedule: 50% of the yards needed on 1st down, 70% on 2nd, all of it on 3rd and 4th.
  • Explosive rate Share of plays that are runs of 12+ yards or completions of 16+ yards.
  • Defense rows What opponents did against the team. Lower is better except sack rate and interception rate.
  • Projection Rating gap, plus 2.5 points for the home team, and games usually land within about 14 points of it. A coin flip is 50%.

Ratings: SP+ via CFB Update; PRIME via primecfb.com. Box and play stats computed from CollegeFootballData.com play data (via the public cfbfastR files), FBS games only for scoring. Rushing yards here exclude sacks, so they run higher than official totals. Ranks are out of 138 FBS teams.

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