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Texas Football: 5 reasons the Longhorns will beat West Virginia

By Andrew Miller

AUSTIN, TX - NOVEMBER 12: Kennedy McKoy #4 of the West Virginia Mountaineers scores a touchdown against the Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal -Texas Memorial Stadium on November 12, 2016 in Austin. Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images)
AUSTIN, TX - NOVEMBER 12: Kennedy McKoy #4 of the West Virginia Mountaineers scores a touchdown against the Texas Longhorns at Darrell K Royal -Texas Memorial Stadium on November 12, 2016 in Austin. Texas. (Photo by Chris Covatta/Getty Images) /
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MORGANTOWN, WV – OCTOBER 25: Clay Johnston #44 of the Baylor Bears tackles Leddie Brown #4 of the West Virginia Mountaineers at Mountaineer Field on October 25, 2018 in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images)
MORGANTOWN, WV – OCTOBER 25: Clay Johnston #44 of the Baylor Bears tackles Leddie Brown #4 of the West Virginia Mountaineers at Mountaineer Field on October 25, 2018 in Morgantown, West Virginia. (Photo by Justin K. Aller/Getty Images) /

3. Texas can shut down West Virginia ground game

West Virginia has some nice pieces out of the backfield, but nothing to be particularly frightened about for Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando. The ground game for the Mountaineers starts with junior running back Kennedy McKoy. Yet, McCoy is pretty far off the pace of rushing touchdowns he had from 2017, and rushing yards might fall short too.

After posting nearly 600 rushing yards and seven touchdowns in a backup role as a sophomore last season, McCoy has just 366 yards and two touchdowns this fall. Although McCoy is averaging more than 5.5 yards per carry this season his overall production is falling short of expectations. In fact, he has just 122 rushing yards in his last three starts.

Since McCoy didn’t emerge as the clear best running back for the Mountaineers in 2018, the offense is taking more of a running back by committee approach. True freshman running back Leddie Brown is the rising star in this rushing attack and actually is posting a stat line slightly better than McCoy.

Brown is averaging 0.3 yards per carry less than McCoy, but he also has two more rushing touchdowns. Yet, this Texas football front seven is more than stout enough to make Brown and McCoy a non-factor in this game. Take away the balance from this West Virginia offense and the Horns dramatically improve the odds of a victory at home.

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