The Sock 'Em, Bust 'Em Board Because that's our custom

Guarding against the upset

The Mountaineers enter the Big 12 portion of their schedule in about the best way possible — easing in against Kansas. Then hadn’t been as lucky the last four seasons, with three openers against Oklahoma and one against Kansas State. But don’t think Dana Holgorsen is taking this game lightly.

“We’ve prepared for their best game of the season, that’s for sure.”

It wouldn’t take much for the Jayhawks to put together their best game of the season. Their lone win is against Southeast Missouri and they followed that with two losses to Mid-American Conference teams. But Hologorsen has good reason to be wary in Lawrence. It was in Lawrence where the Mountaineers might have hit their low point in the Holgorsen era.

In 2013, West Virginia didn’t just lose at Kansas, it lost handily, 31-19 to a Charlie Weis-coached outfit that finished 3-9 and hadn’t won a Big 12 game since beating Colorado in 2010. That loss eliminated the Mountaineers from bowl contention in a season where they finished 4-8, the only losing season WVU has suffered under Holgorsen.

Now, West Virginia has the advantage over Kansas in just about every category, but the Jayhawks aren’t bad at throwing the ball, and that might be enough to allow Kansas to hang around and make things interesting. Holgorsen has been pretty careful in what he has said this week. Surely, he doesn’t want any flashbacks to a bad, bad memory.