The West Virginia Mountaineers battle the No. 17 Pittsburgh Panthers in the 105th renewal of the Backyard Brawl in a Week 1 matchup on Thursday at 7 p.m. ET. It will be the first time in 11 years the teams will meet. Pittsburgh is favored by 7.5 points at Caesars Sportsbook, while the over/under is set at 52 (see up-to-date'odds for every game this week on our college football odds page).'
Before making any West Virginia vs. Pittsburgh picks, you NEED to check out the college football p redictions from the SportsLine Projection Model.
The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Over the past six-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated a stunning profit of almost $3,600 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. It enters Week 1 of the 2022 college football season on a 45-32 run on all top-rated college football spread and money-line picks that dates back to 2021. Anyone who has followed it has seen huge returns.
The model knows the Panthers' offense, which averaged over 40 points per game last season, got a boost from the transfer portal. With Kenny Pickett graduating, Pitt had a big hole to fill at quarterback. Senior Kedon Slovis fills that role after transferring from USC and has been named the Panthers' starter against the Mountaineers. In three seasons at Southern California, he played in 27 games, making 26 starts. In that stretch, he completed 652 of 953 passes (68 percent) for 7,576 yards and 58 touchdowns with 24 interceptions. As a freshman in 2019, Slovis threw for 3,502 yards and 30 touchdowns with nine interceptions, completing 282 of 392 passes (72 percent).