This Saturday, the West Virginia Mountaineers (5-4, 4-2) will host the Baylor Bears (5-4, 3-3) in what can be considered a playoff game when it comes to the Big 12 title race.

Here are our picks for this week’s action.

While I believe West Virginia is the better team, I just can’t trust Neal Brown to deliver on his promises and keep this team in the race in Dallas. Arizona is one of the worst teams in the Big 12, and Cincinnati is nowhere near as good as its record indicates. Baylor, on the other hand, is one of the hottest teams in the league, and three of their four losses have come against contenders: Colorado, BYU and Iowa State.

I don’t think the quarterback situation will matter much to West Virginia. Garrett Greene and Nicco Marchiol are both capable of moving the offense and scoring points, and Baylor is allowing over 35 points per game in conference play.

But it is on the defensive level that the problem lies. Baylor has a deep receiving corps, with each of its top four receivers having the ability to launch a home run. To make the offense even more difficult to defend, OC Jake Spavital has two running backs, Bryson Washington and Dawson Pendergrass, who can really gash you on the ground. Both average over six yards per carry.

Not only am I picking West Virginia to lose, but this feels like one of those games where the Mountaineers led for much of the game, only to fall apart late in the fourth quarter.

Prediction record: 5-4.

The Mountaineers look to have their first winning streak of the season while the Bears look to extend theirs to four.

West Virginia and Baylor suffered early conference losses to title contenders, both losing to Iowa State, but have since separated themselves from the bottom of the league and remain in contention for a Big 12 title.

Baylor ranks third in the league in rushing, averaging 193.8 yards per game and second in the league with 5.7 yards per carry.

The Bears were led by the stellar play of quarterback Sawyer Robertson. The junior took over the offensive reins in the second game and now ranks sixth nationally and first in the Big 12 in QB rating (84.2), propelling Baylor’s offense to second in the league in terms of scoring in conference play averaging 35.7 points per game. Robertson threw eight touchdowns and rushed for another in the first two games of the winning streak, including five touchdown passes at Texas Tech, but did not find the end zone in the Bears’ victory. last week against TCU.

In the league, Baylor’s defense ranks near the bottom in scoring (35.3 points per game) and pass defense (306.7 points per game).

West Virginia quarterback Garrett Greene threw for 269 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winning 29-yard touchdown pass to Jahiem White with 23 seconds left in last year’s season finale at Baylor . White racked up 133 yards rushing and Greene ran for another 103 yards, both averaging over seven yards per carry.

There is uncertainty at quarterback heading into the week with Greene preparing to return to his starting role, Nicco Marchiol is 2-0 as a starter the last two weeks and I expect for either quarterback to succeed against Baylor’s defense.

The Mountaineers defense had success last week forcing three turnovers in the win at Cincinnati under newly promoted defensive coordinator Jeff Koonz and I suspect the unit will build on last week’s success.

With perhaps a new spark within the defense, the success of the offense despite the quarterbacks and with Baylor winless in Morgantown in six attempts, West Virginia will win a thriller 38-31.

Prediction record: 6-3.