This Saturday, the West Virginia Mountaineers (5-4, 4-2) will host the Baylor Bears (5-4, 3-3) in what could be considered an elimination game in terms of the Big 12 title race.

Here are our picks for this week’s action.

While I think West Virginia is the slightly better team, I just can’t trust Neal Brown to deliver and keep this team in the hunt for Dallas. Arizona is one of the worst teams in the Big 12, and Cincinnati isn’t nearly as good as their record indicates. Baylor, on the other hand, is one of the hottest teams in the league, and three of its four losses have come against contenders – Colorado, BYU and Iowa State.

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

Defensively, however, is the problem. Baylor has a deep receiving corps, with all four of their receivers having home run ability. To make the offense even more difficult to defend, OC Jake Spavital has a pair of running backs in Bryson Washington and Dawson Pendergrass that can really cut you to the ground. Both are averaging over six yards per carry.

Not only am I picking West Virginia to lose, but it 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 are looking for their first winning streak of the season, while the Bears are looking to extend it 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 is 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 reins of the offense in game two 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 scoring during conference play, with an average of 35.7 points per game. Robertson combined to throw for eight touchdowns and rush for another in the first two games of the winning streak, including five touchdown passes at Texas Tech, but didn’t find the end zone in the Bears’ win last week against TCU.

In league action, Baylor’s defense ranks near the bottom in scoring (35.3 ppg) and passing defense (306.7 ypg).

West Virginia quarterback Garrett Greene threw for 269 yards and a pair of 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 on the ground and Greene rushed for another 103 yards, both averaging over seven yards per carry.

There is uncertainty early in the week, Greene is set to return to his starting role, Nicco Marchiol is 2-0 as the starter over the past two weeks, and I expect either quarterback to be successful against Baylor’s defense.

The Mountaineer 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 on defense, the offense’s success despite the quarterbacks and Baylor winless in Morgantown in six tries, West Virginia would win a 38-31 thriller.

Prediction record: 6-3.