Five reasons Colorado football will fall victim to West Virginia

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The Colorado Buffaloes are fresh off another embarrassing loss to the Arizona Wildcats and have left their postseason hopes on the line for the next three games.

Standing in their way this week are the West Virginia Mountaineers, another team that was floundering in Big 12 Conference play before they upset the then No. 24 Houston Cougars last week. Both teams will square off in Morgantown with their season on the line.

Here's why the Mountaineers will come out on top in this one.

Why did it have to be snakes?

If you're a Buffs fan, you're going to want to mentally prepare yourself for the following sentence. West Virginia has a stellar running game, engineered by third-string quarterback Scotty Fox Jr., a truly horrifying sentence for the Buffaloes, who have allowed monster rushing performances from quarterbacks this season.

The Mountaineers ran 246 yards on a Houston defense that locked up the Buffaloes' offense earlier this season. Any performance close to that on Saturday will leave Colorado near hopeless.

Gimmie that

Another aspect that helped West Virginia pull off their 10-point upset last week was the turnovers. The Mountaineers forced four turnovers, including an 80-yard pick-6, which stole any momentum the Cougars had going. Despite their 3-5 record, West Virginia has been very good at forcing turnovers this season, and it's something Colorado cannot fall victim to.

Caution: Habit-forming

Colorado is 0-3 in road games this season, and they've barely stayed in one of those three games. With a dedicated fanbase like West Virginia's, I'm doubtful that the Buffaloes will get an easy environment. Deion Sanders' squad will need to start fast, something they haven't done since the BYU contest in late September.

Okay, kid, what do you have?

Sanders announced that the Buffs would be starting true freshman Julian Lewis against West Virginia. While he looked decent in the Arizona game during what was effectively garbage time, it's a massive ask for a freshman to make his first start on the road with the season on the line. The Mountaineers forced a veteran quarterback, Conner Weigman, into plenty of mistakes last week, and there should be some concern about how Lewis will play considering the circumstances.

Secondary issues

The Big 12 availability report for Colorado lists star cornerback DJ McKinney as doubtful for Saturday's game, which would leave the Buffs completely lacking in the secondary. We already knew they'd be without their second-best defensive player, Tawfiq Byard, for the first half due to a targeting penalty last week, but McKinney's injury leaves them razor-thin on defense. It's an injury that the Buffaloes can't afford, especially facing an offense that found its stride last week.

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This article originally appeared on Buffaloes Wire: Colorado vs. West Virginia: Why the Mountaineers have the edge

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