#11 West Virginia Mountaneers: College Football 77 in 77

Welcome to The Sports Bank 77 in 77. We’re previewing one team a day everyday as the college football season approaches. And we’re doing it in rapid fire sequence. Today, the West Virginia Mountaineers

2011 was: a banner year in school history. They BADLY whipped Clemson’s ass in their BCS game; a 70 point gashing of Clemson in the Orange Bowl. Clearly they were the best team by miles in a very weak Big East, even though they went 5-2 in conference. Now they’ve moved on up like George and Weezy Jefferson to the Big 12

2012 will go smoothly if: the “air raid” offense is simply the air raid offense, as they were 15th in the nation in scoring in last season. The spread formation led to 15 100 yard receiving games by their pass-catchers last season. Previous WV record was 8. With QB Geno Smith leading the 6th ranked pass offense yet again, and receivers Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey returning, they’ll win shootouts again.

2012 will be rough if: there’s more questions than answers on D, as Coach Dana Holgerson scrapped the traditional mountaineers 3-3-5 stack. Expect more 4-3 looks to go with a 3-4 base. There are new assistants helping out at the defensive coordinator position.

BMOC: all the dudes I mentioned plus Shawne Alston

All Name team: QB Ford Childress, WR Travares Copeleand

Bottom Line: 8-10 wins looks likely. They might be deserving of more, but it all depends on if they stay healthy at the positions where they have little depth. There’s going to be a step down from last year, probably. How much? depends on how well they adjust to life in the pass happy Big 12. They should fit in fine

All the 77s

#12 Georgia

#13 Clemson

#14 Wisconsin

#15 Virginia Tech

#16 TCU

#17 Nebraska

#18 Boise State

#19 Oklahoma State

#20 Ohio State

#21 Texas

#22 Texas A&M

#23 Michigan State

#24 Louisville

#25 Stanford

#31 Virginia

#32 Notre Dame

#33 NC State

#34 Iowa

#35 BYU

#36 UCF

#37 Washington

#38 Tennessee

#39 Rutgers

#40 Penn State

#45 Mississippi State

#46 North Carolina

#47 Northwestern

#48 Miami, FL

#49 California

#50 SMU

#51 South Florida

#52 UConn

#53 UCLA

#54 Illinois

#55 Vanderbilt

#56 Washington St.

#59 Purdue

#62 Arizona State

#63 Boston College

#64 Ohio

#65 Marshall

#66 Arizona

#67 Southern Miss

#72 Colorado

#73 Kansas

#74 Maryland

#75 Duke

#76 Minnesota

#77 Indiana

Paul M. Banks is CEO of The Sports Bank.net, an official Google News site generating millions of unique visitors. He’s also a regular contributor to Chicago Now, Chicago Tribune.com, Fox Sports, Walter Football and Yardbarker

A Fulbright scholar and MBA, Banks has appeared on live radio all over the world; and he’s a member of the Football Writers Association of America, U.S. Basketball Writers Association, and Society of Professional Journalists. The President of the United States follows him on Twitter (@Paul_M_BanksTSB) You should too