MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Two 4-6 teams looking to keep their bowl hopes alive are meeting later today at Milan Puskar Stadium when West Virginia plays host to Texas.
 
The Longhorns are in the midst of a historic five-game losing after beginning the season with a 4-1 record. Since its 32-27 win over TCU on Oct. 2, Texas has lost consecutive games to Oklahoma (55-48), Oklahoma State (32-24), Baylor (31-24), Iowa State (30-7) and Kansas (57-56).
 
The Longhorns' five-game losing streak is their longest since they lost eight straight to conclude the 1956 season. That was a year before Darrell Royal came in and completely changed the program's culture.
 
Ironically, Texas' eight-game losing streak that season began with a 7-6 defeat to West Virginia on Oct. 6 in Austin.
 
"When I turn on the film, I don't see a Texas team that's not playing hard," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "I see a team that's flying around. I see a team that you can tell the staff is still working extremely hard."
 
The two teams meeting later this afternoon are considered two of the most inexperienced in college football. Phil Steele Magazine listed West Virginia 103^rd and Texas 109^th on its experience chart heading into this season, and injuries have further depleted the teams' depth.
 
Texas is going to be without the nation's ninth-leading rusher, Bijan Robinson, who suffered a season-ending elbow injury in last week's loss to Kansas.
 
Therefore, the Longhorn's most explosive player now is true freshman wide receiver Xavier Worthy, who one day soon could end up being one of the best players in the country. The 6-foot-1, 160-pound Fresno, California, resident was targeted 23 times in last Saturday's Kansas loss and caught 14 of those for 152 yards and three touchdowns.
 
He had nine catches for 261 yards and two touchdowns in the shootout loss to Oklahoma in Dallas.
 
Junior Casey Thompson has taken over the quarterbacking duties for the Longhorns this year and has responded with some impressive passing performances so far this year. He threw for 303 yards and five touchdowns in the Texas Tech win, passed for 388 yards and five touchdowns in the Oklahoma loss and accounted for 358 yards passing and six touchdown in last Saturday's defeat to Kansas.
 
Junior Roschon Johnson will likely get most of the carries on Saturday in Robinson's absence. He's a guy West Virginia knows well. In the 2019 game in Morgantown, he carried the ball 21 times for 121 yards in Texas' 42-31 victory.
 
Defensively, the guy to keep an eye on is senior linebacker Demarvion Overshown, a guy who produced eight tackles, two TFLs and a sack in last year's win over the Mountaineers in Austin.
Special teams-wise, senior Cameron Dicker is one of the best punters in the country, and he also handles place kicking duties.
 
Since losing 42-41 to West Virginia in Austin, Texas has won the last two games over the Mountaineers by scores of 42-31 and 17-13. West Virginia's final three possessions of last year's game ended at the Longhorns' 17, 16 and 8 yard lines.
 
Another tight, hotly contested game could very well be on tap this afternoon. Here is today's Countdown to Kickoff:
 
10 – West Virginia's defense ranks TENTH nationally this week in tackles for loss, averaging 7.2 per game.
 
9 – WVU has rushed for at least 150 yards NINE times since 2019.
 
8 – West Virginia's offense has generated EIGHT plays of at least 40 yards from scrimmage so far this season.
 
7 – WVU has scored points on its opening possession in SEVEN of 10 games so far this year.
 
6 – West Virginia is looking to pin Texas with its SIXTH straight loss – the most by a Longhorn team since 1956. Ironically, WVU began that streak with a 7-6 win in Austin that year.
 
5 – The Mountaineer defense ranks FIFTH in the Big 12 this week with 22 sacks.
 
4 – Leddie Brown is one of FOUR Mountaineer players to tally multiple triple-touchdown games since West Virginia joined the Big 12 in 2012. The other three are Tavon Austin, Stedman Bailey and David Sills V.
 
3 – WVU has successfully converted at least THREE red zone scoring attempts in 15 of its last 20 games dating back to last season.
 
2 – West Virginia and Texas are the TWO youngest teams in the Big 12, according to Phil Steele's preseason experience chart. WVU came into this season ranked 103^rd in overall experience while Texas was ranked 109^th.
 
1 – West Virginia ranks FIRST in the Big 12 this week in time of possession, averaging 31:28 minutes per game this season.
 
Today's contest is a True Blue game with all fans attending encouraged to wear their blue. The 2012 Discover Orange Bowl team is having its 10-year reunion this weekend and will be recognized at the end of the first quarter. Prior to the game, West Virginia's senior class will be honored.
 
Kickoff is set for noon and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2 (Anish Shroff, Mike Golic Jr. and Taylor McGregor).
 
"It's about us," Brown said. "We've got to play quality football and the outcomes will take care of themselves. That's the goal for me."
 
West Virginia's radio coverage begins at 8:30 a.m. with the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Sow leading into regular network coverage with Tony Caridi, Dwight Wallace and Jed Drenning at 11 a.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app WVU Gameday.