West Liberty's B- grade dwarfs West Virginia State's D in MEC test

The widest gap in this Mountain East game is not the projected margin, it is the letter grades. West Liberty carries a B- overall grade while West Virginia State sits at a D, and Versus has that translating to a 65th ranked West Liberty squad in Division II against a West Virginia State team all the way down at 142nd, a 77 spot difference within the same 162 team pool.

West Liberty gets there with a B- offense that ranks 76th in Division II, comfortably ahead of a defense that checks in at 108th, and the Hilltoppers have made a habit of winning tight ones, going 3-1 in one score games this season on their way to a 4-1 record. West Virginia State, at 1-3, has watched its power rating slide in each of the last five weeks and brings a defense graded D+ and ranked 124th into a game against an offense that outranks it by a wide margin.

This is a conference matchup, and Versus still favors the visitors, projecting West Liberty to win 32-26 with a 63 percent chance of coming out ahead. Both programs carry rough strength of schedule marks, 121st for West Liberty and 151st for West Virginia State, but the gap in overall grade and divisional rank is the story here, not the scoreboard prediction alone.