West Virginia vs. South Florida: TV Schedule, Live Stream, Game Time and More

This is it.

No. 23 West Virginia (8-3, 4-2 Big East) can all but lock up the Big East's BCS bowl bid by taking care of business on the road against a highly-inconsistent South Florida (5-6, 1-5) squad in the regular-season finale.

The Mountaineers are currently in a three-way tie with Cincinnati and Louisville to secure the bid, and the tiebreaker goes to the team with the highest BCS ranking. Luckily for WVU, they are the only one of the three to be in top exclusive Top 25 club, and won't be falling below the Bearcats and Cardinals unless they lose.

Here is everything you need to know about what is, in many ways, the de-facto Big East championship game.

When: 8 p.m. EST, Thursday, Dec. 1

Where: Raymond James Stadium; Tampa, Fla.

Watch: ESPN

Listen: ESPN 1290 in Morgantown; 620 WDAE in Tampa Bay

Stream: Listen live via the South Florida Bulls official website

Players to Watch:

Geno Smith is having one of the quietest 3,741-yard, 25-TD seasons of all time. He only has FIVE interceptions in 448 attempts.

Smith has clearly matured in his junior season and is doing it with two absolute monsters at receiver. I'd argue that Stedman Bailey (1,117 yards, 11 TDs) and Tavon Austin (1,009 yards, four TDs) are the best one-two punch in all of college football.

It's up to Bulls QB Bobby Eveld to keep up.

The sophomore QB was vaulted into action last week after B.J Daniels was forced out of the game with a shoulder injury. Eveld ended up with 210 yards, one touchdown and one interception against Louisville—but he's going to need better numbers than that to keep up with Smith. Right now there is a slight chance Daniels can suit up, as he's currently listed as questionable.

Key Matchup:

Can the Bulls contain the West Virginia O-Line?

WVU was down 20-7 last week before inserting 348-pound redshirt freshman Quinton Spain and 300-pound sophomore Curtis Feigt into the lineup. Two touchdowns later, and the Mountaineers had an incredible come-from-behind win.

Can the mediocre Bulls front four get pressure on the new guys? Will they be able to take advantage of their inexperience and get to Smith?

What They're Saying:

West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen has been telling his team to stop worrying about all the tiebreaker scenarios and simply take care of business on the field:

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"What this team is going to be remembered for is what happens this week at South Florida. Now this is the only game on the schedule, and we've got to give it everything we've got. That's the only thing that counts. Once that's over, it's out of our control. I'm sure everybody is going to be glued to the TV set if we're able to get a victory Thursday night. But if we can't take care of business and get the victory Thursday night, it really doesn't matter what happens on Saturday."

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Prediction: WVU 27, USF 20

Smith is extremely underrated, and this is the game where he finally gets some national attention. There is no way the Bulls are able to keep him in check.

The game is going to stay close because of the recent history between these two teams. The Mountaineers beat South Florida by two touchdowns in last season's matchup, but have lost the last two meetings as the visitor.

Are the 4-0 Bulls that beat Notre Dame going to show up, or will it be the team that is 1-5 in the Big East and has lost six of seven games? Their last five losses have been by a combined 25 points, which means USF is just good enough to blow winnable games in the end.

Smith and his deadly combo of receivers prove to be too much as the Mountaineers make an improbable run to a BCS bowl.