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2016 Russell Athletic Bowl Report: Tuesday
December 27, 2016 02:07 PM | Football
ORLANDO - Two old Big East foes will renew their 74-year football series when 14th-ranked West Virginia faces Miami in the 2016 Russell Athletic Bowl at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
Wednesday’s game will be the 20th meeting in sporadic gridiron play that heavily favors the Canes, 16-3.
West Virginia’s lone victories occurred in 1973 in Miami, in 1993 in Morgantown and in 1997 in Miami once again. This will be the first neural site meeting between the two.
The last time these two teams met was in the Orange Bowl in Miami in 2003 when the 27-point favorite Hurricanes needed a late field goal to knock off West Virginia, 22-20.
After that season, the two programs went in different directions - Miami to the Atlantic Coast Conference with Boston College and Virginia Tech - and West Virginia eventually to the Big 12 Conference following the 2011 season when the ACC completed its raid of the Big East by annexing Pitt and Syracuse.
This year’s game highlights two intriguing contrast in styles: West Virginia, which plays a wide-open, Big 12 style featuring a fast-tempo offense and lots of plays while 8-4 Miami continues to feature a more traditional, huddling, pro-style attack that averages slightly more than 66 plays per game.
The 10-2 Mountaineers, by contrast, are averaging about 10 more plays per game this season than the Hurricanes.
“They play a tough schedule, have beaten a lot of good football teams - one-point loss to Florida State, a two-point loss to Notre Dame, a touchdown loss to North Carolina and then a tough loss to Virginia Tech, so a quality football team,” West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said.
The two teams are averaging roughly the same amount of points per game (Miami has a slight edge 34.6 to 32.6) while WVU has a considerable advantage in total yards per game (506.9 to 431.2).
The disparity comes on the ground where West Virginia’s rushing attack is averaging 239.5 yards per contest to Miami’s 157.7.
The Mountaineers have had four different running backs rush for more than 100 yards in a game this season - five if you count the 100-yard rushing performances quarterback Skyler Howard achieved during his junior season in 2015.
The game also features two quarterbacks with very similar 2016 passing numbers - WVU’s Howard, who is completing 61 percent of his throws for 3,194 yards and 26 touchdowns, and Miami’s Brad Kaaya, who is completing 61 percent of his passes for 3,250 yards and 23 scores.
Kaaya is inching up the UM and ACC career passing charts and needs just 314 yards on Wednesday to reach 10,000 for his career, making him just one of four quarterbacks in ACC history to do so.
“This guy is the all-time leading passer at Miami, so I would say he’s pretty good because they have had a lot of good quarterbacks go through there,” Holgorsen said.
In just 29 career games, Howard is now third in career passing at WVU with 7,168 yards after recently passing Pat White.
Howard ranks 15th in the country in points responsible for with 210.
The game also pits two 1,000-yard rushers - West Virginia junior Justin Crawford, who has gained 1,168 yards while averaging 7.4 yards per carry, and Miami’s Mark Walton, who shows 1,065 yards and 14 touchdowns while averaging 5.5 yards per tote.
“Their running back - the Walton kid, we recruited the heck out of him, didn’t get him, but he’s a great player and scores a lot of touchdowns,” Holgorsen said. “They give him the ball a lot.”
The two leading receivers - West Virginia’s Daikiel Shorts Jr. and Miami’s Stacy Coley - also show similar numbers.
Shorts has caught 58 passes for 833 yards and five touchdowns while Coley’s 2016 numbers include 58 catches for 703 yards and nine scores.
“Their receivers are as good as we’ve seen,” Holgorsen said. “The Coley kid and then the true freshman (Ahmonn Richards), he just broke Michael Irvin’s freshman receiving records. I think the Irvin dude was a pretty good receiver down there.”
West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen says he is impressed with Miami in all three phases of play. All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo.
Miami also has a major weapon at tight end in 6-foot-4-inch, 245-pound sophomore David Njoku who shows 38 catches for 654 yards and seven touchdowns.
“Their tight end is the biggest and baddest dude we’ve faced all year and will give us a lot of matchup problems,” Holgorsen noted.
Defensively, the Canes are giving up an average of 18.9 points and 353.8 yards per game, considerably better than West Virginia’s defensive averages of 23.4 points and 431.2 yards per contest.
“(Miami defensive coordinator Manny Diaz) has been around for a while and I’ve competed against him for a long time (when Diaz was at Texas),” Holgorsen said. “He plays a lot of odd front, likes to blitz and has guys coming from everywhere.
“They’re well coached, they play their tails off and they have gotten better and better throughout the course of the season,” Holgorsen noted.
The one defensive category WVU appears to have a statistical edge is in turnovers created - 25-18 - but that could be mitigated some by Miami’s ability to hold onto the football. The Canes have turned the ball over just 10 times, seven through the air and three by way of fumbles.
By comparison, West Virginia has turned the ball over 20 times, 11 by interceptions and nine by fumbles.
Another statistical category that favors Miami is blocked kicks. UM has blocked eight this year, five coming on field goal attempts and three on punts.
“We have to really, really pay attention to what’s going on special-teams wise,” Holgorsen said. “They bock a ton of kicks and they come after everything.”
Middle linebacker Shaquille Quarterman is Miami’s top defender statistically with 79 tackles, nine tackles for losses and 2 ½ sacks. He has also broken up a pass and forced a fumble.
West Virginia’s No. 1 statistical defender is senior outside linebacker Justin Arndt, who shows 80 total stops, seven tackles for losses, three sacks, a pass breakup and a forced fumble.
According to West Virginia’s coaches, Miami’s offensive style of play most closely resembles BYU - a team WVU edged 35-32 in Landover, Maryland - while the Hurricane defense most closely resembles Kansas State, statistically.
In the K-State game, West Virginia had to overcome a 13-point fourth quarter deficit to pull out a 17-16 victory.
Miami’s is looking to conclude its season with a fifth straight victory under first-year coach Mark Richt and possibly crack the top 25, while West Virginia is seeking its 11th win for just the fifth time in school history and finish in the top 10 for the first time under sixth-year coach Dana Holgorsen.
Wednesday’s game will kick off at 5:30 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN (Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy and Tom Luginbill).
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG’s pregame coverage will begin at 2 p.m. with the Mountaineer Tailgate Show on stations throughout the state and also online via WVUsports.com and the mobile app TuneIn.
A special Russell Athletic Bowl Special will air tonight from 6-8 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia.
Briefly:
* West Virginia had its final tune-up at The First Academy this afternoon following the Russell Athletic Bowl Kickoff Luncheon held at the Shingle Creek Resort. The two coaches - Dana Holgorsen and Mark Richt - conducted a news conference beforehand in the Shingle Creek ballroom.
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