Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Old Big East Foes to Meet Once Again
December 02, 2018 06:38 PM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For the second time in six years West Virginia is facing Syracuse in a bowl game. Hopefully this time around it will be a lot warmer for both teams when they meet in Orlando, Florida, on Friday, Dec. 28 in the 2018 Camping World Bowl.
That last meeting six years ago in the Pinstripe Bowl in late December was an unpleasant experience for fans who endured freezing temperatures and frequent snow squalls inside spacious Yankee Stadium.
West Virginia and Syracuse have an extensive history as the two storied Northeastern programs met on an annual basis from 1955-2012.
"I'm getting caught up on (the old rivalry) as we speak," Syracuse coach Dino Babers said during Sunday's Camping World Bowl teleconference. "I hear that the fanbase will be rabid about it and will be looking forward to going against our old Big East foe."
Syracuse's "old Big East foe" won eight in a row during one stretch from 2002-09, but the Orange upset the 20th-ranked Mountaineers in Morgantown in 2009, and also claimed the final Big East meeting between the two at the Carrier Dome in 2011 before capturing the Pinstripe Bowl meeting a year later.
Earning a bowl invitation is new territory for a Syracuse program that will be making its first bowl trip since 2013 when the Orange defeated Minnesota 21-17 in the Texas Bowl.
"This is new ground for us," Babers said. "I've just got to make sure they're not acting like a new kid at school and they're so excited they forget about their surroundings and don't forget they have a fantastic West Virginia football team to get ready for."
Syracuse, ranked 17thin the final regular season AP poll, got to Orlando this year by generating its most victories in 17 years, going 9-3 this season and finishing second to Clemson in the ACC's Atlantic Division.
"Obviously, this has been a very exciting season for us, bouncing back from a period of losing in our football family by winning more games in the ACC than we have in a long time and being ranked nationally," Babers said.
Syracuse's most impressive victory of the season came against 22nd-ranked NC State on Oct. 27, when it outlasted the Wolfpack 51-41 in the Carrier Dome.
The Orange also routed Florida State 30-7, got by North Carolina 40-37 and finished the regular season with an outstanding 42-21 victory at Boston College.
In that game, senior quarterback Eric Dungey bounced back from an upper body injury sustained in the Notre Dame loss a week prior to complete 21-of-34 passes for 362 yards and three touchdowns while also running for three scores.
Dungey is yet another mobile quarterback that West Virginia's defense will have to try and contain.
The Lake Oswego, Oregon, resident has completed 60.1 percent of his 341 pass attempts for 2,565 yards and 17 touchdowns this year. He also has accounted for 732 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground, giving him 32 total touchdowns for the season.
Junior Moe Neal leads the Syracuse ground attack with 827 yards and an average of 5.6 yards per carry, while 6-foot-5-inch, 213-pound senior wide receiver Jamal Custis averages nearly 18 yards per reception with a team-best six touchdown grabs.
Diminutive 5-foot-8, 170-pound Sean Riley has caught a team-best 63 passes for 733 yards with three touchdowns, while another scat-back, 5-foot-8-inch, 167-pound Nykeim Johnson, has added 39 receptions for 555 yards and four scores.
Six-two, 175-pound freshman Taj Harris has 36 catches for 510 yards and three scores for Syracuse's 12th-ranked scoring offense, which averages 40.8 points per game.
West Virginia, meanwhile, sits three spots ahead of the Orange at No. 9 in the country in scoring with an average of 42.3 points per game.
The 15th-ranked Mountaineers came up three points short of facing Oklahoma in the 2018 Big 12 Championship game yesterday when the Sooners pulled out a 59-56 victory in Morgantown on the final weekend of the regular season.
Senior quarterback Will Grier passed for a career-high 539 yards and four touchdowns, while seniors Gary Jennings Jr. and David Sills V accounted for 225 and 131 receiving yards respectively with a pair of touchdowns each against the Sooners.
Sills V, West Virginia's first-ever, two-time All-Big 12 choice, caught a team-best 61 passes for 896 yards and 15 touchdowns, while Jennings Jr. contributed 54 receptions for 917 yards and 13 scores.
Grier's 11 regular season games for the Mountaineers this year saw him complete 67 percent of his pass attempts for 3,864 yards and 37 touchdowns to 11 different players.
Tight end Trevon Wesco has had a breakout season for WVU with 24 catches for 352 yards to earn All-Big 12 first team honors, while the ground game has been led by junior Kennedy McKoy's 729 yards and seven scores.
Defensively, West Virginia had the Big 12's top playmaker in linebacker David Long Jr., who recorded 18 ½ tackles for losses and eight sacks to earn Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors.Holgorsen was asked during his portion of the teleconference if he will have a full roster when the team travels down to Orlando in late December. Several of his upperclassmen are rated highly by NFL scouts.
"That's an interesting question, and I think that's a question every head coach across the country is going to be asked and have to respond to," Holgorsen said. "I've been out on the road recruiting and currently have been up in New York for some meetings. I gave our guys a week off and next week is all about academics as they wrap up the semester.
"We've got a recruiting weekend next weekend, which is when we are going to reconvene as a football team and try and see where their mind is. I do know this, we're an outstanding football team; been in the top 15 the entire year; we've averaged around 54 players (appearing in games) so we've got a lot of football players on our team," he added. "Those (seniors) mean a lot to me and I'm going to lean on them as we try to get a victory to finish off the season."
West Virginia climbed to as high as No. 6 in the national rankings before losing at Iowa State on Oct. 13. WVU's other two defeats were by four points at Oklahoma State on Nov. 17, and by three to College Football Playoff-bound Oklahoma on the final weekend of the regular season.
Holgorsen also indicated Sunday he isn't sure if offensive coordinator Jake Spavital will be available to coach in the bowl game. Texas State hired Spavital as its head coach late last week, and he will be occupied with recruiting for the Bobcats.
"I haven't heard from Jake since his press conference," Holgorsen said. "Obviously, I talked to him throughout the process and was thrilled to death for him. He was a hot commodity and he had several schools talking to him about being their head coach.
"He's going to be buckled down with recruits for the next three weeks and (coaching in the bowl game) is 100 percent his decision," Holgorsen said. "I will obviously take over any duties that he cannot do, whether it's game planning, coaching quarterbacks or calling plays. I think I'm fairly qualified to be able to do that. I'd love for him to be a part of this bowl game and if he can make it work based on his new situation then he'll be welcomed to do so."
This will be Holgorsen's seventh bowl trip and his second to Orlando in eight seasons at WVU. West Virginia (8-3) will be making its record fifth appearance in this bowl game, formerly known as the Carquest, Champs Sports and Russell Athletic bowls, and its 37thoverall.
"It's an old Big East matchup with Syracuse, and I know our fanbase is going to be excited about rekindling some old memories," Holgorsen said.
Syracuse has been bowling 25 times, but just five since 2000.
Babers took Bowling Green to bowl games in 2014 and 2015, and this will be his first bowl appearance in his three seasons at Syracuse after four-win campaigns in 2016 and 2017.
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