Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Camping World Bowl: WVU to Face a Confident Orange Team
December 27, 2018 04:30 PM | Football
ORLANDO – The website Syracuse.com recently put together a panel of five college football experts to predict the outcome of Friday's Camping World Bowl revival of the West Virginia-Syracuse series, in which the two schools used to play annually for the Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy.
This particular panel was made up of two Syracuse football beat writers, a photographer, a sports manager and a person in charge of video and audio engagement, which seems to be a reasonably competent sports panel these days.
All five picked the 'Cuse to win - three of them by fairly comfortable margins.
This morning's incursion of Orange media into the Rosen Hotel ballroom where football coaches Dino Babers and Dana Holgorsen held a joint news conference provided yet another example of the excitement, enthusiasm and supreme confidence Central New Yorkers are feeling right now about Syracuse football.
And why not?
Babers, Syracuse's Man of the Year, has been a jolt of electricity for the entire region.
The Orange are back in the top 20 for the first time since the long-forgotten Paul Pasqualoni days in the early 2000s, and Friday night they can win a 10thgame for just the sixth time ever.
Contrast that to the 16 years following Syracuse's last 10-win season right after the turn of this century when three- and four-win campaigns were the norm, making Syracuse college football's version of Siberia.
It has had just three winning seasons since 2001, and two of them came under Orange alum Doug Marrone before he pulled up stakes and left for greener pastures following a Pinstripe Bowl victory over West Virginia in 2012.
That's the last time these two programs have met, and 2013 was the last time Syracuse played in a bowl game when it edged Minnesota 21-17 in the Texas Bowl.
More recently, a couple of four-win seasons under Babers have set the stage for this season's success.
"They've got my respect and attention real quick with how they play," Holgorsen said. "The thing that stands out probably a little bit more than just what they do offensively is how they play in the other two phases as well. Defensively, they're aggressive and then special teams they do the same thing."
An early-season victory over Florida State got Syracuse some momentum, and then back-to-back victories over North Carolina and NC State put the Orange back into the national picture.
Blowout wins over Wake Forest and Louisville lifted the 'Cuse to No. 12 in the national rankings, and a season-ending victory over Boston College took some of the sting off its 33-point loss to Notre Dame, which is playing in this weekend's first College Football Playoff game.
Clemson, Notre Dame's opponent this Saturday, needed a 20-point second half to outlast Syracuse 27-23, while Pitt scored a touchdown in overtime to complete a come-from-behind 44-37 win in Pittsburgh.
Those are Syracuse's three losses.
A favorable bounce of the ball here or a better break there and Syracuse could have been looking at an 11-win season.
Doesn't that sound familiar?
West Virginia (8-3) was one defensive stop at Oklahoma State away from being in the Big 12 Championship game, and two Will Grier fumbles returned for touchdowns away from knocking off league champion Oklahoma in Morgantown.
That, or a matter of nine more points could have put West Virginia a little farther south in Miami Gardens where Oklahoma will be this Saturday.
But the Mountaineers are here in Orlando without Grier, starting left tackle Yodny Cajuste and 917-yard, 13-touchdown inside receiver Gary Jennings Jr. for tomorrow's Camping World Bowl. They are getting a head start on their professional football careers.
Replacing them are Jack Allison, Kelby Wickline and T.J. Simmons.
Allison has appeared in six games and attempted just 10 passes, completing six including a touchdown late in the Baylor win. He is expected to start against Syracuse, but true freshman Trey Lowe III is also expected to play.
Holgorsen is taking advantage of the new redshirt rule that allows a freshman to be a freshman the following year if they don't appear in more than four games.
Friday night will be Lowe III's first college football game.
"We've got two quarterbacks so one of them, if it wasn't for the redshirt rule, I'd be lining up with a walk-on quarterback here," Holgorsen explained. "We have been blessed with good quarterback play all year, but ours isn't planned so it's an opportunity to be able to line these two inexperienced guys up and see what they can do."
Wickline saw action in all 11 games and made his first start of the season against Oklahoma, while Simmons caught a touchdown pass in the season opener against Tennessee but hasn't crossed the goal line since.
That's not a whole lot for Mountaineer fans to hang their hats on, and far less for Syracuse coaches to rely on when they study all those West Virginia game tapes.
Babers was asked how he is preparing for a quarterback that has 10 game reps on film and no game reps from his backup to study.
"It was 11 reps, 11," Babers joked. "To me, this is more like a first game than a bowl game, the way our defense is breaking it down. You play a team coming out of camp and you really don't know what they're going to do. And I think it's an advantage for West Virginia.
"Defensive coordinators are weird, and they freak out about everything," he added. "I'm like, 'hey, you are going to have to adjust.' There's times on offense when you come out and they're playing a new front you've never seen or a coverage they have had. You've just got to adjust."
Not only must the Orange figure out what those guys can do, they also have to determine what Holgorsen is going to do with them now that he's calling the plays once again.
The guy calling the West Virginia plays for the first 11 games of the season, offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, is now coaching the Texas State Bobcats.
Combine that with Syracuse's unexpected success this season with its outstanding dual-threat quarterback Eric Dungey, and it's easy to see why so many of our old friends up in Central New York are feeling pretty good about Friday night's game.
And that's even with Alton Robinson, the Orange's top pass rusher, back home watching the Camping World Bowl on television.
"We have a couple guys out so (Babers) tried to even it out with a couple of defensive guys that aren't going to play," Holgorsen joked. "So we'll line up and see what happens."
That we will.
A 5:15 kickoff will accommodate ESPN national television coverage (Dave Fleming, Rod Gilmore and Quint Kessenich), while the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG will have statewide radio coverage on affiliates throughout West Virginia beginning at 1:45 p.m.
Friday's game will be the 61st meeting between these two long-time Eastern rivals since they first began playing in 1945.
Syracuse holds a 33-27 all-time advantage in the series, and a 5-0 edge with those five dudes picking a winner in the Syracuse.com expert poll.
Thursday Sound
This particular panel was made up of two Syracuse football beat writers, a photographer, a sports manager and a person in charge of video and audio engagement, which seems to be a reasonably competent sports panel these days.
All five picked the 'Cuse to win - three of them by fairly comfortable margins.
This morning's incursion of Orange media into the Rosen Hotel ballroom where football coaches Dino Babers and Dana Holgorsen held a joint news conference provided yet another example of the excitement, enthusiasm and supreme confidence Central New Yorkers are feeling right now about Syracuse football.
And why not?
Babers, Syracuse's Man of the Year, has been a jolt of electricity for the entire region.
The Orange are back in the top 20 for the first time since the long-forgotten Paul Pasqualoni days in the early 2000s, and Friday night they can win a 10thgame for just the sixth time ever.
Contrast that to the 16 years following Syracuse's last 10-win season right after the turn of this century when three- and four-win campaigns were the norm, making Syracuse college football's version of Siberia.
It has had just three winning seasons since 2001, and two of them came under Orange alum Doug Marrone before he pulled up stakes and left for greener pastures following a Pinstripe Bowl victory over West Virginia in 2012.
That's the last time these two programs have met, and 2013 was the last time Syracuse played in a bowl game when it edged Minnesota 21-17 in the Texas Bowl.
More recently, a couple of four-win seasons under Babers have set the stage for this season's success.
"They've got my respect and attention real quick with how they play," Holgorsen said. "The thing that stands out probably a little bit more than just what they do offensively is how they play in the other two phases as well. Defensively, they're aggressive and then special teams they do the same thing."
An early-season victory over Florida State got Syracuse some momentum, and then back-to-back victories over North Carolina and NC State put the Orange back into the national picture.
Blowout wins over Wake Forest and Louisville lifted the 'Cuse to No. 12 in the national rankings, and a season-ending victory over Boston College took some of the sting off its 33-point loss to Notre Dame, which is playing in this weekend's first College Football Playoff game.
Clemson, Notre Dame's opponent this Saturday, needed a 20-point second half to outlast Syracuse 27-23, while Pitt scored a touchdown in overtime to complete a come-from-behind 44-37 win in Pittsburgh.
Those are Syracuse's three losses.
A favorable bounce of the ball here or a better break there and Syracuse could have been looking at an 11-win season.
Doesn't that sound familiar?
West Virginia (8-3) was one defensive stop at Oklahoma State away from being in the Big 12 Championship game, and two Will Grier fumbles returned for touchdowns away from knocking off league champion Oklahoma in Morgantown.
That, or a matter of nine more points could have put West Virginia a little farther south in Miami Gardens where Oklahoma will be this Saturday.
But the Mountaineers are here in Orlando without Grier, starting left tackle Yodny Cajuste and 917-yard, 13-touchdown inside receiver Gary Jennings Jr. for tomorrow's Camping World Bowl. They are getting a head start on their professional football careers.
Replacing them are Jack Allison, Kelby Wickline and T.J. Simmons.
Allison has appeared in six games and attempted just 10 passes, completing six including a touchdown late in the Baylor win. He is expected to start against Syracuse, but true freshman Trey Lowe III is also expected to play.Holgorsen is taking advantage of the new redshirt rule that allows a freshman to be a freshman the following year if they don't appear in more than four games.
Friday night will be Lowe III's first college football game.
"We've got two quarterbacks so one of them, if it wasn't for the redshirt rule, I'd be lining up with a walk-on quarterback here," Holgorsen explained. "We have been blessed with good quarterback play all year, but ours isn't planned so it's an opportunity to be able to line these two inexperienced guys up and see what they can do."
Wickline saw action in all 11 games and made his first start of the season against Oklahoma, while Simmons caught a touchdown pass in the season opener against Tennessee but hasn't crossed the goal line since.
That's not a whole lot for Mountaineer fans to hang their hats on, and far less for Syracuse coaches to rely on when they study all those West Virginia game tapes.
Babers was asked how he is preparing for a quarterback that has 10 game reps on film and no game reps from his backup to study.
"It was 11 reps, 11," Babers joked. "To me, this is more like a first game than a bowl game, the way our defense is breaking it down. You play a team coming out of camp and you really don't know what they're going to do. And I think it's an advantage for West Virginia.
"Defensive coordinators are weird, and they freak out about everything," he added. "I'm like, 'hey, you are going to have to adjust.' There's times on offense when you come out and they're playing a new front you've never seen or a coverage they have had. You've just got to adjust."
Not only must the Orange figure out what those guys can do, they also have to determine what Holgorsen is going to do with them now that he's calling the plays once again.
The guy calling the West Virginia plays for the first 11 games of the season, offensive coordinator Jake Spavital, is now coaching the Texas State Bobcats.
Combine that with Syracuse's unexpected success this season with its outstanding dual-threat quarterback Eric Dungey, and it's easy to see why so many of our old friends up in Central New York are feeling pretty good about Friday night's game.
And that's even with Alton Robinson, the Orange's top pass rusher, back home watching the Camping World Bowl on television.
"We have a couple guys out so (Babers) tried to even it out with a couple of defensive guys that aren't going to play," Holgorsen joked. "So we'll line up and see what happens."
That we will.
A 5:15 kickoff will accommodate ESPN national television coverage (Dave Fleming, Rod Gilmore and Quint Kessenich), while the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG will have statewide radio coverage on affiliates throughout West Virginia beginning at 1:45 p.m.
Friday's game will be the 61st meeting between these two long-time Eastern rivals since they first began playing in 1945.
Syracuse holds a 33-27 all-time advantage in the series, and a 5-0 edge with those five dudes picking a winner in the Syracuse.com expert poll.
Thursday Sound
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