MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – CBSsports.com college football writer Tom Fornelli rates West Virginia's game against Army in this year's 2020 AutoZone Liberty Bowl the 12^th-best matchup of the 2020-21 bowl season.
 
The Liberty was only 21^st in the CBSsports.com bowl rankings when Tennessee was its choice to face the Mountaineers, but COVID-19 issues within the Volunteer program forced it to shut things down for good.
 
So enter Army, now 9-2 after a come-from-behind 10-7 victory over rival Air Force to claim this year's Commander-in-Chief's Trophy. Army was supposed to play a Pac-12 team in the Independence Bowl, but the game was canceled last week when not enough teams were available to play.
 
"Now that Tennessee had to opt out due to COVID-19 with Army as the replacement, a rather drab Liberty Bowl becomes one of the best games on the board," Fornelli wrote.
 
"The Mountaineers, led by defensive linemen Dante and Darius Stills up front, ranked 13th nationally in success rate against the run. It's going to be strength on strength, and may the best team win," Fornelli added.
 
What West Virginia is now getting in an opponent is a six-game improvement in the win column and a unique, triple-option offense that harkens back to the days when our grandfathers played college football.
 
The last time the Mountaineers prepared for an option offense, against Georgia Southern in 2015, another coaching staff was under employment and it had an entire offseason to prepare.
 
Now, West Virginia (5-4) is going to have less than 10 days to familiarize itself with a triple-option attack that features a quarterback under center.
 
"This is going to be a tough opponent on such short notice," West Virginia coach Neal Brown admitted.
 
If you recall, two years ago, Oklahoma needed overtime to hold off coach Jeff Monken's Black Knights in Norman, so facing a Big 12 team on a neutral field won't be that big of a deal to Army.
 
Twenty-two different players have carried the football for nation's fourth-ranked rushing offense, which is averaging 281.3 yards per game.
 
"It's tough to defend," Brown said. "A lot of motions, formation varieties and they do a really good job of mixing up those looks and finding plays each week that are effective."
 
Against Air Force, third-string fullback Jakobi Buchanan, a 6-foot, 260-pounder, ran 21 times for 86 yards and scored the game's go-ahead touchdown with 1:13 remaining.
 
"They use multiple fullbacks," Brown said. "They're all big, physical guys who run downhill and they do a great job in short yardage situations."
 
Junior Christian Anderson, one of two Black Knight quarterbacks to attempt a pass against Air Force, carried 18 times for 85 yards while 5-foot-8, 185-pound Tyhier Tyler contributed 62 yards on 16 carries.
 
Army tried just two passes, completing one for no yards, and its longest plays from scrimmage were 16-yard runs from Buchanan, Anderson and freshman Tyrell Robinson, one of at least four different running backs likely to see action.
 
Army ran 71 plays against Air Force and possessed the football 15 minutes longer than the Falcons.
 
The Black Knights went for it on fourth down three times and were successful twice. For the season, Army has gone for it 32 times on fourth down and has been successful 71% of the time.
 
"They are physical and athletic up front and I don't think that gets talked about enough," Brown noted. "People talk about Army being undersized and I don't see that at all when I turn on the film."
 
On the rare occasions when it does pass, Anderson has attempted the most (41), while Jemel Jones, a 5-foot-10 sophomore, has the best completion percentage (47.4%). 
 
Freshman Cade Ballard has the longest completion, a 53-yarder to Robinson in Army's 49-3 win against Mercer.
 
"We expect both quarterbacks to play," Brown said.
 
"It's a totally different offense in every aspect," West Virginia defensive line coach Jordan Lesley said. "How they block - their blocking schemes, the motions, the shifts and the trades – is different than what you ever see in normally 12 ballgames. Can you simulate that with live bodies in 10 days? Probably not."
 
Lesley said his guys are going to have tape their ankles tight and be prepared to play low to the ground.
 
"At the end of the day they have 11 and we have 11 and every guy on their offense represents a gap," Lesley noted. "If all 11 are doing their job then it tends to work out. If 10 do it and they've got 11 doing it then it tends to probably not work out."
 
The Black Knight's defense is much closer to what West Virginia sees on a regular basis in the Big 12. Senior will linebacker Jon Rhattigan is Army's best player and was named one of 18 semifinalists for the Bednarik Award, given to the nation's top defensive player.
 
The 6-foot-1, 245-pounder from Naperville, Illinois, leads the Black Knights in tackles (78), tackles for loss (9.0) and fumble recoveries (two). He also has a sack and a half and a pair of interceptions, returning one 43 yards for a touchdown against Middle Tennessee State.
 
Rhattigan made a touchdown-saving tackle on Army's big goal-line stand to help defeat rival Navy, 15-0 on Dec. 12.
 
"Defensively, they are a three-down front and statistically they rank near the top of the country in almost every defensive category," Brown noted.
 
"They're one of the top defenses in the country, giving up about 14 points a game," offensive coordinator Gerad Parker said. "They play a unique style with a front that slants and gains penetration. They play hard, they run to the football and they do everything that a great defense would do."
 
The Black Knights have blocked seven kicks this year – three punts, two field goals and a pair of PATs, which is indicative of the type of effort with which they play.
 
"We are going to have to do a very good job in both the punt and field goal game," Brown said.
 
Army's losses were against Cincinnati, eighth in the final College Football Playoff Rankings, in Cincinnati on Sept. 26, and at Tulane on Nov. 14.
 
Army's defense limited the Bearcats to just 14 first downs and 69 net rushing yards in UC's 24-10 victory. The Black Knights pulled to within a touchdown early in the fourth quarter before Cincinnati connected on a 63-yard touchdown pass to put the game on ice.
 
Army's other loss to Tulane (38-12) was the result of the Green Wave erupting for 24 second-half points while holding the Black Knights scoreless. Tulane hit a couple of big plays and also benefited from a fumble return for a touchdown.
 
"When you turn on their film they are what you'd expect to see – a disciplined group that plays extremely hard," Brown said. "They play nasty football, and I mean that in a complimentary way. They play through the whistle. They get guys on the ground and they get to the football with an attitude on defense."
 
Thursday's Liberty Bowl will be West Virginia's fourth-ever meeting against Army and its first since 1961 when WVU held on for a 7-3 win at Michie Stadium. Army's wins over West Virginia in 1941 and 1946 were also played at in West Point, New York.
 
The Mountaineers will be making their third appearance in the Liberty Bowl and their second visit to Memphis. In 2014, Texas A&M defeated West Virginia 45-37 and Utah defeated the Mountaineers 32-6 in 1964 when the game was played at the Atlantic City Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
 
"Our players and coaches are really excited about finishing 2020 in Memphis at the Liberty Bowl," Brown said. "For our guys and our program, I think it's a tremendous opportunity for our team.
 
"There is going to be a lot of attention on this game," Brown added. "I'd say it might be the most-watched bowl game outside the national semifinals. I understand and our kids understand there will probably not be a whole lot of people outside the state of West Virginia that are pulling for us."
 
It will be West Virginia's 38^th all-time bowl appearance and its first under Brown, in his second season leading the WVU program. This will be Brown's fourth bowl game as a head coach, the prior three coming during his time at Troy where he was 3-0.
 
The game will kick off at 4 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on ESPN (Wes Durham, Roddy Jones and Eric Wood).
 
Mountaineer Sports Network from Learfield IMG College radio coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. with the GoMart Mountaineer Tailgate Show on affiliates throughout West Virginia. The radio broadcast will also be available for streaming on WVUsports.com, but not TuneIn nor the WVU Gameday app.
 
The team will fly to Memphis on Wednesday and will return immediately afterward.

Tickets are still available and can be purchased by logging on to the Liberty Bowl website.

Bowl officials indicated last week that there will be a 20% capacity for the game because of the COVID-19 pandemic.