Wild Selection Sunday Leads to WVU Accepting Duke’s Mayo Bowl Bid
December 06, 2023 05:37 PM | Football, Blog
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By: John Antonik
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Charlotte Sports Foundation executive director Danny Morrison said the Duke's Mayo Bowl played a little whack-a-mole on Sunday afternoon before arriving at this year's matchup featuring North Carolina and West Virginia.
North Carolina or a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference was expected, considering the bowl has a tie-in with the ACC. West Virginia came from left field.
The Mayo Bowl spot opened up when the SEC was unable to fill all seven bowl pool tie-ins. That's because Alabama qualified for the College Football Playoff, Georgia, Missouri and Ole Miss earned New Year's 6 bowl bids and Tennessee was picked to play in the Citrus Bowl.
The Big 12, which has only nine tie-ins this year for its 14 teams, was one of the conferences with bowl-eligible teams available. Therefore, having an East Coast program like West Virginia made perfect sense for the Duke's Mayo Bowl, also previously known as the Continental Tire, Meineke Car Care and Belk bowls.
West Virginia has appeared in some iteration of this game twice in 2002 and 2008, and in both instances, crowds of more than 73,000 attended.
Last year's Duke's Mayo Bowl featuring 23rd-ranked N.C. State and Maryland drew less than 38,000 for its game. Danny Morrison, former president of the Carolina Panthers, has served as executive director of the Charlotte Sports Foundation since 2019 (Charlotte Sports Foundation photo).
"Things worked out beautifully," Morrison said via Zoom conference Tuesday afternoon. "Sometimes you make sausage and hope you have a wonderful outcome, which we did. The fact that the Big 12 had an extra bowl-eligible team certainly worked out in our favor."
West Virginia coach Neal Brown said he first got an inkling that a trade was in the works on Sunday afternoon while watching his son Dax's basketball game. He got a call from West Virginia director of athletics Wren Baker to gauge his thoughts on the potential switch.
"Wren called and said, 'Hey, this is a little bit out in left field but what do you think?'" Brown said. Considering several recent bowl projections had West Virginia slotted to play bowl games against non-Power 5 opponents, Brown was all in on the Duke's Mayo Bowl.
"Really, the whole time we wanted to play a Power 5 opponent in the bowl game," he admitted. "I felt like that was important, and that's really where we centered our discussions."
Morrison credited TV partner ESPN with assisting in the selection process.
"ESPN has always been great about helping in the bowl season, so this just worked out where the Big 12 had an extra team, West Virginia was a perfect fit for us, and we added a quality opponent in North Carolina," he said. "It was one of those days when it seemed to be moving parts throughout the day, and then you get thrilled with the matchup you have at the end."
Morrison listed West Virginia's name brand, extensive bowl history in making its 40th bowl-game appearance this year and strong fan support as the key elements in the decision to pursue the Mountaineers.
"As you work through all the various scenarios, you try and come out with what might make the most sense, and with West Virginia sitting within close proximity to Charlotte … I've always said the best bowl experiences are when fans can drive," Morrison said. "You have more fans, and it makes for a better environment, so geography in this particular case worked in our favor."
The game has sold out only three times in its history and all three instances have involved either West Virginia or North Carolina.
The inaugural game in 2002 featuring Virginia and 15th-ranked West Virginia saw 73,535 spectators attend. Two years later, 73,258 showed up to see North Carolina and 25th-ranked Boston College play and in 2008, a bowl-record 73,712 watched West Virginia rally to defeat North Carolina 31-30.
Judging from what's been sold so far after just three full days of sales, it looks like the upper deck is going to be opened again for this year's game.
"I thought this was a tremendous opportunity because it's a six-hour drive from Morgantown and even closer for people living in southern West Virginia," Brown explained. "I've been to several events in Charlotte, so I know there are a lot of Mountaineers there, and it's an area we recruit.
"It's in our six-hour (recruiting) radius, and I thought if we could play an ACC team it would be a good fit, just because they are usually regional rivals or games our fans would be interested in," Brown added.
Morrison said the Charlotte Sports Foundation is thrilled with the two teams it was able to land this year.
"We think it's one of the best matchups in the bowl season to have West Virginia and North Carolina - two great programs, two wonderful brand names, and we think it's going to be an exciting day here in Charlotte," he said, adding, "Charlotte is a wonderful place to host. Park your car in uptown Charlotte and walk everywhere.
"The restaurants and the nightlife are excellent, so it should be a fun time, and we love welcoming the West Virginia fans to Charlotte."
The game will be played two days after Christmas on Wednesday, Dec. 27, and will kick off at 5:30 p.m. ESPN will televise the game nationally.
Brown loves the fact that the Duke's Mayo Bowl is the only college football game being played during that time window.
"We had a team meeting, and we got a lot of excellent feedback from our guys," Brown said. "Being able to drive was important, and I think our guys are really excited about the matchup. We're ready to get to work."
Mountaineer Athletic Club (MAC) members and non-MAC football season ticket holders can access available tickets by logging into their WVUGAME.com ticket account. Priority customers will be notified via email once the application is available.
Available tickets in the WVU allotment are in the club level and lower-level seating areas. The West Virginia ticket allotment is located in the sections along the South sideline, the Southwest corner and in the West end zone of Bank of America Stadium.
All active Mountaineer Athletic Club (MAC) members and non-MAC football season ticket holders should place their priority orders online by logging into their WVUGAME.com ticket account and following the instructions sent to them via email. All priority ticket orders will be allocated with the best available seating based on MAC annual giving level and priority points.
Requests are not guaranteed, and the Mountaineer Athletic Club and the Mountaineer Ticket Office reserve the right to limit order quantities based upon availability. If tickets are not available in the requested price level, your order will be filled with the next best available price level.
Please note that all tickets will be distributed via mobile delivery.
All general public ticket sales for the 2023 Duke's Mayo Bowl will be available through Ticketmaster. Fans who are not currently MAC members or football season ticket holders are encouraged to purchase tickets by CLICKING HERE.
