Syracuse football will be renewing an old rivalry when they play West Virginia in the Camping World Bowl, but what do the Mountaineers bring to the table?
The Syracuse football squad is in the Camping World Bowl and will play old Big East Rival West Virginia on Friday December 28th at 5:15 p.m. in Orlando.
While we have some time to kill before the game kicks off, let’s give you the ultimate Camping World Bowl bible for this game. Here’s everything you need to know about West Virginia from the players, coaches, and analysts leading into this huge game.
"Eric Dungey on West Virginia:I watched their game against Oklahoma and obviously they’re one of the most prolific offenses in the country. So they’re going to put up points and our job is to do the same. I’ve got a lot of faith in our defense though. We’ve had a lot of young guys coming up throughout the season.Dino Babers initial thoughts on West Virginia:Obviously they’re the old Texas Tech branch of offense. They play good defense, if I’m not mistake it’s a 3-3 stack defense they play. Which is a pretty unique defense, I’d imagine that isn’t played all across the country. They have receivers that can make plays allover the place. I’d imagine a defensive contest."
Very heavy sarcasm there from the Syracuse head coach. A defensive contest is something that will likely not be a huge factor in this game.
A big reason there’s so much interest in this game is because of the storied rivalry between Syracuse and West Virginia. While senior quarterback Eric Dungey is unsure of whether Syracuse once played in the Big East, the rest of the fanbase remembers.
I spoke with West Virginia Insider Keenan Cummings on ‘Drive Time Sports’ recently and he gave some good information on this rivalry and what it still means:
"“There has to be some bad blood there from the old rivalry. There’s people who fondly remember this series. We have a message board on our website and people keep bringing up Marvin Graves and old war stories. Anytime you’re able to play a game like this against a rival is a good thing. There’s not as many of these games as there probably should be in college football nowadays. I think fans will be fired up for it and they’ll have something to talk about on gameday.”"
Another big factor in the game is arguably who is not suiting up, several key players are out due to injury and some for personal reasons, (per sports reference):
- Mike O’Laughlin, tight end
- Suffered a season ending torn ACL.
- Jake Long, cornerback
- Long suffered a dislocated wrist, he’s been ruled out.
- Dillon Spalding, wide receiver
- Severe ankle injury out for season.
- Charlie Benton, linebacker
- Sidelined with a serious knee injury, he’s been ruled out.
- Will Grier, quarterback
- Grier will focus on 2019 NFL Draft preparations he has pulled himself out.
- Yodny Cajuste, offensive line
- Cajuste will focus on 2019 NFL Draft preparations he has pulled himself out.
- Dylan Tonkery, safety/linebacker
- Has missed the last four games due to a neck injury, his status is very much in the air for the bowl game. Officially questionable.
- Derrek Pitts, safety/cornerback
- Battling a knee injury, status unclear for Camping World Bowl. Status is questionable.
Keenan Cummings of WVSportsDotCom spoke about how big the loss was of Yodny Cajuste and Will Grier:
"On Yodny Cajuste:“It’s a big loss for West Virginia. Cajuste has been a three year starter and really came into his own this season. He was actually a basketball player in high school that developed into this kind of offensive tackle. Yodny will be taken at the end of the first or second round in the 2019 NFL Draft. He’s graded out as the best of West Virginia’s offensive linemen. The good news, if there is any, they’ve dealt with this before. Cajuste got knocked out of Texas game and his backup played very well. So they have options at other spots and can play some musical chairs and move guys around.”On if he was surprised Will Grier isn’t playing:“I wasn’t surprised that this came to fruition. I think that is kind of today’s culture. I think we’re going to continue to see more and more of this (players skipping bowl games). I think after talking to Will after that Oklahoma game, he didn’t say that he wasn’t playing but he said that he hadn’t really thought about it which seemingly opened up the possibility.”On who will be replacing Will Grier in the bowl game:“Jack Allison. He has very limited experience, maybe he’s had 45 snaps this year in garbage time. He saw his most action against Baylor this year, that was a game West Virginia dominated. Jack is a big tall kid with a really strong arm, arm strength is not a problem here. Accuracy was kind of an issue when he first got here though. He transferred over from Miami, actually was a highly recruited prospect. So what will the offense look like? Your guess is as good as mine. It’ll be interesting to see how West Virginia does things. Do they run the same offense they did with Grier? Do they try and run the football more? How much freedom do they give Jack? Because West Virginia’s offense is predicated on the quarterback controlling things. Grier was a master at that, so it’ll be interesting to see how that dynamic changes.”"This obviously changes the entire dynamic of the game. Will Grier was one of the best quarterbacks in all of college football in 2018. From the preseason accolades to finishing fourth in the Heisman voting, Grier is a stud.
He will not be playing in this game which has Syracuse fans split on how they should be feeling. On one hand this would’ve been a hell of a quarterback duel between Grier and Eric Dungey. On the other hand Syracuse’s 10th win is suddenly imminently more winnable and that’s great news for the Orange.
We mentioned earlier how defense won’t play a role in this game, that’s not entirely true. One of the big x-factors in this game will be the dynamic Syracuse defensive line consisting of Kendall Coleman, Alton Robinson, and Chris Slayton.
With West Virginia’s best offensive lineman out in Yodny Cajuste, can Syracuse take advantage and put some serious pressure on the inexperienced Jack Allison to make some mistakes? That will be a key in this game.
When I first saw this matchup before knowing anyone would be out for this game, I seriously thought whoever had the ball last may win this game. Now knowing Grier is out, Dungey has a huge opportunity to increase his NFL Draft stock and deliver Syracuse their 10th win of the season for the first time since 2001.