It’s been over a month since the No. 23 West Virginia Mountaineers (9-3) last took the field in an actual game. For the past month, the Mountaineers have been practicing religiously in Morgantown and more recently in Miami, home of Wednesday’s Discover Orange Bowl. Going into their last game of the season, West Virginia caught a break after a late fourth quarter fumble by South Florida’s B.J. Daniels to lead to the Mountaineer victory. They then needed Cincinnati to beat UConn that Saturday to create a three-way tie for the Big East Title. Since West Virginia was the highest ranked team of Cincinnati, Louisville and themselves, they were rewarded a spot in the Discover Orange Bowl.
Facing the Mountaineers will be the No. 15 Clemson Tigers (10-3) who earned their spot in the Discover Orange Bowl after defeating Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship game. This will be the Tigers first ever BCS Bowl game appearance while the Mountaineers will be playing in their sixth major bowl game in school history. This will be a rematch of the 1989 Orange Bowl which Clemson won 27-7.
The national championship game features two outstanding teams that have great defenses. While there is no doubt it will be a great game for football fans to watch, the Orange Bowl may be the most exciting bowl game of the year with these two high-flying offenses.
“I’d be surprised if there’s not some points scored in this one,” Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. “I don’t think it’ll be a 6-3 ball game, you know, like maybe some of the other games around. This one should be an exciting game for fans.”
West Virginia finished the season ranked seventh in passing offense (341.8 yards per game), 17th in total offense (459.6 yards per game) and 19th in scoring offense (34.92 points per game). Clemson also has enjoyed a great offensive year finishing ranked 21st in passing offense (282.8 yards per game), 27th in scoring offense (32.62 points per game) and 29th in total offense (440.6 yards per game).
Both offenses are led by their exceptional quarterbacks. Geno Smith for West Virginia has broken the single-season school records for attempts (483), completions (314) and total passing yards (3,978). Smith also has 25 touchdowns to only 7 interceptions on the season. For Clemson, they are led by quarterback Tajh Boyd. Boyd has thrown for 3,578 yards on the season with 31 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
“They’re two tremendous quarterbacks who both have the ability to keep a play alive,” Clemson Coach Dabo Swinney said. “They’re just going to continue to get better because they’re still relatively young.
For the West Virginia defense, practicing against Smith all year has helped them prepare for Boyd.
“They’re agile; both can throw the ball well, so they’re pretty similar actually,” West Virginia defensive end Will Clarke said.
One distinct advantage that the Tigers have over the Mountaineers is the presence of a running game. The Tigers have rushed for 2,026 yards on the season, led by junior Andre Ellington with 1,062 yards and 10 touchdowns. For the Mountaineers, they have 1,413 rushing yards on the season led by freshman Dustin Garrison. The bad news for the Mountaineers and their fans is that Garrison will miss the Orange Bowl due to a sprained ACL in his left knee.
“It’s disappointing to not have Dustin. [The injury was] non-contact. There was no contact what-so-ever and he just planted wrong. It’s just one of those deals that happens. It’s unfortunate, but we have to move on,” West Virginia Coach Dana Holgorsen said.
Along with Garrison, running back Vernard Roberts also won’t take part in the Orange Bowl due to academic ineligibility. Roberts rushed for 140 yards and three touchdowns on the season. Taking the place of Garrison will be junior Shawne Alston and freshman Andrew Buie. Alston and Buie have combined for 466 yards and 11 touchdowns on the season.
“Shawne Alston gives us a lot of maturity as he has all year and Andrew Buie looks as good as he has all year, so between the two, we’ll be o.k.,” Holgorsen said. “We’ll start Shawne, he’s the guy who’s been playing all year and has done a good job for us and Buie’s a guy that played a lot early and just got hurt, and between the two we can do everything that we want to do.”
For the West Virginia defense, the key to stopping the Tigers is to not allow them to rely solely on the big plays according to freshman safety Shaq Petteway. The line will need to contain Boyd and look for Bruce Irvin and Julian Miller to apply the pressure to get to the Clemson quarterback early and often. The biggest challenge in stopping the big plays will be to contain freshman sensation and All-American Sammy Watkins. Watkins earned the first-team All-American nod thanks to his brilliant freshman campaign. Watkins hauled in 77 receptions for 1,153 yards and 11 touchdowns.
“There are numerous things (that make Watkins good). I can’t say just one. If I had to say something, I’d say his speed. His experience has helped him out a lot to, playing in college and being on this higher level, West Virginia defensive back Brodrick Jenkins said of his former high school teammate.”
West Virginia will try to pull out all the stops against the Tigers, something Swinney isn’t worried about.
“It’s not exactly like Georgia Tech, but our coaches and (graduate assistants) take their time and get the game plan right for us so we’ll be ready,” Swinney said. “I fell like the coaches have taken time out and they’ve been game planning since the ACC Championship Game was over. I feel like we will be ready for whatever (West Virginia) brings.”
While the Tigers have their explosive weapons on the outside in Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins, as well as All-American tight end Dwayne Allen, West Virginia will look to showcase some of their own in Stedman Bailey and second-team All-American Tavon Austin. Bailey led the team in yards (1197) and touchdowns (11) and Austin led the team in receptions (89).
The biggest matchup of the day will be seeing how West Virginia’s offensive line holds up against the young, but talented Clemson defense. Over the past two years, Clemson has been a defensive monster sending 12 players to the NFL. Clemson’s defensive line will prove to be a challenge with Andre Branch, Brandon Thompson, Malliciah Goodman and Rennie Moore leading the way. In West Virginia’s last game against South Florida, they featured new right tackle Curtis Feigt and right guard Quinton Spain due to wear and tear on the lineman who started each of the eleven games.
While I do expect a shootout through the air with the talented offenses, I expect this game to be decided with the run. Clemson will be able to keep West Virginia on their toes with their ability to run the ball with Ellington. West Virgnia has struggled against the run all season and is 51st in the country, surrendering 140.8 yards per game. The loss of Garrison will hurt the Mountaineers and while Alston is a good back inside the redzone, I’m just not sure he’ll be good enough to keep the Clemson defense honest. Clemson will win this one in a shootout, 45-35.
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