West Virginia Camping World Bowl Quick Predictions
0 Comments Published on 12.28.2018 by Brian Harrison
Syracuse and old rival West Virginia meet again.
Syracuse, after by all accounts having an unbelievable, miracle season, heads to Orlando and the Camping World Bowl to face West Virginia, a team that came up just short in heading to the Big XII title game. Syracuse itself came up a couple 4th quarter leads from only losing to Notre Dame. Now Syracuse has a chance to win ten games for the first time in a season since 2001, my freshman year.
Syracuse has had an outstanding year in terms of results. And while the offense has been great for most of the season, the defense stepped up in several key moments of the season, and Special Teams (with Lou Groza Award winner Andrew Szmyt) somehow kept Syracuse in a lot of games. West Virginia had a great year, only also losing three games. But here is the thing. West Virginia won't have starting QB Will Grier at the helm of their offense. And the backup doesn't have Gary Jennings to throw to either. So the top two offensive players for West Virginia is out. That's not to say Syracuse isn't down a couple defensive players either, but that at least should help the Syracuse defense limit what West Virginia is able to do. Two things will make the difference today. Will Dungey be the Dungey we know he can be, and make play after play, and can Syracuse win the turnover battle for one more game? If Syracuse is able to move the ball with Dungey and get out to a big of an early lead, I think this game will be over in the first half. Not only that, but scoring off turnovers will prevent West Virginia from getting back in the game. West Virginia will have success if they are able to get to Dungey and sack him or even knock him out of the game like Notre Dame earlier this year. Syracuse will need to protect Dungey at all cost. But like I said, if Syracuse is able to get turnovers, and Dungey is going to do what he does, Syracuse should be able to get a nice early lead against a QB (whichever one it is) from West Virginia playing a total of 11 actual snaps all season. This is a rivalry Bowl Game, and Syracuse has a little history, winning the last two games against West Virginia, including the Pinstripe Bowl in 2012. With the starting QB out, I'm taking Syracuse 41 to 31.
This game is available on ESPN / WatchESPN at 5:15pm. John is reporting live from the Bowl. I'll be in the Command Center. It's not that often we see ten win seasons, but we may have one on our hands here. Enjoy it if it happens. And know, no one is laughing at Syracuse Football anymore.
Labels: Bowl Games, Bowling, Football, Preview
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