Challenging season leads to bowl game reward for West Virginia
This season has been a challenging one for the West Virginia football program for many reasons, but the bid to the Guaranteed Rate Bowl is being considered a reward.
Heading into the bye week at 2-4 a bowl game seemed like a distant possibility but Brown credited his team for rallying not once, but multiple times to close the year on a 4-2 stretch. It certainly wasn’t the result that Brown or anybody in the football program wanted but it was a satisfying close to the year.
“I think if you polled our people and said we’re going to beat Texas, Virginia Tech and Iowa State our initial reaction to our fan base would be we’re going to have a really good year,” Brown said. “And we did win those games, but we faltered in a couple particularly before the bye week where we didn’t play our best football. So it’s been a challenge but proud of the kids for responding.”
The reward for the 6-6 finish is a meeting with Minnesota, an 8-4 football team that finished in third place in the Big 10 West Division. The Gophers feature a stout defense which ranks fourth nationally permitted only 284.8 yards per contest and ninth in scoring defense allowing only 18.25 points.
Meanwhile, the offense has struggled with injuries in the backfield but has proven more than capable being a veteran offensive line as well as a veteran quarterback in Tanner Morgan.
Both teams enter the game winning each of their last two games.
It isn’t an easy draw, but one that Brown is embracing particularly considering the circumstances that led this Mountaineers football team to its second consecutive bowl appearance.
“There were several times people counted us out and we were able to get off the mat and get bowl eligibility,” Brown said.
This will be the first true bowl experience for many players on the roster after not qualifying in 2019 and then last season being treated basically as a road game due to the ongoing pandemic. This will afford the players the opportunity to spend time in Phoenix and partake in all that comes with it.
That means enjoying a favorable climate at the end of December, staying in a world class resort and doing some of the bowl activities that makes the trip memorable. That also means using the practice time in Morgantown productively and allowing the players to have the best possible experience.
“They’re going to spend time with their teammates and do things locally that they haven’t been able to experience,” Brown said.
The game is set for 10:15 p.m. Dec. 28 and will be televised by ESPN.
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