The West Virginia football team fell short in the Frisco Bowl against Memphis 42-37.
The Mountaineers finished 6-7 on the season, and WVSports.com looks back at what unfolded in our weekly feature The Day After.
HOT:
Garrett Greene. It wasn't perfect, but Greene played outstanding in his final game in a West Virginia uniform outside the final two plays of the game. Greene threw for a season high 328 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for 95 more and score. He helped to engineer six straight scoring drives for the Mountaineers and had them in position to win the football game on the final drive. Greene left it all out there.
Hudson Clement. After never having more than seven catches in a game, Clement turned in 11 grabs for 166 yards and 2 touchdowns as the focal point of the passing game. The West Virginia native had one drop that he would like back but delivered for a wide receiver room that has dealt with plenty of attrition and inconsistency.
CJ Donaldson. After starting the game with two fumbles, one of those lost, Donaldson had to take over in the backfield after the injury to Jahiem White and rushed for 83 yards and 2 touchdowns along with 11 receiving yards.
NOT:
Time management. West Virginia allowed almost three minutes to tick off the clock in their final touchdown once they were able to get inside the 15 yard line. The Mountaineers then didn't elect to use a timeout on the other side of the two minute warning losing valuable time on that side as well. Those decisions proved rather costly as Memphis would run out all of the clock but 51 seconds and leave the Mountaineers without any timeouts to try to attempt the comeback which ultimately failed.
The last sequence. West Virginia played hard and that much is a certainty. There is nothing to hang your hat about there, but the slide short of the sticks, the scramble to get back to the line and then the interception to seal things ended the comeback.
The defense. West Virginia simply couldn't get enough stops in this game. The Mountaineers forced only a pair of punts and surrendered 42 points in the process. The Tigers were able to convert on several big chunk plays both through the air and the ground. Memphis finished the game with 8.5 yards per play and were able to routinely hit the Mountaineers for chunks in the air and on the ground. The unit did record two stops in the second half but the early struggles helped to make the climb much harder.
DEFINING MOMENTS:
1st and 10 from WVU 25. On the first play from scrimmage, Donaldson ran the football for a few yards, but a hit knocked the ball loose but fortunately for the Mountaineers they were able to recover it.
3rd and 9 from UM 49. After a first down, West Virginia was able to force the Tigers into a third and long situation and Trey Lathan was able to make the tackle short of the sticks and force a punt.
3rd and 4 from WVU 27. Memphis took a short field and on third down Henigan faked the handoff, and the Mountaineers lost the edge which set the Tigers up at the West Virginia four. They would score the next play.
2nd and 4 from WVU 42. After dodging a bullet on the first series, Donaldson coughed the ball up yet again and this time Memphis was able to recover it and force a turnover.
3rd and 7 from WVU 38. The Tigers once again dumped the ball off to their running back, but no defender was in the area and was able to pick up 20 yards for a first down inside the red zone. The Mountaineers would be able to get off the field, but the Tigers would tack on a field goal to take a 10-0 lead.
4th and 1 from WVU 46. After being stopped short on third and one, West Virginia rolled the dice and elected to go for it and Greene’s pass attempt to Kole Taylor fell incomplete to turn the ball over on downs. Memphis would score a 46-yard touchdown on the next snap from scrimmage to go up 17-0.
2nd and 6 from WVU 33. West Virginia’s offense would wake up and move into Memphis territory for the first time. On second down, Greene uncorked a throw down the right sideline where Hudson Clement would make an impressive catch to put the Mountaineers on the board 17-7.
3rd and 9 from UM 38. West Virginia forced the Tigers into a third and long situation on the next drive, but the defense gave up a 24-yard catch to quell the momentum. The Tigers would get another field goal to take a 20-7 lead by the end of the drive.
2nd and 10 from WVU 44. The Mountaineers were looking to match the Tigers points, and on the next drive quickly moved the ball close to midfield and Greene took off on a broken play and raced for a 56-yard touchdown to make the score 20-14 with 1:42 left in the half.
3rd and 6 from UM 29. Again, on third down, West Virginia had a chance to get a stop, but the Mountaineers gave up a 40-yard pass play down the field and tacked on a 15-yard penalty for roughing the passer. The Tigers would score another touchdown and add a two point conversion to make it 28-14.
4th and 4 from UM 28. The Mountaineers moved the football yet again, but clock management forced the offense to waste some valuable time and settle for a field goal with a timeout still in their pocket to cut the lead down to 28-17 at halftime.
1st and 10 from UM 25. On the first play on the second half, Memphis went deep once again and connected on 48-yard pass to Taylor to set them up deep in West Virginia territory. That would lead to another Memphis touchdown to put the Tigers ahead 35-17.
1st and goal from UM 10. After moving the football down the field, Greene fired the ball into Clement for his second touchdown of the game to make the score 35-23 with 7:15 left after the extra point was bobbled.
3rd and 2 from UM 45. After six straight scoring drives allowed, the West Virginia defense was able to send Ben Cutter on a blitz to force an incompletion and get the football back to the offense.
4th and 5 from WVU 39. West Virginia rolled the dice deep in their own end and completed an eight yard pass to Clement to keep the drive rolling. After another 37-yard pick up on a third down, the Mountaineers moved the ball down to the one yard line.
4th and goal from UM 1. After moving the ball 89-yards, West Virginia lined up to go for it on fourth down and Donaldson was able to get into the end zone to cut the lead to the score to 35-30.
1st and 10 from UM 10. After a penalty on the kickoff, Memphis completed an 89-yard pass to get them down to the one yard line on a busted play and the Tigers would score on the next play to retake a 42-30 lead.
2nd and goal from UM 1. The Mountaineers again moved down the field and scored on their sixth straight possession on a one yard run by Donaldson with not one, but two impressive efforts to get the ball across the goal line to make the score 42-37 with 4:17 left.
4th and 2 from WVU 31. Memphis was able to run out the clock down to 56 seconds and lined up for a field goal, but the ball sailed wide right and gave the football back to the Mountaineers with 51 seconds left.
3rd and 1 from UM 37. After moving the ball down the field Greene slid short of a first down, the Mountaineers hurried to the line of scrimmage and Greene threw an interception. The ball was hit free, but replay determined that it was in the process of the slide which ended the game.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS:
-8 - West Virginia turnover margin this season after two more in the Frisco Bowl.
0 - Wins over teams with a winning record this season.
1 - Passes completed by West Virginia to a wide receiver that traveled over 20 yards.
4 - Total punts in the game, two for each team.
6 - Consecutive scoring drives by West Virginia before the game ending interception.
8.5 - Yards per play by Memphis.
11 - Career high catches by Hudson Clement who turned that into 166 yards and 2 scores.
14 - Second half points by the West Virginia defense after allowing 28 in the first half.
17-24 - West Virginia's record in bowl games.
18 - First downs by Memphis out of a total of 56 plays.
33:40 - Time of possession for West Virginia.
51 - Seconds remaining when West Virginia got the football back trailing 42-37.
56 - Longest rushing touchdown for a West Virginia quarterback since Pat White.
180 - Rushing yards allowed by West Virginia. The Mountaineers had allowed at least 176 in each of their final four games.
328 - Passing yards by Garrett Greene the nose this season.
534 - Offensive yards by West Virginia in the losing effort.
GAME BALL:
Garrett Greene. Yes, there were some plays that Greene would like to have back but he played very well in his last in a West Virginia uniform. The senior had made things happen with both his arm and his legs and had the program in position to complete the comeback before the final sequence of events.
BIGGEST QUESTION/CONCERN MOVING FORWARD:
What's next? We know that the Neal Brown era is over and the Rich Rodriguez second act at West Virginia will now officially begin. That much is certain. But the next couple of days and weeks will start the process of just how much change that the program will be going through in terms of bringing in a new coaching staff as well as what current players elect to leave the program and which ones decided to join it.
That brings excitement of course after the record over the past six seasons, but also some questions as to what this roster is going to look like next season. This will start to clear up sooner than later but it's the start of something new for the Mountaineers.
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