WV and NCSt meet for the 10th time and 3rd time overall in the bowls but this is the first meeting S/'79. Both tms faced Cincinnati and Maryland with WV winning both by an avg score of 34-14 while NCSt was 1-1 losing to MD in the finale, a game they needed to win to earn an ACC Title berth. WV fans are known for travelling well and the Champs Bowl bypassed a chance to get ND to take the Mountaineers TY but they may be regretting that decision now as ticket sales have been very poor.

On the other side the Pack’s #47 offense is led by prolific Jr Wilson, who may be playing in his final gm here (MLB). He enters this gm leading the ACC in pass ypg and ttl off and has put up 12 300 yd pass gms in his career. The #44 D is led by NCSt’s outstanding group of LB’s. Nate Irving, who DNP LY after a horrific car accident, has rebounded to be #2 in the ACC in tfl including setting a schl rec’d with 8 tfl vs WF surpassing #1 DC Mario Williams record of 6 (‘05). The ST’s (#103) seemed to take a hit when PK Czajkowski was declared OFY in early Nov. He came back vs rival UNC and hit a 47 yd FG in the 4 pt gm. The PR unit avg 9.3 ypr but has recorded an outstanding 3 PR TD’s while the Pack gives up 21.9 with 2 TD on KR.

WV’s season has been a little rocky and ultimately disappointing as they narrowly missed out on a BCS Bowl due to B2B losses to Syr and a 16-13 loss in OT to Connecticut. After those 2 losses fans were calling for HC Stewart to be ousted, but the Mountaineers were able to regroup on their bye week and won their L/4 gms. However that was not good enough as they introduced former Ok St OC Dana Holgorsen as their new HC (will take over in 2012) just a few days ago but he was not part of the bowl preparations. QB Smith had great stats overall in his 1st year as a st’r but had some rough outings in the tm’s 2 losses with a 1-3 ratio vs Syr and Conn (WV -6 TO’s in those 2 gms). Star RB Devine was hampered by a foot inj all yr and his production fell drastically (-581 yds) but he managed to play in every gm. WV’s (#4) defense is vastly underrated as they are #2 in the nation in rush D allowing just 85 ypg and have only all’d 3 rush TD’s (#1 in NCAA). WV is #59 in my ST rankings finishing #3 in the BE in net punting (37.4) but having just avg numbers on returns.

West Virginia imploded with a couple poor mid-season performances but since then have demonstrated just how talented they are beating 3 of their L/4 opps by 21+ pts. The D has not all’d any opp to top 21 pts (only team in the NCAA) while the offense has topped 35 in 3 of the L/4 gms. NCSt has trailed at HT in 4 of their L/6 gms and have been fortunate in several of their wins. Offenses are almost even, but a huge defensive edge to WV.

After yrs of being passed over by bowl selection committees the Tigers are thrilled to be facing their border rivals (250 miles apart) for the 1st time in 100 yrs! Early in his tenure Pinkel cancelled a scheduled 4 gm series while he was building his program and there are several coaching ties between the staffs which routinely recruit vs each other. Both tms beat Iowa St TY with Iowa dominating their rivals at home, 35-7 with a 479-275 yd edge while despite being outgained 332-306 Missouri shutout the Cyclones in Ames, 14-0 on 11/20.

After a disappointing ‘09 ssn the Tigers rocketed out to their 1st 7-0 start S/’60 after beating the BCS’s #1 tm OK before B2B losses to Neb and TT. The spread offense (#40) is built around Gabbert who finished as the least efficient of the B12’s bowl bound QB’s. In the B2B upsets of A&M and OU, however, he played his best avg 335 (69%) with a 4-0 ratio. The most underrated aspect of the Tigers is their D which despite massive inj’s led the B12 in scoring D (15.2, #6 NCAA) and sks (38, #6 NCAA). MU is #29 in Special Tems thanks to a strong K combo of K Ressel who has hit 42-45 in the L/2Y and P Grabner whose 38.9 net is #14 NCAA.

After throwing a B10 worst 15 int in ‘09, Stanzi was #11 NCAA pass eff (234, 65%, 25-4). The finale saw the Hawkeyes down to true Fr RB Coker as Robinson missed 2 of the L/4 gms due to concussions and is suspended here. Two All-Conf performers highlight the rec corps in Iowa’s WR McNutt and TE Reisner but UI’s career rec leader J-Koulianos is susp for the bowl (career over) due to an off-field issue. Iowa is tied for the NCAA lead with just 9 TO’s lost. The Hawks had to go much of the season without veteran DC Parker who was hospitalized. Though the #’s were comparable to LY the D amazingly allowed gm winning late 4Q TD drives in all 5 of their losses. The deep DL remained one of the B10’s best led by DE Clayborn whose numbers shrunk from ‘09’s 11.5 sk and 8.5 tfl to 3.5 sk and 3.5 tfl thanks to constant doubles. Ray Guy finalist Donahue finished #16 NCAA in avg (44.6) with a team net of 38.2. KR Johnson-Koulianos led the B10 with a 29.3 avg and will be missed here. The kicking gm was an issue all season as the staff settled on walk-on true Fr Meyer and he hit just 2-3 from 40+ including a costly miss vs OSU.

Iowa was either winning or tied with 5:00 left in their 5 losses this year but was a dropped TD pass from Indiana from finishing with 4 straight losses. Now they must regroup and they’ll use this game as the kickoff towards next season despite all the off-the-field issues the past few weeks. Missouri dropped late season gms on the road to Neb and TT and while they won their L/2, they were vs Iowa St and Kansas and are making a jump in competition here. Ferentz is one of the better bowl coaches and rallies his troops here.