| Daily Blog • Wednesday, January 4th |
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ORANGE BOWL |
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WEST VIRGINIA (9-3) VS CLEMSON (10-3) |
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Rushing |
Passing |
Points |
TO’s |
ST |
A.O.R |
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| WEST VIRGINIA | 125 | 310 |
34 |
2.5 |
- |
96.0 |
| CLEMSON | 165 |
285 |
36 |
2.1 |
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99.1 |
| One prior meeting, in the ‘89 Gator Bowl (27-7 CU win). This marks the 10th consec bowl gm for WV (1st ever trip to Orange Bowl) and 2nd BCS gm over the L/5Y as they knocked off Okla in the ‘07 Fiesta. WV earned this bid by virtue of a higher BCS ranking as they actually finished in a 3-way tie with Cincy and L’ville for the BE crown. Holgorsen has been part of many postssn gms as an asst but this will be his 1st as HC for WV. This is CU’s 1st appearance in the Orange since their ‘81 Nat’l Champ ssn and CU’s 7th consec bowl (2-4) while Swinney, in his 4th yr, is a finalist for COY. The Tigers rose to 8-0 but lost to GT, which started another “Clemson Collapse” as they lost 3 of the L/4. CU stunned VT 38-10 winning their 1st ACC Title S/‘91 to land here. WV and CU shared 1 common opp TY in MD as both put up wins. WV went 4-2 vs bowl tms TY with 29-28 score and 424-332 yd edges (outgained LSU 533-366, double LSU’s ssn avg all’d). CU has faced 9 bowl tms going 6-3 outscoring those opp’s 30-26 and outgaining them 412-376. WV also fared well in AG’s going 4-1 while CU was 3-3. WV has 7 Sr st’rs among 13 upperclassmen and CU has 9 Sr’s w/17 upperclassmen. WV has been as fortunate as any tm and now matched up vs a battle tested Clemson unit, their weaknesses will get exposed. Clemson has the better offense, better defense, better special tms and has played a tougher sked and the Tigers get my call here. | ||||||
PHIL’S FORECAST: CLEMSON 37 WEST VIRGINIA 30 |
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