More WVU Bowl Projections: Another Intriguing Possibility & Repeat Matchup for Neal Brown

With the regular season about to end, the only thing left for WVU fans to look forward to with this current team is a bowl game. West Virginia locked up being bowl eligible with their 31-21 win over UCF in their home finale on Saturday.

After already looking at a possible interesting matchup with Florida earlier in the week, there are a couple more projections – another intriguing one and one that’s been a constant throughout the season – to take note of.

WVU Football Receives Most Intriguing Possible Bowl Matchup Yet

As he has in recent weeks, Brett McMurphy of the Action Network is projecting the Mountaineers face Army in their 2024 bowl games. McMurphy current has West Virginia meeting Army in the Independence Bowl.

While it may be cool to see WVU against a school like Army that’s unlikely to ever appear on a regular season schedule in a bowl game, this would be a repeat matchup of the 2021 Liberty Bowl and Neal Brown already has a bowl win over the Black Knights on his resume.

Army is 9-1 after suffering their first loss of the season at the hands of Notre Dame last week.

But in addition to seeing Army as a projection again, ESPN is offering a matchup more on par with CBS Sports’ Florida option. ESPN has West Virginia meeting former Big 12 foe Oklahoma in the Armed Forces Bowl.

Even though the Sooners have been enduring a tough season in their debut year in the SEC, a bowl game might be the only opportunity to ever see WVU and Oklahoma play each other again. There’s also obvious bowl history between the two schools, with the Mountaineers beating the Sooners 48-28 in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl to cap off their memorable 2007 season.

WVSN photo by Kelsie LeRose

How WVU Football Compares to Big 12, All of CFB in Bowl Game Appearances

West Virginia will be making the program’s 41st bowl game appearance to cap off the 2024 season. This is tied for second most all-time among current Big 12 teams with BYU and behind only Texas Tech (this year will be their 42nd), ironically WVU’s upcoming opponent in the regular season finale.

Expanding it out even further to include all of college football, West Virginia is also tied with BYU for 24th all-time in bowl game appearances. However, if BYU makes the College Football Playoff and wins its first game, they will then move ahead with another game to play in.

For a related story, WVU quarterback Garrett Greene reflected on his career as a Mountaineer.