Possible Bowl Destinations and Opponents for West Virginia

Later this evening the bowl selection show will take place and the Mountaineers will find out their opponent and destination for the postseason. The Camping World Bowl and Alamo Bowl seem to be the most likely for West Virginia, but the Texas Bowl is also still in play. So, here’s a quick glance at some of the possibilities that might happen for the Mountaineers.

ValeroAlamo Bowl

Washington State (10-2): Leach vs Holgorsen, mentor vs mentee. How can we make this happen? Or better question would be, who wouldn’t want to see this happen? Leach and Holgorsen both pack high flying offenses and intriguing personalities. 

Gardner Minshew and Will Grier are both senior quarterbacks who transferred into their respective programs and have really excelled in their new environments. Personally, this would be my preferred matchup. 

Utah (9-4): The Mountaineers and the Utes have positioned themselves to possibly play in a bowl game against one another for the 2nd consecutive year. It is extremely rare that bowls will select a matchup from the previous year. 

Kyle Whittingham has done a hell of a job this year as the head coach still leading his team to the PAC 12 Championship, despite losing starting quarterback Tyler Huntley and starting running back Zack Moss. The chances of this bowl rematch are slim, but never say never.

Camping World Bowl

NC State (9-3): It seems like ever since the regular season game was canceled between the Mountaineers and he Wolfpack the bowl projectors have wanted this matchup. Not exactly sure why other than they wanted to see what would have happened in this game.

NC State finished with another 9 win season, but with an extremely soft schedule. Six of their nine wins came against James Madison, Georgia State, Marshall, North Carolina, Louisville and East Carolina. They also lost a home game to a very average Wake Forest team. West Virginia and NC State play next year in Morgantown, so either way this game will happen eventually. 

Syracuse (9-3): The surprise team out of the ACC is Dino Babers’ Syracuse Orange. The Orange finished 2nd in the Atlantic division behind Clemson, who they took to the wire.

The last time these two met was in the 2012 New Era Pinstripe Bowl, which Syracuse handedly won. The Orange may not have the flash or thrill of a team that fans want to play in a bowl, but it’s always great getting to play old rivals. 

Texas Bowl

Florida (9-3): Boy oh boy, would this be interesting. Who would have ever guessed that there would be a small chance that Will Grier would get to play against his former team.

A win against a program like Florida in a bowl game would be great for West Virginia and would help build momentum heading into 2019.

Kentucky (9-3): No one expected Kentucky to be a true contender this year in the SEC East, but due to a solid defense and a stout run game led by Benny Snell Jr., they were in the mix.

West Virginia and Kentucky put on a show on the hardwood last year in Morgantown. Is this the first time we will see these two meet on the gridiron since 1983?