2018 Camping World Bowl Big 12 v ACC
The 2018 Camping World Bowl should have been one of the highlights of the season but with so many players missing from both sides it has lost a bit of its shine. The main absentee is Record-breaking quarterback Will Grier who has been a huge part of making West Virginia one of the most potent offences this year. They ranked 7th overall and 3rd in passing – however, to be fair they were in a Big 12 which seemed to regard defence as an option this year. If that wasn’t enough to upset the offensive apple cart then losing one of your best WR in Gary Jennings who had 13 TDs probably will.
So this means they may need their defence – which was absent without leave for much of the season to step up. Although it was ranked 74th overall they were pretty poor against the pass, which should allow Syracuse to score some points. They were markedly better (by comparison) against the run and this might just give them the stops they need.
Wins and losses are somewhat less relevant when your star players are stepping out, however, this is a team game and they only lost their last two games by a combined 7 points. The problem is both were high scoring shootouts, hence the need for their run defence to step up.
Syracuse is the surprise team of the year – we like anyone who is not a die-hard Orange fan thought they would be closer to the bottom than the top of their ACC division, and bowl eligibility was by no means certain. Fast forward 12 games and they are ranked 20 and they are ranked 20 by the CFP and their only losses were to Pittsburgh, Clemson & Notre Dame the latter two being in the playoffs.
However like WVU, they are missing key players – this time on defence. Star defensive end Alton Robinson and defensive tackle McKinley Williams are not playing, which is a big blow and to make things worse against a pass-heavy team talented if injury prone defensive back Antwan Cordy is also missing. Their defence was not great to start with and now – well even without Will Grier we fancy WVU to score some points.
This is a hard one to call with so many starters out but overall the absentees just about cancel each other out. Thus we will have to go against the betting (Syracuse are 3 point favourites) and side with West Virginia. They have played a slightly better (if a game shorter) schedule, still have plenty of talent on offence and have a better defence. They also scored more points on average, conceded less and have the edge yardage wise too.
This should be high scoring and the over at 67.5 points should be beaten.
Our prediction is for West Virginia to win 45-38
For those who like to keep track of these things, we are 9-10 so far in our predictions – not too good after starting out 6-1.
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