MORGANTOWN - As recently as two months ago - and certainly before the season began - a potential invitation to the Champs Sports Bowl at season's end would have been looked upon as a disappointment for West Virginia's football team.
MORGANTOWN - As recently as two months ago - and certainly before the season began - a potential invitation to the Champs Sports Bowl at season's end would have been looked upon as a disappointment for West Virginia's football team.
The hopes and expectations were much higher.
But on Sunday that's exactly the postseason ticket that was punched for the Mountaineers. And coach Bill Stewart put the best face possible on it.
"We're absolutely thrilled and excited to be a participant and we're looking forward to it,'' Stewart said Sunday night when the matchup was announced. "I think the people of West Virginia, as well as this football team, are excited about the opportunity.''
The No. 22 Mountaineers (9-3), foiled originally by their own mistakes earlier this season and finally by Connecticut on Saturday night, have been given the Big East's consolation prize. They will face unranked North Carolina State (8-4) in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla., which this season replaces the Gator Bowl as the Big East's top non-BCS destination.
The official announcement came Sunday evening following the announcement of the BCS selections. The Champs Sports Bowl had also considered inviting 7-5 Notre Dame instead of a Big East team - which the bowl can do once in the four-year contract beginning with this year's game - but instead opted for a ranked WVU team. Notre Dame was then chosen by the Sun Bowl to face Miami (Fla.).
"We just felt like a ranked West Virginia team that's 9-3 deserved to be here,'' said Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan, who said he had a long-range view of the agreement of Notre Dame. "Between a 7-5 Notre Dame team and a 9-3 ranked team, West Virginia deserved to be here.''
N.C. State was the bowl's choice with the No. 3 pick from the ACC. The teams that played in Saturday's ACC title game, Virginia Tech and Florida State, are ticketed for the Orange and Chick-fil-A bowls, respectively. So the Champs Sports Bowl's choice essentially came down to Maryland or N.C. State, both 8-4. Although the Terps beat the Wolfpack two weeks ago, a Maryland-WVU game would have been an unappealing regular-season rematch.
The Champs Sports Bowl is Dec. 28 at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium. Kickoff is 6:30 p.m., the game will be televised by ESPN, and is one of only two games that day. The other is the Insight Bowl later that night.
MORGANTOWN - As recently as two months ago - and certainly before the season began - a potential invitation to the Champs Sports Bowl at season's end would have been looked upon as a disappointment for West Virginia's football team.
The hopes and expectations were much higher.
But on Sunday that's exactly the postseason ticket that was punched for the Mountaineers. And coach Bill Stewart put the best face possible on it.
"We're absolutely thrilled and excited to be a participant and we're looking forward to it,'' Stewart said Sunday night when the matchup was announced. "I think the people of West Virginia, as well as this football team, are excited about the opportunity.''
The No. 22 Mountaineers (9-3), foiled originally by their own mistakes earlier this season and finally by Connecticut on Saturday night, have been given the Big East's consolation prize. They will face unranked North Carolina State (8-4) in the Champs Sports Bowl in Orlando, Fla., which this season replaces the Gator Bowl as the Big East's top non-BCS destination.
The official announcement came Sunday evening following the announcement of the BCS selections. The Champs Sports Bowl had also considered inviting 7-5 Notre Dame instead of a Big East team - which the bowl can do once in the four-year contract beginning with this year's game - but instead opted for a ranked WVU team. Notre Dame was then chosen by the Sun Bowl to face Miami (Fla.).
"We just felt like a ranked West Virginia team that's 9-3 deserved to be here,'' said Florida Citrus Sports CEO Steve Hogan, who said he had a long-range view of the agreement of Notre Dame. "Between a 7-5 Notre Dame team and a 9-3 ranked team, West Virginia deserved to be here.''
N.C. State was the bowl's choice with the No. 3 pick from the ACC. The teams that played in Saturday's ACC title game, Virginia Tech and Florida State, are ticketed for the Orange and Chick-fil-A bowls, respectively. So the Champs Sports Bowl's choice essentially came down to Maryland or N.C. State, both 8-4. Although the Terps beat the Wolfpack two weeks ago, a Maryland-WVU game would have been an unappealing regular-season rematch.
The Champs Sports Bowl is Dec. 28 at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium. Kickoff is 6:30 p.m., the game will be televised by ESPN, and is one of only two games that day. The other is the Insight Bowl later that night.
As late as Saturday night, West Virginia still seemed to have a chance to play in a BCS game. But when Connecticut got a 52-yard field goal from Dave Teggart in the final seconds to beat South Florida in Tampa, Fla., it gave the Huskies a share of the Big East championship along with WVU and Pitt.
The Huskies earned the league's automatic berth in the BCS because they beat both West Virginia and Pitt during the season.
The loss by West Virginia to the Huskies was particularly painful. The Mountaineers had the ball first-and-goal at the 1-yard line in overtime before fumbling and allowing UConn to kick the winning field goal. It was one of seven fumbles that night for WVU, which lost four of them.
A week earlier, the Mountaineers were intercepted three times in a 19-14 loss to Syracuse. Prior to those two turnover-fueled upsets, West Virginia was 5-1, ranked No. 20 and seemed in perfect position to win the Big East by merely meeting expectations.
Stewart said Sunday that he didn't expect to have any trouble getting his players up for a lesser bowl than the BCS. In fact, he said just the opposite.
"First of all, I see no disappointment whatsoever. I've already received some calls from my players and they're excited,'' Stewart said. "We are Big East champs, we are very proud of our 9-3 record, we're very much proud of the resolve our seniors and this football team have shown the last four weeks.''
This will be the third game between the teams in a bowl. The first two were Peach Bowls in Atlanta - a 49-13 Wolfpack rout in 1972 and a 13-10 WVU win in 1975.
The teams have played nine times total dating back to 1914. West Virginia leads the series 5-4. The last two meetings were Wolfpack wins in a home-and-home series in 1978 and 1979. Current WVU athletic director Oliver Luck was the starting quarterback on that 1979 team.
Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
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