MORGANTOWN — A season that started with championship aspirations and Heisman hopes ended Friday night in Orlando with a 34-18 loss to former Big East foe Syracuse in the Camping World Bowl.
After a back-and-forth first half, the Orange outscored WVU 17-0 in the fourth quarter to end the Mountaineers’ 2018 campaign with an 8-4 record.
Justin Hough was part of an enthusiastic crowd that took in the contest at The Sports Page, on High Street.
“It’s just very disappointing after a season with so much expectations,” Hough said.
The talk coming into the contest was as much about which Mountaineers would not be on the field as it was how WVU planned to attack Syracuse.
Quarterback Will Grier, receivers Marcus Simms and Gary Jennings and offensive linemen Yodny Cajuste — a significant chunk of the offensive star power — missed the bowl game.
Grier and Cajuste chose to sit out, beginning preparations for the NFL Draft.
Jennings and Simms were both out with injuries.
Sophomore Jack Allison made his first start for WVU in place of former Heisman hopeful Grier. He completed 18 of 36 passes for 279 yards and an interception.
“It was hit and miss,” Hough said of the quarterback play. “He made some bad throws, but at the same time, when you’re playing without four or five starters, that’s going to be a tough game to win.”
The Mountaineers were also without Jake Spavital, their offensive coordinator and play-caller, who was named the head coach at Texas State last month.
Jacob Marino said he thought WVU Coach Dana Holgorsen did a nice job stepping back into the role of play-caller, particularly early in the contest.
“There was a couple plays in the second half that really hurt us,” Marino said. “The play calling, with Holgorsen taking over, I thought he did a good job of mixing things up early on, but it seemed like they got more and more predictable as the game wore on.”
Hough said he thought the outcome boiled down to a simple lack of execution. Overall, he walked away from the game with a lot of questions.
“I’m just not real sure how the future looks,” Hough said. “I didn’t see a standout quarterback today and there’s a little bit of a lackluster recruiting class coming in. I’m not sure whether Holgorsen will call plays again next season. I didn’t really think he did a bad job. It was just a lack of execution.”
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