West Virginia University’s football team got early word Wednesday of its bowl destination — which is good, considering it’s one of the earliest games of the bowl season.
WVU will take on No. 25 Memphis in the Frisco Bowl, to kick off at 9 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17 at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. It is the third bowl game on the 2024-25 schedule. The Celebration Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Salute to Veterans Bowl in Montgomery, Alabama, both will be held Dec. 14.
“We are excited to have two outstanding teams participate in the 2024 Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl, the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Memphis Tigers,” Frisco Bowl Executive Director Sean Johnson said. “We look forward to hosting this great matchup and welcoming the teams and their passionate fan bases to Frisco, Texas, for an exciting week of bowl events and a fantastic game at Toyota Stadium.”
The Mountaineers (6-6) will enter the game with an interim head coach, offensive coordinator Chad Scott. Former head coach Neal Brown was fired Sunday following WVU’s 52-15 loss at Texas Tech and a search currently is on to find his successor. The Tigers (10-2) will finish with their second straight season with at least 10 wins after knocking off nationally ranked Tulane in their regular-season finale.
West Virginia University athletic director Wren Baker said Tuesday he had hoped that WVU would be able to play a game earlier in the bowl season to have more assurance that current players would participate. After Brown’s firing, a 30-day transfer period opened for Mountaineer players.
“We’re hoping we can play in an earlier bowl game, because I think our kids are pretty excited to stay together and play in a bowl game,” Baker said. “Obviously, if it’s a late game, that portal becomes a bigger factor. Now, once you’re in, you’re in, but if you can play a game before that thing closes, you got a better chance to have better participation in the bowl game.”
A key member of West Virginia’s defense already has announced his entrance into the portal. Linebacker Josiah Trotter, son of former Pro Bowl linebacker Jeremiah Trotter and the team’s second-leading tackler with 92 stops, told ESPN on Wednesday he was entering the transfer portal. Backup corner T.J. Crandall also announced his entrance into the portal.
Those moves cut into an already struggling Mountaineer defense. WVU was especially susceptible to the pass, finishing near the bottom of the Football Bowl Subdivision in several statistical categories.
That’s not a good thing with Memphis on the other side of the field. The Tigers feature quarterback Seth Henigan, the American Athletic Conference’s career leader with 13,972 passing yards. He also holds the records for most wins under center in Memphis history and is among only three active FBS quarterbacks who have thrown for at least 100 touchdowns in their careers. The others are Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel and Washington’s Will Rogers.
In WVU’s favor is a lineup laden with seniors who want that one final opportunity to play with their teammates. Among those is senior tackle Wyatt Milum, an Outland Trophy semifinalist. He said before WVU’s regular-season finale against Texas Tech that it was his intention to play in the team’s bowl game.
— Story by Derek Redd
