West Virginia’s 2024 football season will be among the first to end for bowl-bound teams.
The Mountaineers and No. 25 Memphis have accepted an invite to play each other in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl on Tuesday, December 17. The matchup at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas will kickoff at 9 p.m. ET, and be carried live by ESPN.
We’ll take on Memphis on Dec. 17 in Frisco, Texas! ☕️
🔗 https://t.co/tVwSTwBXU4#HailWV pic.twitter.com/OnXEx8jd4Y
— West Virginia Football (@WVUfootball) December 4, 2024
The Frisco Bowl will be the third bowl game played this year and second among FBS schools.
West Virginia (6-6) became bowl eligible November 23 with a 31-21 win against Central Florida. A week later, the Mountaineers suffered their most lopsided loss this season, 52-15, in the regular season finale at Texas Tech.
Neal Brown was fired Sunday after completing his sixth regular season as WVU head coach. Offensive coordinator/running backs coach Chad Scott has since been named interim head coach through the bowl game.
“We’ve indicated that we’d love to play early, because when you have a coaching transition, it gives you the best chance to have full participation and a good showing in the bowl game,” WVU Vice President/Director of Athletics Wren Baker said during a Wednesday morning appearance on MetroNews Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval.
In the Tigers (10-2), WVU will face a team that finished tied for third place in the American Athletic Conference.
Memphis is coached by Ryan Silverfield, who is 41-21 and has helped guide the Tigers to consecutive 10-win seasons.
Silverfield’s first game as Memphis head coach was the 2019 Cotton Bowl — a loss to Penn State. Since then, Silverfield is 3-0 in bowl games, including a 36-26 victory against Iowa State in last year’s Liberty Bowl.
The Tigers won three straight and seven of eight to end the regular season, most recently defeating Tulane 34-24 on Thanksgiving night to shake up the College Football Playoff picture.
Memphis also defeated Florida State in a September non-conference matchup. Its two losses are to Navy back on September 21 and UTSA on November 2. Memphis allowed a combined 100 points in the two setbacks (56 to Navy, 44 to UTSA).
Tigers’ quarterback Seth Henigan is the nation’s 11th-leading passer with 3,208 yards. Henigan has completed better than 64 percent of his passes with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions.
Memphis also has a strong ground game keyed by running back Mario Anderson Jr., the nation’s 13th-leading rusher with 1,292 yards. Anderson has 17 rushing touchdowns on 219 carries.
Memphis has the No. 19 scoring offense at 35.2 points per game.
The Tigers have allowed more than 28 points in one of their 10 wins (a 52-44 victory over North Texas) and are tied for No. 44 nationally in scoring defense surrendering an average of 22.8 points.
This will be the first meeting between the Mountaineers and Memphis as well as West Virginia’s 41st bowl game in program history. The Mountaineers are 17-23 in bowl games, including 3-6 as members of the Big 12 Conference.
This marks the second straight season WVU is in a bowl game with no tie-in to the Big 12.
Memphis will appear in its 17th bowl game and is 8-8 in the previous 16.
Bowl season starts December 14 and ends January 20 with the National Championship.