In the 133-year history of West Virginia University football, the Mountaineers have rarely had a game with more unique circumstances than Tuesday’s 9 p.m. Frisco Bowl against 25th-ranked Memphis, which will air live on ESPN.
One day after a 37-point loss at Texas Tech in the November 30 regular season finale, WVU fired former head coach Neal Brown. The following day, the Mountaineers named running backs coach/offensive coordinator Chad Scott interim head coach through the bowl game.
As is common practice in today’s college football landscape, several players have entered the NCAA Transfer Portal since the coaching change, though outside of linebacker and second-leading tackler Josiah Trotter, none to this point were significant contributors throughout 2024.
Then, not quite a full week ago, WVU announced the return of Rich Rodriguez as head coach. Rodriguez has since been introduced to that position, though he will not start his second stint with the Mountaineers coaching against Memphis.
“It would mean the world and more so for these players,” Scott said of the potential to end the season with a victory and winning record. “I can’t speak enough about you see all these guys going in the portal, and you see the limited number of guys we have in the portal. The culture and energy of these guys, winning is the most important thing. Even to see the attitude shift from when they were initially supposed to be off the entire week [after the Texas Tech loss], until us finding out who we were going to play and to start practicing that Thursday with all the guys showing up on time and 100 percent attendance was phenomenal.”
The Mountaineers (6-6) are 17-23 in bowl games and have never faced Memphis (10-2), which earned a bowl bid for the 11th straight season — the longest streak nationally among non-Power Conference programs and seventh longest streak overall.
Tigers’ head coach Ryan Silverfield began his tenure with the interim label in the 2019 Cotton Bowl and has since led the program for five consecutive years, with 41 victories against 20 losses over that time. Memphis has 10-plus wins in consecutive seasons and a victory against the Mountaineers would mark the second straight year the Tigers culminate their campaign with a victory over Big 12 competition after they defeated Iowa State in last year’s Liberty Bowl.
Silverfield is 3-1 in bowl games with three straight victories. The Tigers’ 2021 matchup against Hawaii in the Hawaii Bowl was canceled when the Rainbow Warriors pulled out of the matchup in part due to COVID concerns.
“These guys have meant the world to me. All these guy knows at the end of a season is hoisting a trophy,” Silverfield said of the program’s successful senior class. “That’s a remarkable thing. It’s been phenomenal. Such a special group. I wake up every day with the best job in the world.”
Headlining the group of standout seniors are a trio of offensive standouts in quarterback Seth Henigan, tailback Mario Anderson Jr. and wide receiver Roc Taylor.
Henigan and Taylor have helped elevate the program over four years at Memphis. Henigan is Memphis’ all-time leader in passing yardage, completions and touchdowns as well as the American Athletic Conference’s career leader in passing yardage. The only four-year starting quarterback at a FBS program to start all four seasons at the same school, Henigan has completed 291-of-451 passes for 3,208 yards with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions in his final go-around at this level.
Taylor is Henigan’s favorite target and leads the Tigers with 61 receptions for 834 yards.
Anderson Jr. played four years at Division II Newberry College, last season at South Carolina (where he rushed for 707 yards) and is concluding his college career at Memphis. Entering the matchup with the Mountaineers, Anderson Jr. is the 14th leading rusher in college football with 1,292 yards on 219 carries. His 17 rushing touchdowns are tied for 10th nationally.
“They’re very similar to us in a sense where we run a spread offense and a lot of misdirection,” Scott said. “They run a spread offense with a lot of misdirection and they have a bunch of explosive athletes at receiver, a great running back and a great quarterback.”
Memphis’ much-improved defense utilizes a 3-3-5 alignment, one that’s given West Virginia trouble at times this season. Tigers’ linebacker Chandler Martin leads the team with 94 tackles, seven sacks, 15 tackles for loss and four fumble recoveries. Martin also has 10 quarterback hurries, one fumble forced and an interception.
By forcing 24 turnovers and committing only eight for the season, the Tigers rank as the No. 2 team nationally in turnover margin at plus 1.33 per game.
West Virginia, by comparison is 103rd nationally in that category, having turned it over 17 times and forced only 11.
Still, Silverfield believes his team faces a challenge in trying to end the year ranked and it starts with limiting WVU on the ground and being able to protect Henigan and create running room for Anderson Jr.
While no Mountaineer has been as productive as Anderson Jr. this season, WVU tailback Jahiem White has a team-high 817 rushing yards, while fellow running back CJ Donaldson (651 yards) and quarterback Garrett Greene (656 yards) also heavily factor into the ground game.
“They always pride themselves starting in the trenches,” Silverfield said. “Their defensive line is probably the best we’ve seen all season. They’re fast, they get off, they’re big and tough. Then they pride themselves on the offensive line. It starts with their left tackle [Wyatt milum], who will be a first-round draft pick. They have mostly guys that have played a lot of football and are four-year starters on their offensive line. They take a lot of pride in what they do up front as well. They’re tremendous in the trenches.
“Don’t get me wrong — they have skilled athletes everywhere. On offense, they want to run the ball. They have a quarterback with over 600 rushing yards and two running backs with over 600 rushing yards. West Virginia prides themselves on we’re going to be better than you at offensive line and try to run the ball down your throat and on the defensive line, they’re very talented.”
Greene, who will play his final college game, has struggled passing this season, completing 160-of-275 attempts for 1,972 yards. He has 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.
“Thankfully for us, we’ve played three other 3-3-5 defenses this year, so there are some similarities with that,” Greene said. “But the thing that they do best is they play really hard. Top to bottom, if you look at the d-line to their safeties, they fly around and play really hard. The way their defense is structured kind of gives us some hell a little bit with run fits. We have to be ready for that.”
Safety Anthony Wilson leads WVU with 95 tackles, while defensive end TJ Jackson is tops in sacks (6.5) and TFLs (13.5) in his first and only year in Morgantown after transferring from Troy.
“He’s a force to be reckoned with and certainly one of the best pass rushers we’ve seen in a long time,” Silverfield said.
As a result of the uncertainty surrounding the WVU coaching staff, Silverfield believes his team needs to be mindful of anything and everything.
“They have an interim head coach, and in bowl games you always expect the unexpected,” Silverfield said. “Unique things are always going to occur during bowl games. A lot of these coaches may not have jobs when they land back in Morgantown. So what are we going to see from them? Is it going to be a bunch of trick plays, surprise onside kicks, fake punts? We have to be prepared for all those things. We don’t want to go chasing ghosts, but we have to be ready and mindful and have great communication and eyes for all 60 minutes.”