Camping World Stadium will host their second bowl game of the bowl season on Wednesday for the 26th annual Russell Athletic Bowl, which pits an ACC member and a Big 12 member against either other.
This year’s bowl pits the Miami (FL) Hurricanes (8-4, 5-3 ACC) against the 16th ranked West Virginia Mountaineers (10-2, 7-2 Big 12). This will be the Hurricanes’ fifth appearance and first since 2013 – the Mountaineers fourth and first since 2010. West Virginia will be searching for their first win in the bowl game all-time.
2016 has been a season for Miami that they wished to have after bringing in Head Coach Mark Richt from Georgia last December in their 8-4 record. It was hard down the stretch for them when they dropped four straight in October. Even so, they were in three out of those four until the end. They’ve hit their stride at the right time grabbing their last four en route to Wednesday’s game.
The road for the ‘Canes has been a little bit difficult, and it continued with the news that seven players didn’t make the 200 mile trip up to Orlando. The University of Miami cited it as “failing to meet the standards set by the program.
Luckily for Richt, those players had either hadn’t been used at all, or they were utilized sparingly throughout the regular season. “It’s more so me sending a message to guys just saying, ‘Tighten up. Do things right,’” Richt said. “It’s a message to them and to the other guys that we’re going to do things right around here. It’ll be a one-game deal.”
West Virginia’s only losses came against Oklahoma State and seventh ranked Oklahoma, which dropped them to second in the Big 12, just shy of a potential Sugar Bowl appearance. Known for their quick passing offense, QB Skylar Howard has already surpassed his passing totals from last years at 3,194 and 26 touchdown – good for fourth in program history in both respects. He’s also thrown four less interceptions than he did in 2015.
“He been really consistent. Through the ups and downs, preseason and obviously had a good run and had some bad things happen to us, overall, he stayed the course. He’s a leader and cares about the football team. He really cares about winning. It really bothers him when he doesn’t play well. He makes adjustments and moves on to the next thing. He’s matured and I think obviously has had his best year,” West Virginia Offensive Coordinator Joe Wickline said on Sunday.
There’s a lot on the line for Howard in this final game, in addition to it being the final game of his season, it’s the final game for him as a Mountaineer, but most importantly, it’s a chance for West Virginia to have an 11-win season for the first time since 2007. “It feels bittersweet. It feels like this is the end but then again I am just ready to enjoy it with these guys one last time,” Howard said.
His opposite, Brad Kaaya holds the record for most passing yards in Hurricane history with 9,686. He needs 314 in order to break the 10,000 yard threshold. Kaaya’s 65 career touchdown passes puts him third all-time in Miami history. Containing him will be a key for West Virginia.
“He is a good top quarterback, one of the best in the nation. We are going to have to put a lot of pressure on him. He doesn’t like to get out of the pocket so we are going to have to make it as uncomfortable as possible,” said fifth year senior DL Noble Nwachukwu, who has four sacks on the season and was selected to the Second Team All-Big 12.