COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Breaking Down the Russell Athletic Bowl: Part Two

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.

West Virginia is fired up for a chance to have its first 11-win season since 2007.
West Virginia is fired up for a chance to have its first 11-win season since 2007. Photo courtesy of West Virginia Football.

Miami’s last appearance in the Russell Athletic Bowl was a 36-9 loss to Teddy Bridgewater’s Louisville Cardinals. West Virginia’s was a 23-7 loss against Russell Wilson’s NC State Wildcats. Both are now NFL starting quarterbacks for Minnesota and Seattle, respectively. Kaaya could eventually be that, as he’s projected to be a second to third round pick by CBS Sports.

Kaaya’s goal will be staying away from Mountaineer CB Rasul Douglas, who is tied for the most interceptions in the country with eight on the year. “They are kind of like BYU, who we played at the beginning of the season. I would compare them because they have a good (running) back and good outside receivers. They are a balanced team. We haven’t really played teams with tight ends, so it will be different so everything will still be the same for what we are going to do,” Douglas said.

Those tight ends that Douglas are referring to are Christopher Herndon IV, who has 296 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns on the season, and David Njoku, who has the third most receiving yards on the team with 654 and seven touchdown receptions. Their contributions could be big for Miami, especially down the stretch if West Virginia starts to get sluggish.

The Mountaineers just got past BYU in the early goings of the year, but not before the Cougars racked up 521 total yards of offense against the West Virginia defense. Their defense is ranked 79th in the FBS, giving up an average of 431.2 yards per game. Miami’s offense has the same number of yards on offense per game, ranking them at 52nd. It’ll take a couple of defensive lapses and the Hurricanes or the Mountaineers may find themselves on the bad end of the stick.

This will be the 19th overall meeting between West Virginia and Miami, as the squads would play every year when the Hurricanes were a member of the Big East in the 90s and early 2000s. Miami leads the overall series 16-3, and they’ve won the last six matchups, dating back to 1998.

If the trend continues, West Virginia could fall to 0-4 in the Russell Athletic Bowl.

Miami CB Corn Elder has been seen by many as an NFL prospect to watch on the outside, and he could be the thorn in Howard’s side all afternoon. The All-ACC defensive back finished with 69 tackles (49 solo), three sacks and an interception on the year. He’s broken up 12 passes on the year and been influential on many others. He’s started every game for the Hurricanes in 2016. Elder is intent on helping the Hurricanes win their first bowl game since 2006.

“You always want to hold up the legacy of ‘The U.’ That’s why we all came here – because of the tradition of ‘The U.’ For us to have the opportunity to change something like that, it’s definitely something we want to do,” Elder said.

Tickets are still available here. The 2016 Russell Athletic Bowl will kickoff at 5:30 p.m. from Camping World Stadium in Orlando and will be televised on ESPN.