“It’s fun to win. It’s fun to celebrate.” That was Miami head football coach MARK RICHT after his Canes defeated West Virginia in the 2016 Russell Athletic Bowl. Miami used a suffocating defense to hold the Mountaineers to just 14 points. The Canes held West Virginia to a season-low 229 yards of total offense. Prior to the Russell Athletic Bowl the Mountaineers lowest offensive output of the year was 383 yards against Texas. Miami swarmed to the football and nearly dissolved the rushing attack of WVA. The Mountaineers averaged just 2.4 yards per rush on their 39 attempts.

Miami finished the game with 4 sacks and 9 tackles for loss. Senior Corn Elder led the team with seven total tackles (six solo) had this to say about the transformation of the Miami defense, “Coach Diaz came in and did a great job. You know, he was very aggressive. Everybody bought in. I think that was the biggest thing. Everybody bought in. Us as seniors, you know, the secondary, we had to be leaders and just — we came in and started three freshman linebacker. That’s very difficult to do and I think the defensive played very well throughout the whole season and definitely tonight.” – Corn Elder

Miami’s victory over West Virginia in the Russell Athletic Bowl hands the Hurricanes their first bowl win since the 2006 MPC Computers Bowl. “I’ve heard the term meaningless bowl games. I mean, it just makes me mad when I hear that because I know how much it meant to us. And if you’re in that locker room, you would have seen it. If you were in that practice every day, you would have seen it, and just really proud of our guys for just busting their tails for us and trusting us” stated Richt.

Quarterback Brad Kaaya was named the 2016 Russell Athletic Bowl Most Valuable Player. Kaaya opened the game 5-of-13 for 29 yards. finished the first half by going 9-of-9 for 157 yards and three touchdowns. Ended the game 24-of-34 for 282 yards and four touchdown passes. Kaaya’s four touchdown passes tied Craig Erickson’s bowl record, which he set back in the 1991 Cotton Bowl. The 2nd quarter adjustments were huge for Miami on offense. QB BRAD KAAYA had this to say “We caught our bearings a little bit, saw some of the looks in person. For the last few weeks, we had to try to simulate that in practice, but once we got out there, I had to gauge how the receivers were going to take their angles in certain routes. They were playing hard inside leverage on a few routes. The way that we worked them in practice, it wasn’t as easy in the game and we just had to make adjustments. I brought a few balls down. Coach told me to just put it on the guy. There are plays to be made in the first quarter and we ended up recuperating and making up for some of those missed opportunities in the second quarter and the second half.”

West Virginia wasn’t outmatched or outmanned. Simply outplayed. After going up 7 points with 5:40 seconds left in the first period. WVU did not score again until 7:50 remaining in the 3 quarter. Miami scored 28 points in that time range. QB Skyler Howard finished the game 17/36 for 134 yards passing and led the team in rushing with 63 yards on 23 attempts and 1 rushing TD. “We got beat by a good football team. I’m not going to allow it to be negative. I mean, look our guys — Tyler said it just a minute ago. There’s 21 seniors in there that their legacy is, is this was the best football team that West Virginia has had in the five years they have been in the big twelve. Lot to be proud of. Ten wins. Doesn’t happen very often. It’s rare. We’re disappointed that we didn’t get to 11. Our fan base is disappointed. Our coaches are disappointed. Our players are disappointed, but we’re going to hang our heads high and understand that we had a fantastic football season.” – DANA HOLGORSEN, WVA head football coach

Miami’s matchup with West Virginia marked the 20th all-time meeting between the two teams. Miami leads the all-time series by a 17-3 count. Miami posted its seventh straight win over West Virginia. The Hurricanes’ last loss to WVU came back in 1997. Camping World Stadium official attendance for the Russell Athletic Bowl: 48625.