If you’ve followed North Carolina or West Virginia Football this year, you’d find it very ironic that these two squads are meeting in a bowl game.
North Carolina was a preseason favorite to win the ACC and was considered a dark-horse candidate to make the College Football Playoff. The Tarheels’ had those dreams crushed however when they lost in their sixth game of the season to Virginia. For the rest of the season it sort of felt like North Carolina had one foot out the door as they finished the season 2-4 with wins only over Campbell and a 2OT win against rival Duke.
West Virginia on the other the end of the spectrum started their season as the preseason favorite to finish last in the Big 12. The Mountaineers surprised everyone by going 6-3 in Big 12 play, and even had an outside shot of making the Big 12 Championship game with two weeks go in the regular season.
Perhaps bigger than the actual game is bragging rights for their respective conferences. This is one of three bowl games featuring Big 12 vs ACC schools, with the ACC leading 1-0 with Georgia Tech’s dominant win over UCF. As everyone knows, the ACC is trying to survive, while the Big 12 is trying to elevate themselves to become at least in the same zip code as the SEC/Big 10. A 1-2 or 0-3 record for the Big 12 would be an ugly storyline for them, and something the league desperately wants to avoid.
Players Not Playing in the Bowl Game
Both teams are going to be hit pretty significantly with players opting-out or not playing due to the transfer portal. Maybe someone forgot to mention that only the coach gets mayo dumped on them?
The Mountaineers have over a dozen players who will not be playing in this game however, many of those players were depth pieces which may not have made a huge difference unless injuries start to stack up The two biggest losses were defensive lineman Mike Lockhart and defensive back Hershey McLaurin, both of whom put together nice seasons and were leaders on the defense.
North Carolina has a shopping list long number of players not playing as well, but none of them are as impactful as starting quarterback Drake Maye. Maye entered the season as a Heisman contender, and while his season didn’t pan out exactly has planned, he still was the main reason for their success. Additionally star receiver Tez Walker and starting center Corey Gayner will also not be suiting up. In total, seven regular starters will not be playing.
How to Watch:
Wednesday, December 27th, 5:30 PM ET on ESPN or ESPN+
Prediction for North Carolina vs West Virginia Football
This is a very interesting matchup that if both teams were at regular strength, I’d probably go with North Carolina. But with North Carolina’s late struggles and the amount of opt-outs, this feels very much like the Utah vs Northwestern game where one team was ready to play and other ready for the offseason.
This feels like a pretty easy victory for West Virginia Football as for the most part, their team still seems to be very intact and focused, while the Tarheels are fielding only about two-thirds of their starters.
Final Score: West Virginia 20 North Carolina 17