NEW YORK —
Jeff Braun wasn’t looking for excuses following West Virginia University’s 38-14 loss in the Pinstripe Bowl Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
He moved from guard to center because Joe Madsen, the veteran starter, was academically ineligible.
WVU’s offense was held to 285 total yards in a steady rain and snow that made the field conditions poor. The Mountaineers had only 88 rushing yards on 37 tries.
Syracuse, though, moved that ball well and netted 369 of its 511 total yards on the ground.
“It seemed like we would hit big plays and then we would have a negative thing happen afterward, whether it be a penalty or a sack or a tackle for a loss,” Braun said. “We can’t have that. Obviously, we need to execute a lot better than what we did.”
It was WVU’s third straight loss to Syracuse, and the Mountaineers have lost six of eight after a 5-0 start to finish 7-6.
“They did everything to a ‘T,’” Braun said. “Odd front. Three down. They blitzed. The one thing that was a little different from last year (a 49-23 Orange win in Syracuse) is I think they tried to disguise it a little bit better. Last year they came out and showed you. This year they knew we were trying to check away, check to run, so they tried to disguise it a little bit.”
WVU senior Tavon Austin, so explosive throughout the season, ran 12 times for 54 yards and caught two passes for 21 yards.
“They had our number for two years,” Austin said. “They had a good defensive plan over there. They blitzed a lot. Their front four did a good job. There were times we were that close from busting it. It just didn’t happen today.”
Wide receiver Stedman Bailey was far and away WVU’s offensive leader with seven catches for 126 yards and two touchdowns, a tackle-breaking 32-yard reception from Geno Smith in the second quarter and a 29-yard pass from Smith in the third.
Were the Mountaineers flat?
“I’m not sure what other guys had going on, if they were in the game or whatever the case may be,” Bailey said. “We just didn’t do a good job of responding.”
Bailey, with a year of eligibility remaining, has made the decision to move on to the National Football League.
“It’s tough,” he said. “We lost the game. That’s not the way we seniors wanted to go out. Life goes on. We just have to live with it.
“A lot of guys are sad, especially the seniors. That’s not the way we wanted to go out. It’s our last game wearing the gold and blue. We wanted to go out and get a win, end everything on a good note. We didn’t.”
WVU, in addition to its defensive woes, was 0-for-11 on third down and 0-for-3 on fourth.
The Mountaineers were also penalized 10 times for 106 yards and lost a touchdown because of a holding penalty.
“It didn’t look very good,” WVU coach Dana Holgorsen said. “The team with the best running game is going to win, and they clearly had the better running game.”
Email Cliff Nichols at cnichols@timeswv.com.
WVU Sports
Braun, WVU not making excuses
- WVU Sports
-
-
FURFARI COLUMN- Huggins says transfers not isolated case
Coach Bob Huggins will tell you that losing four players to transfer mode from his West Virginia University men’s basketball squad was not an unusual or isolated case.
-
HERTZEL COLUMN: Independent study of WVU finances needed
It is time someone gets to the bottom of what is going on financially within West Virginia University and its athletic department.
-
HERTZEL COLUMN: The gamble of leaving college early
One of the first lessons they try to get across to a student-athlete when he comes to school is the evils of gambling.
In truth, college sports still echo with the basketball point-fixing scandal from 60 years ago and a few others that have surfaced over the years, both on a professional and collegiate level. -
FURFARI COLUMN: Compton fifth of WVU’s 11 consensus All-Americans
Mike Compton, who was the fifth in West Virginia University’s line of 11 consensus All-America football players, starred on the teams of 1989-90-91-92.
A 6-foot-7, 280-to-295-pound center, he not only excelled on the offensive line, but he was a team captain as a senior. -
HERTZEL COLUMN: WVU has its academic ship on course
In the real world the initials APR stand for annual percentage rate, a term with which everyone who has a car loan or home mortgage is quite familiar, but in the world of college athletics it is a term that has a somewhat a different meaning.
-
Kendrick donates to tornado relief in name of WVU baseball
Arizona Diamondbacks Managing General Partner Ken Kendrick has made a donation of $200,000 to the Mountaineer Athletic Club in the name of the West Virginia University baseball program to the Oklahoma City tornado relief effort.
-
FURFARI COLUMN: Mon County prosecutor says FOIA handling OK
It wasn’t until about a week ago that I found for certain who is responsible to make sure that the Freedom of Information of Act law is enforced in West Virginia.
You may remember that in February 2013, The Dominion Post of Morgantown filed a grand total of 33 FOIA requests against West Virginia University. -
FURFARI COLUMN- Guidi was all-time great wrestler, coach
Lewis Guidi, who unexpectedly died last week in Jefferson (Va.) Hospital at the age of 78, was one of the greatest wrestlers in West Virginia’s athletic history.
-
HERTZEL COLUMN- MLB can wait for Musgrave
It had been quite a couple of weeks for Harrison Musgrave, his head still spinning like the tornadoes that had roared through Oklahoma when his West Virginia University baseball team was there to compete in the Big 12 Tournament.
-
Five WVU baseball players chosen in draft
Four current members and one future member of the West Virginia University baseball team were chosen on the final day of the 2013 Major League Baseball first-year player draft.
- More WVU Sports Headlines
-
FURFARI COLUMN- Huggins says transfers not isolated case
