WVU faces Memphis in the Frisco Bowl

West Virginia’s 2024 football season will be one of the first to end for bowl-bound teams.

The Mountaineers and No. 25 Memphians have accepted an invitation to compete in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl on Tuesday, December 17th. The match at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas begins at 9:00 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live on ESPN.

🔜 @FriscoBowlGame

We face Memphis on December 17th in Frisco, Texas! ☕️

🔗 https://t.co/tVwSTwBXU4#HailWV pic.twitter.com/OnXEx8jd4Y

— West Virginia Football (@WVUfootball) December 4, 2024

The Frisco Bowl will be the third bowl game this year and second among FBS schools.

West Virginia (6-6) became bowl eligible with a 31-21 win over Central Florida on Nov. 23. A week later, the Mountaineers suffered their worst loss of the season, 52-15, in the regular season finale at Texas Tech.

Neal Brown was fired Sunday after completing his sixth regular season as WVU head coach. Offensive coordinator/running backs coach Chad Scott, meanwhile, was named interim head coach during the bowl game.

“We indicated that we would like to play early because when you have a coaching change, you have the best chance of competing fully and having a good performance in the bowl game,” WVU vice president/director of athletics Wren told Baker during one Wednesday morning appearance on MetroNews Talkline with Hoppy Kercheval.

With the Tigers (10-2), WVU faces a team that was tied for third place in the American Athletic Conference.

Memphis is coached by Ryan Silverfield, who is 41-21 and has helped lead the Tigers to 10 consecutive wins this season.

Silverfield’s first game as Memphis’ head coach was the 2019 Cotton Bowl – a loss for Penn State. Since then, Silverfield has a 3-0 record in bowl games, including a 36-26 win over Iowa State in last year’s Liberty Bowl.

The Tigers won three straight and seven of eight games to close out the regular season. Most recently, they defeated Tulane 34-24 on Thanksgiving evening to make a splash in the College Football Playoff.

Memphis also defeated Florida State in a non-conference matchup in September. The two losses came on September 21st against Navy and November 2nd against UTSA. Memphis allowed a combined 100 points in the two setbacks (56 vs. Navy, 44 vs. UTSA).

Tigers quarterback Seth Henigan is the 11th-leading passer in the country with 3,208 yards. Henigan has completed more than 64 percent of his passes with 23 touchdowns and six interceptions.

Memphis also features a strong ground game, anchored by running back Mario Anderson Jr., the country’s 13th-leading rusher with 1,292 yards. Anderson has 17 rushing touchdowns on 219 carries.

Memphis has the No. 19 offense at 35.2 points per game.

The Tigers have allowed more than 28 points in one of their 10 wins (a 52-44 win over North Texas) and rank 44th nationally in scoring defense with an average of 22.8 points.

This will be the first meeting between the Mountaineers and Memphis and West Virginia’s 41st bowl game in program history. The Mountaineers have a 17-23 record in bowl games, including 3-6 as members of the Big 12 Conference.

This is the second straight season WVU will play in a non-Big 12 bowl game.

Memphis is appearing in its 17th bowl game and is 8-8 in its last 16 games.

Bowl season begins December 14th and ends January 20th with the National Championship.