The Orange scored first, after West Virginia’s first drive resulted in a three and out. Ryan Nassib led the Orange on a 14 play 84 yard clock consuming drive which resulted in a 3 yard touchdown to a wide open Nick Provo in the back of the endzone. Syracuse moved the drive with a balanced power running and short passing attack. The drive’s key play came on an acrobatic catch from Alec Lemon who tipped the ball to himself along the sideline to break up a sure fire Mountaineer interception. If the Orange are going to upset the Mountaineers, they’ll need to get some lucky bounces along the way, and that catch was one of them.
The Mountaineers answered with a 27 yard Tyler Bitancurt field goal after their second drive stalled in the red zone. Geno Smith was 3 for 6 passing on the drive, missing two fades to opposite sides of the endzone along the way. The bulk of the Mountaineers gains on some shifty running courtesy of Tavon Austin and Dustin Garrison.