The West Virginia Mountaineers wrapped up the 2024 college football season in the Frisco Bowl on Tuesday night in Frisco, Texas against the Memphis Tigers. The Mountaineers limped into the game off a 52-15 loss to Texas Tech to end the season, which led to the firing of head coach Neal Brown. Memphis had goals of winning the AAC, but losses to Navy and UTSA meant the Tigers came up short of reaching their conference championship. However, Memphis was still looking to cap off their season with 11 wins.
In a high-scoring affair, it was the Tigers holding on for a 42-37 victory to finish their season 11-2, while West Virginia closes out the season with a 6-7 record. Here are the three biggest takeaways on the game.
West Virginia Fought the Whole Way
Say what you want about this disappointing West Virginia football season, and there’s no doubt it was a disappointment following nine wins in 2023. But this team, despite operating under interim coach Chad Scott, did not quit on Tuesday night.
West Virginia trailed 17-0 on Tuesday night, but never gave up. The Mountaineers cut the lead to 28-14 at halftime. And then in the second half, despite being down 35-17, made it a one-score game late. Early in the fourth quarter, Memphis was up 35-30, and QB Seth Henigan hit Demeer Blankumsee for an 89-yard gain that led to a one-yard touchdown to put Memphis back up by two scores, 42-30. WVU responded with a 12-play, 75-yard run that ended with a CJ Donaldson one-yard score.
Memphis, up 42-37, then took the ball down the field and missed a 50-yard field goal, giving WVU the ball with one minute left and needing a touchdown to win the game. But the game, and season, ended with Garrett Greene getting picked off by Elijah Herring to end the game.
It was valiant effort for the Mountaineers, but Memphis’ efficient offense, especially in the first half, proved too much to overcome.
A Throwback in 2024
All the conversations around college football in recent weeks have been surrounding the transfer portal and who is going where. In an era where players don’t hang around their programs for all that long, Memphis has built a team of players who stuck it out together in recent years. And on Tuesday night, it resulted in quarterback Seth Henigan, a four-year starter for Memphis, tying the American Athletic Conference career record with his 104th touchdown pass.
“It’s meant the world to me, and just to be able to go out with the win, I feel like that’s a good way to cap off a pretty good career,” Henigan said. “And having stayed at the same university four years, I hope that’s a testament to who I am, and about the people around me.”
Henigan spent his entire four-year career with the Tigers, as did one of his favorite wide receiver targets Roc Taylor, who had five catches for 116 yards on Tuesday night. While there were plenty of transfers who helped Memphis win 11 games, it’s nice to see players at this level hang around their program for four seasons and grow as a unit. Henigan led the way on that front for the Tigers.
Onto the Rich Rod Era
It’s always a bit awkward when an interim staff is coaching in a bowl game with a head coach hired and waiting in the wings to take over the program. And that was the case on Tuesday night for the Mountaineers. Heck, Rich Rod was on the TV broadcast on ESPN during the game.
But for WVU fans, Tuesday night puts an unofficial end to the Neal Brown era. There is no doubt a strong group of core players worth keeping for Rodriguez as he rebuilds the program and heads into 2025, but in the transfer portal era, it remains to be seen who Rich Rod wants to keep, but also, who is interested in staying?
There are players like CJ Donaldson, Jahiem White, and Hudson Clement, just to name a few, who are hopefully going to stay in Morgantown, but no down there will be lots of new faces for fans to keep an eye on in 2025.
