The 2012 New Era Pinstripe Bowl will take place on Saturday and we will see the Syracuse Orangemen take on the West Virginia Mountaineers at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. The game is scheduled for a 3:15 PM (Eastern) start time and it will be televised live on ESPN. Currently the odds for the game have West Virginia favored by 3.5 points, while the total sits at 71.5. Check out Sportsbook Spy to find out what side the Public is taking on all today's games.
Free Analysis: The Mountaineers, under Dana Holgorsen who is now in his second season with the program, are one of the teams that has recently made the move out of the Big East Conference and now participates as a member of the Big 12. Early on this season the team destined for record-breaking greatness as it ran off five straight wins by averaging an astounding 52.0 ppg, but at the same time giving up 35.0 ppg. However after that successful early run the Mountaineers began to show cracks in the armor, putting up only two touchdowns against both Texas Tech and Kansas State in a span of seven days as they were outscored by a margin of 104-28. West Virginia ended up dropping five straight contests, all in conference, before taking out Iowa State and Kansas in order to finish the regular season with a record of 7-5, but just 4-5 in league play. Geno Smith, who was thought to be on his way to a Heisman-type season, has been a numbers machine for the Mountaineers in 2012, at one point throwing for an incredible 687 yards in a single game against Baylor in late September and yet WVU survived by just seven points. Smith, ranked sixth in the country in total offense with 346.6 ypg, owns seven of the program's 11 400-yard passing games in history, including the top five positions. However, Smith could not have gotten the job done without the services of Bailey and Austin who together own the top three receiving games in school history, all this season. In the meeting with Baylor, Bailey stepped up with 13 catches for 303 yards. In that same Baylor battle, Austin caught 14 balls for 215 yards as well. Austin, who also carried the ball 61 times this season for another 598 yards and three TDs, finished with 110 receptions for 1,259 yards and 12 scores through the air, while Bailey turned his 106 grabs into 1,501 yards and a staggering 23 TDs. If you were looking for positives on the defensive side of the ball for the Mountaineers, those are few and far between. The unit ranked 119th in the country in passing yards allowed (327.1 ypg) and 114th in points given up (38.1 ppg).
As for Syracuse, which is slated to make the jump to the ACC in 2013, the team appeared to be headed for a very disappointing campaign as it lost three of the first four games, the lone win in that span being a 28-17 triumph over Stony Brook. The Orange turned it on down the stretch, including a big comeback at South Florida and wins over Louisville and Missouri. Syracuse, which finished tied for first in the Big East this season after tying for last in 2011, averaged only 13 points in three games before beating Connecticut 40-10 to start its run. Quarterback Ryan Nassib has 13 touchdown passes and one interception over the last six games after 11 and eight, respectively, the first six. Ryan Nassib, who holds every single-season and career passing record (except career TD passes) in Syracuse history, including most completions and yards, is now on everyone's radar which will make getting passes to Alec Lemon (70 catches, 1,063 yards, seven TDs) and Marcus Sales (63, 863, eight) slightly more difficult even though WVU is by no means known for its defensive prowess. The Mountaineers will also have to keep tabs on Jerome Smith and Prince-Tyson Gulley coming out of the backfield after the pair combined for close to 1,700 yards and 10 TDs on the ground. In terms of the Syracuse defense, the team ranked first in the conference and 10th nationally in tackles for loss with an average of 7.5 per contest. Taking the lead in that department was Brandon Sharpe who made more than one-third of his 35 total stops in the backfield, accounting for a team-best six sacks along the way as well. Dyshawn Davis was just one-half TFL behind Sharpe as he registered 13 in his 12 appearances.
West Virginia makes its 11th straight bowl appearance, tied for the nation’s eighth-longest streak, and is 14-17 overall. Syracuse is 13-9-1 in bowls, including a 36-34 victory over Kansas State in the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium in 2010.
Free Pick: I will go with the over in this one. With these two high powered offense and extra prep time I have to believe that both teams can score at least 35 points each in this one. The Cuse come in 20th in total offense (473.4 ypg) and they average 29.3 ppg. They are an uptempo team that averages 30 yards passing per game and should have little trouble moving the ball on a West Virginia defense that is 123rd in the nation in pass defense. The Mountaineers on offense have been very good all year ranking 8th in total offense (518.5 ypg), 4th in passing (340.7 ypg) and 7th in scoring (41.6 ppg). They are taking on a decent Cuse defense, but few teams have been able to stop the mountaineers this year and I don’t expect the Orangemen to do it either. Mountaineer games have averaged 79 ppg on the year and I expect at least that much with these two very good offenses on the field.
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