Texas A&M vs. West Virginia: 5 Things You Need to Know For The Liberty Bowl

By Alexander Christian

Texas A&M vs. West Virginia: 5 Things You Need to Know For The Liberty Bowl

Texas A&M, West Virginia — The Liberty Bowl, featuring Texas A&M and West Virginia, has quickly become one of the most intriguing bowl matchups of the season. Points should be flying so fast that the scoreboard operator might fall victim to exhaustion after this one. So what should you know before the teams hit the field?

5. Neither team plays defense

Texas A&M, West Virginia

5. Neither team plays defense

Texas A&M, West Virginia — Texas A&M’s poor defensive campaign resulted in the firing of defensive coordinator Mark Snyder, while West Virginia only has the 61st-ranked scoring defense. If the offenses play to potential, it is quite possible that the scoreboard catches fire.

4. Both teams have top-12 pass offenses

West Virginia, Clint Trickett, Texas A&M

4. Both teams have top-12 pass offenses

West Virginia, Clint Trickett, Texas A&M — The Mountaineers have the ninth-ranked passing attack while the Aggies have the 12th-best passing offense in the land, so this promises to be a battle of air raid offenses. Couple that with the aforementioned defensive struggles, and this game has the potential to outscore any other matchup of the bowl season.

3. Both teams have suffered a three-loss streak during the season

Texas A&M, West Virginia

3. Both teams have suffered a three-loss streak during the season

Texas A&M, West Virginia — West Virginia dropped three in a row to TCU, Texas and K-State, only to rebound against Iowa State in the last week of the year. Texas A&M, on the other, hand fell to Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Alabama consecutively, before rebounding and then finishing the year with losses to Missouri and LSU. A win by either team would be a huge momentum boost going into next season.

2. Coaching connections run deep

Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia

2. Coaching connections run deep

Dana Holgorsen, West Virginia — Coaching ties abound as WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen was Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin’s offensive coordinator for two years at Houston, and A&M offensive coordinator Jake Spavital worked under Holgorsen for four years. Holgorsen and Spavital have exchanged Twitter salvos that border on comical, and it should be fun to watch the student and the teacher battle it out in a war of high-powered offenses.

1. This is the first meeting between the two schools

West Virginia, Texas A&M

1. This is the first meeting between the two schools

West Virginia, Texas A&M — The Aggies and Mountaineers have never faced each other on the field as the two just missed being conference opponents, but the first meeting certainly appears to be a good one. If the matchup lives up to expectations, this should be one of the best games of the bowl season. The only real question is if the scoreboard will break before it ends.

Teams in this article »

West Virginia Mountaineers

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Texas A&M Aggies

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