West Virginia football came into the Frisco Bowl on Tuesday needing to end the season on a high note, but the 25th-ranked, 10-win Memphis Tigers had other plans while getting to face a Power 4 school to end their year. Memphis entered likely thinking they may have been snubbed for not getting into the College Football Playoff discussion, and closed the season with a high note despite it in a 42-37 win.
WVU could move the ball down the field on offense, but its secondary needed to be doing them more favors on the defensive side of the ball. At one point, Memphis put together six straight scoring drives, making it a classic Big 12-style shootout that WVU should be used to.
The secondary was torched down the field several times, including on numerous third downs. The Mountaineers played from behind all game without being put into a position to pull ahead, but it was never the offense's fault. Senior quarterback Garrett Greene had one of his best games of the season and possibly his career to end his tenure at WVU. Momentum for the younger players was also on full display with dynamic playmakers such as sophomore wideout Hudson Clement.
Clement had an 11-catch night for 166 yards and 2 scores, positioning himself as a crucial piece of the offense going into next season if he sticks around. WVU outscored Memphis 20-14 in the second half and was driving to try to pull ahead at the end of the game, but an untimely interception from Greene on a forced throw would seal the game for Memphis.
It is definitely a heartbreaking defeat for the WVU seniors, who played their last game in the old gold and blue. But winning the categories of having more passing yards and rushing yards and winning the time of possession battle makes this loss sting a bit more than usual as well. In the end, WVU losing the turnover margin by two was a telltale key to the Memphis victory, as was another poor performance by the secondary.
Now, incoming Head Coach Rich Rodriguez will have look to the transfer portal to try to heal the wound in the WVU secondary. Because if the Frisco Bowl loss showed us anything, there are key offensive weapons ready to come back and slide seamlessly into an explosive, Rodriguez-ran offense. But the defense -- particularly the secondary -- need rebuilt if WVU expects success in 2025.