West Virginia vs. North Carolina

                                                                                         

Mountaineers -1 1/2 vs. Tar Heels

North Carolina is beautiful this time of year, but Miami after New Years is even better. While both West Virginia and North Carolina can celebrate solid seasons by playing each other in the Meineke Bowl on December 27, they both know it could have been so much more.

Both teams went 2-2 in their last four contests which prevented them from residing at the top of their conferences, where they both sat before the final stretch of the season. If they would have held on, the teams would have met in the Orange Bowl.

For West Virginia (8-4), the losses were particularly tough. After winning five straight from September 27-November 1, the Mountaineers losses and wins to their conference foes the final four games of the year. They lost a second straight year to their rivals from Pittsburgh and also dropped a contest to Rutgers. Both of those losses were by a combined seven points.

Nonetheless the Mountaineers had a solid season in a transition year which saw Bill Stewart replace Rich Rodriguez as head coach. Stewart, a native of West Virginia, was named interim head coach when Rodriguez left for Ann Arbor prior to last season's Fiesta Bowl. Stewart led his team to a 48-28 upset of Oklahoma, a participant in this year's national championship game. One day after the victory, Stewart lost the "interim" tag in his title.

North Carolina (8-4) was 7-2 after nine games and they were not defeating patsies by any means, having posted victories over Connecticut, Boston College and Georgia Tech, all Top 25 teams. Each of those games, they won by 22.6 points. After their .500 stretch run, which included a final game victory over archrival Duke, the Tar Heels tied Miami for third in the Coastal Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference. Still it was quite a turnaround for Butch Davis' team, who finished 4-8 a season ago.

These teams have met only once, in the 1997 Gator Bowl, with North Carolina winning 20-13 to finish their season 11-1 under then head coach Mack Brown.

This will be North Carolina's 26th bowl game, but first since the 2004 Continental Tire Bowl. The Tar Heels will be looking for their first victory since they beat Auburn in the 2001 Peach Bowl. They have a 12-13 bowl record. West Virginia is 12-15 in their previous bowl games and have won three straight.

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