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Allison Has Ups And Downs in 1st Mountaineer Start

ORLANDO, Fla. — The last time Jack Allison walked onto the turf at what is now called the Camping World Bowl, it was known as the Russell Athletic Bowl when he was a member of the University of Miami.

However, Allison elected to leave the Hurricanes’ program following their 31-14 victory over a West Virginia team led by Skylar Howard and come to Morgantown. He sat during the 2017 season.

Friday night, Allison returned to the site of that victory, but as the starting signal-caller for the Mountaineers.

The consensus four-star prospect by ESPN, 247Sports, Rivals and Scout found himself elevated to the No. 1 quarterback for the Mountaineers when Will Grier elected to forgo WVU’s postseason bowl to prepare himself for the upcoming NFL draft.

“It took a while (for the game to come back to me),” Allison said.

“I started feeling a little more comfortable in the fourth, but I still made way too many bad reads.”

Allison threw for 277 yards with one interception going 17 of 35 in the process.

He faced a lot of adversity during the game as he took the field without a couple of standout players including wideout Gary Jennings Jr. as well as starting left tackle Yodny Cajuste as they also chose to forgo the bowl game.

Then, junior receiver Marcus Simms was a game time scratch and Martell Pettaway was forced to the sideline in the first half with a shoulder injury after rushing for 61 yards on four carries.

Despite having all of that offensive firepower either at home watching the game with their families on television or sitting on the sideline, No. 16 West Virginia (8-4) found itself still with a chance to win with not one, but two late scoring drives coming up empty.

The first saw Allison hook up with David Sills V on a 48-yarder and a 16-yarder to get the ball to the Syracuse’ 3-yard line with seven minutes left to play.

However, an ill-advised wildcat run by Kennedy McKoy not only lost three yards, but forced WVU into a 4th-and-goal call that saw Allison get the ball out to Trevon Wesco, but was knocked out of bounds at the 3.

On WVU’s final drive, Allison connected with T.J. Simmons for a 16-yard gain and McKoy gave the Mountaineers one last gasp of hope with a 24-yard run to the Syracuse 24.

But four straight Allison passes all fell to the turf incomplete and WVU was doomed to its third straight bowl loss.

“I thought Jack (Allison) played well at times,” WVU coach Dana Holgorsen said. “There were times we didn’t help him out with missed assignments up front and an inconsistent running game.

“The bottom line is we didn’t finish, drives. We had to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns too many times. That is where Jack showed that he has not played enough. We just weren’t very sharp when we needed to be sharp.”

WVU out-gained the Orange, 423-418, and held a 146-115 edge in rushing yards. But Syracuse senior quarterback Eric Dungey proved to be too much for the Mountaineer prevent unit, hooking up on 21 of 30 attempts for 303 yards and one touchdown and two interceptions.

GAME NOTES

∫ Linebacker David Long Jr. finished with a game-high 14 tackles including .5 for a loss. He finished the season with 19 tackles for loss, tied for the most in single-season program history with Johnny Dingle (2007).

∫ Linebacker Shea Campbell added 10 tackles for West Virginia. It was the second time the Morgantown native had recorded double-digit tackles in a game.

∫ Placekicker Evan Staley added his name to the record book at the Camping World Bowl, finishing with four field goals – one going for a bowl record 49 yards.

∫ The loss marked the second straight year that the Mountaineers dropped their last three games of the year.

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