USATSI
To the victor go the spills. In what is quickly becoming one of bowl season’s most entertaining traditions, West Virginia coach Neal Brown was bathed in mayo following his team’s 30-10 win against North Carolina in Wednesday’s Duke’s Mayo Bowl at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. Brown is the third coach to receive the honor, following South Carolina’s Shane Beamer and Maryland’s Mike Locksley.
Bowl organizers instituted the mayo bath in 2021, though the first Duke’s Mayo Bowl was played in 2020 with Paul Chryst’s Wisconsin squad picking up a win against Wake Forest. West Virginia is actually the first Big 12 program to both play in and win the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in its current iteration.
As the final score may indicate, Wednesday’s result was rarely in question. The Mountaineers jumped out to a 14-3 lead late in the second quarter and the two teams traded a pair of scores in the final minute to give West Virginia a 17-10 lead at halftime. It dominated from there, holding the Tar Heels scoreless over the final 30 minutes while gradually padding its own lead. WVU’s defense completely took over in the second half, holding North Carolina to just 131 total yards.
This is West Virginia’s first bowl victory since 2020 and its first 9-win season since 2016 when Dana Holgorsen was the coach. This is also the first time that Brown has led the Mountaineers to more than six wins since he took the job in 2019.
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