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ORLANDO, Fla. -- Despite all the talk regarding players sitting out and getting ready for the NFL Draft, No. 16 West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen and No. 20 Syracuse's Dino Babers are focused on the players that will be suiting up in today's Camping World Bowl.
"We're going to try to win," Holgorsen explained during Thursday's press briefing "You line up. You try to win. I mean, this whole blitzing thing, I thought we agreed not to blitz. Syracuse blitzes like 80 percent of the time and they're probably going to blitz every play. I thought we made a deal last night."
Or did they?
"Was that a deal?" Syracuse head coach Dino Babers countered.
The gamesmanship, however, did not end there between the two opposing coaches.
"We're obviously going to try to win," Holgorsen said. "I was a part of this game for like two years, OK? So, my first year, when I was head coach at West Virginia, I think you were at Baylor at the time."
To which Babers replied, "I was at Baylor."
"We lost in the Dome," Holgorsen said. "It was a tough matchup. Coach (Doug) Marrone obviously did a great job at Syracuse, and then the next year, our first year in the Big 12, we played Syracuse in New York up in the Pinstripe Bowl, so I've been a part of it for my first two years at West Virginia.
"It's a heated rivalry. Fan bases both enjoy it. And our guys understand that. And we're going to try to win the game. That trophy right here is there for a reason. So, our guys are well aware of that. We're going to try to do our best to be able to win."
Despite being new to the rivalry, Babers understands its importance.
"It's an old rivalry," he said. "A lot of alumni have called and talked about the pleasure of playing West Virginia. I have not had the pleasure of playing it as the head coach of Syracuse, of being a member of Syracuse, but I can read, and I do understand the history, and we have enough trophies and windows and things around our offices to remind us of the rivalry of West Virginia.
"When it comes down to that trophy right there, I like playing for a trophy. I like that there's something to win and that everybody doesn't get one. There's, not two trophies, right? There's just one. We can handle that, right? So, whoever wins gets the trophy, and I think that's really cool. That's old school and that's what I enjoy."
But, while today's 5:15 p.m. kickoff on ESPN might be the 61st meeting between the two former Big East members, the outcome may rest more on the players not in uniform than those not dressed.
"That's another deal that me and Dino made when this game came about," Holgorsen said with a laugh. "We had a couple guys out, so he tried to even it out with a couple of defensive guys that aren't going to play. It looks to me it's an evenly matched game. We both have pretty much the same record. We got a couple of offensive guys out. He's got a couple of defensive guys out. So, we'll line up and see what happens."
Holgorsen, who also lost offensive coordinator Jake Spavital to the head coaching job at Texas State following the Mountaineers' 59-56 loss to No. 4 Oklahoma, will be without the services of All-Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year Yodny Cajuste, quarterback Will Grier and one of the team's top pass catchers in Gary Jennings Jr.
WVU will replace Cajuste with redshirt junior Kelby Wickline at left tackle, Alabama transfer T.J. Simmons in place of Jennings at wideout and University of Miami transfer Jack Allison in place of Grier.
"I was, it was 11 reps," Babers explained when asked about WVU's offense with Allison at quarterback. "Eleven reps.
"You know, you just have to -- to me, this is more like a first game than a bowl game, the way our defense is breaking it down. You play a team coming out of camp, you really don't know what they're going to do. And, I think it's the advantage for West Virginia. I really do. Defensive coordinators are weird, and they freak out about everything. I'm like, hey, going to have to adjust. There's times on offense where you come out and they're playing a new front you've never seen or a coverage they never had. You've got to adjust to it."
The team that adjusts the best will be the team hoisting the trophy at the game's end.