West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Neil Brown was doused in mayonnaise while celebrating their 30-10 win over the North Carolina Tarheels in the ‘Mayo Bowl’ on Wednesday.
Brown has been the Mountaineers coach since 2019 and led the team to their best record during his tenure after finishing the regular season with a 9-4 record.
Few expected that outcome when the Mountaineers were picked to finish last in the 14-team Big 12.
‘It´s a significant step for us,’ Brown said.
North Carolina came into the game averaging 36.6 points per contest, good enough for 16th in the FBS but were missing star quarterback Drake Maye and top wide receiver Tez Walker, after both opted out of the game to begin preparing for the NFL draft.
West Virginia head coach Neil Brown was dosed in Mayonnaise after winning the Mayo Bowl
Brown led the Mountaineers to a 9-4 record after being projected to finish last in the Big 12
Maye’s absence on the field stood out like a sore thumb for the Tarheels, who saw quarterback Conner Harrell sacked seven times.
Mountaineers QB Garrett Greene threw for 204 yards and a touchdown, Beanie Bishop Jr. returned a punt 78 yards for a score and West Virginia closed a season in which it exceeded expectations with a 30-10 victory over North Carolina on Wednesday night.
Greene, the game’s MVP, said the preseason predictions motivated him and his teammates all season. So much so. that he recently wore a No. 14 Mountaineers jersey to a Charles Wesley Godwin concert while taking the stage briefly to announce the team’s uniform selection for the bowl game.
‘I knew what we had in the locker room,’ Greene said. ‘So when those (predictions) came out it kind of (ticked) everyone off. We knew we were a better team than that.’
As for getting a full bucket of mayo dumped on his head, Brown joked: ‘I would not recommend it to anyone.’
Traylon Ray had a 75-yard touchdown reception on the first play from scrimmage for the Mountaineers, who won their final three games to finish 9-4.
Greene completed 11 of 22 passes and also ran for 75 yards. Jahiem White ran for 50 yards and a touchdown for West Virginia, and Ray finished with three catches for a 91 yards.
Mountaineers QB Garrett Greene threw for 204 yards and a touchdown and was named MVP
Conner Harrell made his first college start for North Carolina, completing 18 of 27 passes for 199 yards, with a 16-yard touchdown to J.J. Jones. Harrell ran for 37 yards, and threw two interceptions – one in the end zone.
For the second straight season the Tar Heels struggled down the stretch, losing five of their final seven games – including the last three – after starting 6-0.
Last year, UNC started 9-1 only to finish with four losses.
‘We have to figure out why we’re not finishing well,’ North Carolina head coach Mack Brown said. ‘We’ve gotten to eight or nine wins and we’ve got to get over that hump to get to more. My job over the next six months is to figure out why are we doing so well early and not doing well late.’
Despite the game being played about a two-hour drive from North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus, it was a predominantly West Virginia crowd.
And the Mountaineers fans watched their team get off to a great start as Greene hooked up with a Ray on a 75-yard bomb on the first play from scrimmage. Greene said that one of two starting plays the team had considered in pre-game planning.
North Carolina star QB Drake Maye opted out of the game after declaring for the NFL Draft
West Virginia, which entered the game fourth in the nation rushing at 234.4 yards per game, couldn’t muster much on offense after that in the first half. But their special teams provided a huge lift as Bishop fielded a punt, make a tackler miss and crossed the field en route to a 78-yard return to help build a 17-10 halftime lead.
Bishop had returned kickoffs before, but never a punt.
‘He outkicked his coverage,’ Bishop said. ‘I made one or two guys miss and off to the races.’
The Mountaineers finally got their running game going in the fourth quarter when Greene broke the pocket for a 48-yard scamper and White scored on an 11-yard burst to extend the lead to 27-10. Michael Hayes made it a 30-10 with eight minutes left on his third field goal of the game.