ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando’s Camping World Bowl is the site of the 61st meeting between West Virginia and Syracuse, and it promises to be the warmest venue at which the two foes have played. The series was contested every year from 1955-2012, and for many of those early years it was a rivalry on par with those against Pitt and Penn State.
Like any rivalry, it was bred from familiarity. Ben Schwartzwalder, Syracuse’s coach from 1949-73, was a WVU graduate who played for the Mountaineers from 1930-32. WVU coach Don Nehlen (1979-2000) and Syracuse coach Dick MacPherson (1981-90) were longtime friends who had worked together at Cincinnati.