College Football
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Syracuse 38, West Virginia 14
When: 3:15 PM ET, Saturday, December 29, 2012
Where: New Yankee Stadium, New York, New York
Temperature: 34°
Head Official: Jay Stricherz
Attendance: 39098

Syracuse 38, West Virginia 14: Prince-Tyson Gulley rushed for a career-high 215 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the Orange dominated the Mountaineers on the ground to win the Pinstripe Bowl in the sleet and snow at Yankee Stadium in New York.

Ryan Nassib also threw for 127 yards and a pair of scores, including a 10-yard swing pass to Gulley that gave Syracuse (8-5) a commanding 33-14 lead with 2:52 left in the third quarter. The Orange, who recorded two safeties on defense, totaled 376 yards rushing including 158 from Jerome Smith.

Syracuse, which has won six of its last seven games, beat West Virginia’s prolific quarterback Geno Smith for the third time in three seasons. Smith threw for 187 yards and a pair of touchdowns, both to Stedman Bailey, but could not pull the Mountaineers closer than 12 points after the Orange scored the first two touchdowns of the second half.

Nassib connected with tight end Beckett Wales for a 10-yard touchdown on Syracuse’s first drive of the third quarter for a 19-7 lead. After West Virginia (7-6) had a touchdown called back by a penalty and the teams traded turnovers, Gulley broke free for a 67-yard touchdown gallop with 6:52 left in the third quarter.

Smith, who came in averaging 333.7 yards passing, was held to 19 in the first 24:01 of the game. Gulley’s 33-yard touchdown run, the first of two Ross Krautman’s field goals and a safety helped the Orange take a 12-7 halftime lead.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Syracuse also beat Kansas State in the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl in 2010, getting 239 yards and three touchdown passes from Nassib. The Orange are 14-9-1 all time in bowl games. … Smith finished with 98 career touchdown passes for the Mountaineers. … West Virginia, which fell to 14-18 in bowl games, had 10 penalties for 104 yards. The Mountaineers were 0-of-12 on third and fourth down combined.
Top Game Performances
Rushing
West Virginia   Syracuse
Tavon Austin Player Prince-Tyson Gulley
12 Attempts 26
54 Yards 213
4.5 Avg Yards 8.2
0 Touchdowns 2
0 Long 0
Receiving
West Virginia   Syracuse
Stedman Bailey Player Prince-Tyson Gulley
7 Receptions 5
126 Yards 56
18.0 Avg Yards 11.2
2 Touchdowns 1
0 Long 0
Team Stats Summary
 
  Yards Scoring Defense
Team Tot Rus Pas TD FG INT Sck FF
West Virginia 285 88 197 2 0 1 2.0 1
Syracuse 520 378 142 4 2 0 4.0 3