This will be West Virginia’s second appearance in the Cactus Bowl, but when the Mountaineers went out west in 1998, it was known as the Insight.com Bowl, and it was played in Tucson, Ariz. Now, the game is played at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, in Phoenix.
It is currently one of four games played at a Major League Baseball stadium, along with the Miami Beach Bowl (Marlins Park), St. Petersburg Bowl (Tropicana Field) and Pinstripe Bowl (Yankee Stadium).
For the Mountaineers (7-5), this is their 34th appearance in a postseason bowl. Last year, WVU fell to Texas A&M in the Liberty Bowl.