The West Virginia football team fell to Memphis 42-37 in the Frisco Bowl.

The Mountaineers finished the season 6-7, and WVSports.com looks back at what transpired in our weekly feature, “The Day After.”

HOT:

Garrett Greene. It wasn’t perfect, but Greene was outstanding in his final game in a West Virginia uniform outside of the final two plays of the game. Greene threw for 323 yards and two touchdowns, a career high, while rushing for 95 more yards and scoring. He helped engineer six consecutive shots on goal for the Mountaineers, putting them in position to win the football game on the final play. Greene left it all out there.

Hudson Clement. After never having more than seven catches in a game, Clement delivered 11 grabs for 166 yards and 2 touchdowns as the focal point of the passing game. The West Virginia native had a drop he would like to have back, but delivered for a wide receiver room that was dealing with a lot of attrition and inconsistency.

CJ Donaldson. After starting the game with two fumbles, one of which was lost, Donaldson was forced to take over the backfield following Jahiem White’s injury and rushed for 83 yards and 2 touchdowns, as well as 11 receiving yards.

NOT:

Time management. West Virginia left nearly three minutes to run out the clock on their final touchdown once they managed to reach the 15-yard line. The Mountaineers then chose not to use a timeout on the other side of the two-minute warning and lost valuable time on that side as well. These decisions proved to be quite costly, as Memphis ran out all but 51 seconds of game time and the Mountaineers had no timeouts to attempt a comeback that ultimately failed.

The final sequence. West Virginia played hard and that’s for sure. There’s nothing to be surprised about, but the slip just in front of the post, the struggle to get back to the line and then the interception to seal it all ended the comeback.

The defense. West Virginia just couldn’t get enough stops in this game. The Mountaineers only forced two punts and gave up 42 points. The Tigers were able to utilize multiple big balls both in the air and on the ground. Memphis finished the game with 8.5 yards per play and was routinely able to hit the Mountaineers for chunks in the air and on the ground. The unit was able to record two stops in the second half, but the initial problems contributed to making the climb much more difficult.

DEFINING MOMENTS:

1st and 10th from WVU 25. On the first play from scrimmage, Donaldson ran the ball a few yards, but a hit caused the ball to go loose, but fortunately for the Mountaineers they were able to recover it.

3rd and 9th from UM 49. After a first down, West Virginia managed to force the Tigers into a third-and-long situation and Trey Lathan managed to place the tackle short of the sticks, forcing a punt.

3rd and 4th from WVU 27. Memphis took a short field and on third down Henigan faked the handoff and the Mountaineers lost the lead that put the Tigers at the West Virginia Four. They would score in the next game.

2nd and 4th from WVU 42. After dodging a bullet on the first series, Donaldson coughed up the ball again and this time Memphis was able to recover it and force a turnover.

3rd and 7 from WVU 38. The Tigers threw the ball to their running back again, but no defender was in the box and was able to gain 20 yards inside the red zone for a first down. The Mountaineers would be able to get off the field, but the Tigers would score a field goal and take a 10-0 lead.

4th and 1st from WVU 46. After coming up short on third-and-1, West Virginia rolled the dice and decided to go for it, and Greene’s pass attempt to Kole Taylor failed and the ball turned over on downs. Memphis scored a 46-yard touchdown on the next snap from scrimmage to take a 17-0 lead.

2nd and 6th from WVU 33. West Virginia’s offense would wake up and enter Memphis territory for the first time. On second down, Greene uncorked a throw down the right sideline, where Hudson Clement made an impressive catch, putting the Mountaineers up 17-7.

3rd and 9th from UM 38. West Virginia forced the Tigers into a third-and-long situation on their next drive, but the defense allowed a 24-yard catch to dampen the momentum. The Tigers would score another field goal and take a 20-7 lead at the end of the drive.

2nd and 10 from WVU 44. The Mountaineers tried to match the Tigers’ points, and on the next drive they moved the ball quickly near midfield and Greene took off on a broken play and ran for a 56-yard touchdown to tie the score with 1:42 left Bringing the score to 20-14 at the half.

3rd and 6th from UM 29. Again, West Virginia had a chance to get a stop on third down, but the Mountaineers gave up a 40-yard pass down the field and assessed a 15-yard penalty for roughing the passer. The Tigers would score another touchdown and add a two-point conversion to make it 28-14.

4th and 4th from UM 28. The Mountaineers moved the football once again, but time management forced the offense to waste valuable time and settle for a field goal with a timeout still in the bag to cut the lead to 28-17 at halftime.

1st and 10th from AT 25. On the first play of the second half, Memphis went deep again, connecting with Taylor on a 48-yard pass to move them deep into West Virginia territory. That would lead to another Memphis touchdown, giving the Tigers a 35-17 lead.

1st and goal from UM 10. After moving the football down the field, Greene fired the ball to Clement for his second touchdown of the game to make the score 35-23 with 7:15 left after the extra point was missed.

3rd and 2nd from UM 45. After allowing six straight shots on goal, West Virginia’s defense was able to send Ben Cutter on a blitz to force an incompletion and put the football back on offense.

4th and 5th from WVU 39. West Virginia rolled the dice deep into their own middle and completed an 8-yard pass to Clement to keep the drive going. After another 37-yard pickup on third down, the Mountaineers moved the ball to the one-yard line.

4th and goal from UM 1. After moving the ball 89 yards, West Virginia lined up to try it on fourth down and Donaldson was able to advance into the end zone, cutting the lead to 35-30.

1st and 10th from AT 10. After a penalty on the kickoff, Memphis completed an 89-yard pass to bring them to the one-yard line on a failed play, and the Tigers would score on the next play to regain a 42-30 lead.

2nd and goal from UM 1. The Mountaineers once again moved down the field and scored on their sixth straight possession after a one-yard run by Donaldson with not one, but two impressive attempts to get the ball across the goal line to make the score 42-37 4:17 to go.

4th and 2nd from WVU 31. Memphis was able to get the clock down to 56 seconds and was preparing for a field goal, but the ball flew wide right, giving the Mountaineers the ball back with 51 seconds left.

3rd and 1st from UM 37. After Greene moved the ball down the field, he failed to get a first down, the Mountaineers rushed to the line of scrimmage and Greene threw an interception. The ball was hit free but replay showed it was just in the slide which ended the game.

WITHIN THE NUMBERS:

-8 – West Virginia’s turnover margin this season after two more in the Frisco Bowl.

0 – Beat teams with a winning record this season.

1 – Passes completed by West Virginia to a wide receiver that traveled over 20 yards.

4 – Total number of punts in the game, two for each team.

6 – Consecutive shots on goal by West Virginia before the game-winning interception.

8.5 – Yards per play by Memphis.

11 – Career-best catches by Hudson Clement, who converted them for 166 yards and 2 scores.

14 – West Virginia’s defense scored points in the second half after allowing 28 points in the first half.

17-24 – West Virginia’s record in bowl games.

18 – Memphis first downs from 56 total games.

33:40 – Time of possession for West Virginia.

51 – With just a few seconds left, West Virginia regained the football, trailing 42-37.

56 – Longest rushing touchdown by a West Virginia quarterback since Pat White.

180 – Rushing yards allowed by West Virginia. The Mountaineers had allowed at least 176 in each of their last four games.

328 – The passing yards to Garrett Greene were a career high in his final game.

534 – West Virginia offensive yards in loss.

GAME BALL:

Garrett Greene. Yes, there were some plays that Greene would like to have back, but he played very well in his last appearance in a West Virginia uniform. The senior had made everything possible with both his arms and his legs and had the program ready to complete the comeback before the final sequence of events.