The 2023 Duke's Mayo Bowl was a

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

played on December 27, 2023, at

Bank of America Stadium Bank of America Stadium is a 74,867-seat football stadium located on in uptown Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is the home facility and headquarters of the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League and Charlotte FC of Major ...

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. The 22nd annual

Duke's Mayo Bowl The Duke’s Mayo Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, since 2002. The game currently features a matchup between a team from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) ...

featured

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

of the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC) and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

of the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

. The game began at approximately 5:30 p.m. EST and was aired on

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. The Duke's Mayo Bowl was one of the 2023–24 bowl games concluding the 2023 FBS football season. The game's title sponsor was

Duke's Mayonnaise Duke's Mayonnaise is a condiment created by Eugenia Duke in Greenville, South Carolina, in 1917. Duke's Mayonnaise is the third-largest mayonnaise brand in the United States (behind Hellmann's and Kraft), however its popularity was at first l ...

Teams

The 2023 edition of the Duke's Mayo Bowl was the fourth under the

branding and 22nd overall. Based on conference tie-ins, the game was to feature teams from the

(ACC) and the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

(SEC). However, West Virginia's selection made it a matchup of teams from the ACC and the

. This was the third all-time meeting between the Mountaineers and the Tar Heels; the teams had a 1–1 record in prior games. Both previous matchups also were in bowl games, the

2008 Meineke Car Care Bowl The 2008 Meineke Car Care Bowl was the seventh edition of the college football bowl game, and was played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina. The game started at 1:00 PM US EST on Saturday, December 27, 2008. The game, tel ...

(an earlier naming of the Duke's Mayo Bowl) won by West Virginia, and the

1997 Gator Bowl The 1997 Gator Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the North Carolina Tar Heels and the West Virginia Mountaineers. Background North Carolina finished 2nd in the Atlantic Coast Conference to undefeated Florida State. Meanw ...

won by North Carolina.

North Carolina

After starting the regular season 6–0 and rising as high as 10th in the

AP poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

, North Carolina went 2–4 in their final six regular season games, finishing the season unranked and with an 8–4 record (4–4 in ACC play). The Tar Heels played two ranked opponents, recording a victory over then-No. 25

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

and a loss against then-No. 22

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

at the close of the regular season. Sophomore running back

Omarion Hampton Omarion Hampton (born March 16, 2003) is an American football running back for the North Carolina Tar Heels. Early life Hampton was born in Clayton, North Carolina. He attended Cleveland High School and played football as a running back from 201 ...

ran for 1,442 yards and 15 touchdowns in the regular season, becoming a finalist for the

Doak Walker Award Since 1990 the Doak Walker Award honors the top running back in college football in the United States. It is named in honor of Doak Walker, a former running back who played for the SMU Mustangs from 1945 to 1949 and in the National Football League ...

. North Carolina made its 38th bowl game appearance and sixth Duke's Mayo Bowl appearance.

West Virginia

The 2023 Mountaineers also went 8–4 in the regular season (6–3 in Big 12 play). They finishing tied for fourth in their conference's standings. They played two ranked opponents, losing both games—they lost their season opener to No. 7

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campu ...

and later lost to No. 17

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

in conference play. West Virginia made their 40th bowl appearance and third Duke's Mayo Bowl appearance.

Game summary

Statistics

References

External links

Game statistics
at statbroadcast.com {{West Virginia Mountaineers bowl game navbox

Duke's Mayo Bowl

North Carolina Tar Heels football bowl games West Virginia Mountaineers football bowl games