The Redskins Blog

Neild Relishes Mountaineers’ Bowl Victory

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Last night’s Orange Bowl matchup between West Virginia and Clemson was the battle of rookie alma maters between Chris Neild and Jarvis Jenkins.

Going into the game, I spoke with both men to hear some predictions on how they thought the game would go.  A confident Jenkins had spoken with Neild already, and knew that there were some injuries on defense for the Mountaineers.  He confidently predicted a victory of “at least 14 points.”

After I relayed the information to Neild, the nose tackle declared that there’s no way that the Mountaineers would lose, but predicted a close, low-scoring game.

It turns out that both of them were wrong.  At halftime, the Mountaineers had already scored 49 points, in route to a West Virginia rout: 70-33.

For two defensive players, it must have been difficult to watch a game that featured 103 combined points and 1,032 yards of offense.  Both players pride themselves on their individual ability to stop the run, and yet their former defensive teammates allowed a combined 381 yards on the ground.

But that didn’t exactly shame Neild, who celebrated his team’s victory on Twitter, in caps lock:

COOKIEEEE!!!!!!! D BABY!!—
Chris Neild (@TruckNeild) January 05, 2012

ICU TAVOOOOOOOO!!!!!! #WVU—
Chris Neild (@TruckNeild) January 05, 2012

THREE

AND

OUTTTTTT!!!!—
Chris Neild (@TruckNeild) January 05, 2012

PASS THE STICKS CLEMSON!!!! Put 70 on em—
Chris Neild (@TruckNeild) January 05, 2012

Showing up on the big stage, what else is new #WVUfootball—
Chris Neild (@TruckNeild) January 05, 2012

#MOUNTAINEERNATION #MOUNTAINEERNATION #MOUNTAINEERNATION #MOUNTAINEERNATION #OrangeBowl #OrangeBowl #OrangeBowl #OrangeBowl #WestVirginia—
Chris Neild (@TruckNeild) January 05, 2012

I think he may have been excited.

Jenkins was unsurprisingly quiet during the game, and the two didn’t interact via social media–at least not publicly.  One thing I can guarantee, however, is that both players fought the itch to help out their respective defenses, rather than watching from the couch at home.