The national championship game carries more meaning, but college football fans would be hard pressed to find a postseason matchup that promises more entertainment than the Orange Bowl.

A pair of high-powered offenses featuring several electrifying performers meet at Sun Life Stadium on Wednesday when No. 23 West Virginia faces 14th-ranked Clemson for the first time in 22 years.

The second-to-last BCS game before the national title tilt between Alabama and LSU, the Orange Bowl shapes up as an offensive showcase with some of the nation's most exciting players.

"I'd be surprised if there's not some points scored in this one," Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said. "I don't think it'll be a 6-3 ball game, you know, like maybe some of the other games around. This one should be an exciting game for fans."

Clemson (10-3) set school records for passing yards, total yards and scoring en route to its first ACC title since 1991 and first 10-win season since 1990. The Tigers improved their total offense by more than 100 yards per game from last season, rising from 88th in the nation to 29th.

The Mountaineers (9-3), meanwhile, rank seventh in the country in passing offense, tied for 17th in total offense and tied for 19th in scoring.

Both teams average more than 33 points and 440 yards per contest.

"We anticipate an exciting, high-scoring game," Orange Bowl CEO Eric Poms said.

Tajh Boyd leads Clemson's fast-paced offense, and is one of two dynamic quarterbacks in this game. Boyd and West Virginia's Geno Smith combined to throw for 7,556 yards and 56 touchdowns - the edge in yardage going to Smith with Boyd tossing six more TD passes.

Smith, a Miami-area native, has already broken single-season school records for attempts (483), completions (314) and total passing yards (3,978) with one game remaining.

"They're two tremendous quarterbacks who both have the ability to keep a play alive," Swinney said. "They're just going to continue to get better because they're still relatively young."

Boyd has plenty of weapons at his disposal. Leading the way are tight end Dwayne Allen, freshman receiver Sammy Watkins - both named to the AP All-America Team - and tailback Andre Ellington.

Allen was named first-team All-ACC and also won the John Mackey Award as the nation's top tight end. He has 48 receptions for 577 yards and eight touchdowns - Clemson records in all three areas at his position.

Watkins caught 77 passes for 1,153 yards and 11 TDs, while Ellington rushed for 1,062 yards and 10 scores. Clemson has a 1,000-yard rusher and receiver in the same season for just the third time in school history.

While West Virginia doesn't have the ground game that Clemson does, the Mountaineers get by just fine with Smith - who only threw seven interceptions - and a pair of outstanding receivers.

Stedman Bailey is the team's greatest deep threat, catching 67 passes for a school-record 1,197 yards with 11 touchdowns. Tavon Austin, often used in the slot, ranks among the national leaders with 89 receptions and averages 191.2 all-purpose yards per game - second in the country. He is one of the nation's premier kickoff returners, averaging 26.5 yards per return.

This will be the first BCS bowl appearance for Clemson, which had its sights set on a national title after an 8-0 start that included three straight wins over ranked teams. However, a loss to Georgia Tech on Oct. 29 began a 1-3 downward spiral for the Tigers, who rebounded with a convincing 38-10 rout of then-No. 5 Virginia Tech in the ACC title game.

Boyd, who threw for three TDs and ran for a fourth against the Hokies, said he and his teammates might have gotten complacent after 8-0 start.

"You get a sense of complacency if you let the outside world affect you," he said. "That is one of the life lessons you learn. That's what happened. But it happened for a reason."

Clemson has earned a trip to the Orange Bowl for the first time since Jan. 1, 1982, when a 22-15 victory over Nebraska capped a perfect season and the school's only national championship.

"It's been 30 years since Clemson has been in the Orange Bowl," Swinney said. "This is the site of our program's greatest moment and we've been wandering in the desert for a long time since."

Reaching a BCS bowl didn't seem likely for West Virginia after a loss to Louisville on Nov. 5 dropped it to 6-3, but the Mountaineers closed with three straight wins by a combined seven points, overcoming a fourth-quarter deficit in each.

That earned them a share of the Big East title and, eventually, their first Orange Bowl bid.

"Three games in a row it came down to, shoot, I think the last minute of all three games - maybe even the last couple of seconds," first-year West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen said. "Regardless of what happens, you've just got to keep playing, you've got to keep playing and you've got to find a way to win in the end."

Clemson is West Virginia's fourth straight - and fourth different - ACC bowl opponent. The Mountaineers, who are seeking to improve to 3-0 in BCS bowls, lost 23-7 to North Carolina State in the 2010 Champs Sports Bowl.

The Tigers defeated West Virginia, 27-7, in the Gator Bowl on Dec. 30, 1989, in the only previous meeting between these teams.

© 2011 STATS LLC

West Virginia routs Clemson 70-33 in Orange Bowl

MIAMI (AP) -- The West Virginia Mountaineers were tough to slow down, and only the Orange Bowl mascot could stop Darwin Cook.

Geno Smith tied the record for any bowl game with six touchdown passes, and the No. 23-ranked Mountaineers set a bowl scoring record Wednesday night with their high-powered offense. But safety Cook made the pivotal play by returning a fumble 99 yards for a touchdown to break the game open and help rout No. 14 Clemson 70-33.

Cook collided comically with mascot Obie after scoring one of the Mountaineers' five TDs in the second quarter, including three in the final 2:29 for a 49-20 lead. It was the highest-scoring half by a team in a bowl game.

"I always envisioned making great plays," Cook said. "If you think it will happen, it will happen."

Tavon Austin tied a record for any bowl game with four touchdown catches. Smith went 31 for 42, and had 401 yards passing to break Tom Brady's Orange Bowl record. Smith also ran for a score, helping West Virginia break the bowl record for points established six nights earlier when Baylor beat Washington 67-56 in the Alamo Bowl.

"Never could we imagine we'd put up 70 points," Smith said.

The Mountaineers (10-3) won in their first Orange Bowl appearance and improved to 3-0 in Bowl Championship Series games.

"The guys wanted to come in and make a statement, and the only way you can do that is if you play well on all three sides of the ball," coach Dana Holgorsen said.

Clemson (10-4) lost playing in its first major bowl in 30 years.

"We're a better team than we played tonight," coach Dabo Swinney said. "Just too many mistakes. But we'll be back."

The offensive showcase was the latest in a succession this bowl season, and perhaps the last. Defense is expected to dominate in the final BCS game Monday night when Louisiana State faces Alabama for the national title.

Tacklers had their hands full - or rather, they didn't - on a chilly night in Miami. Smith and Austin combined on scoring passes of 8, 27, 3 and 37 yards, and Shawne Alston scored on two short runs for West Virginia, which totaled 589 yards and 31 first downs. Smith was chosen the game's outstanding player.

Even when Clemson managed to corral the Mountaineers, the play wasn't always over. Andrew Buie rolled over a defender but was never downed, so he got up and ran for an additional 18 yards.

Clemson couldn't keep up with the Big East Conference co-champions, although Andre Ellington did score the game's first points on a 68-yard run. First-team All-Americans Sammy Watkins and Dwayne Allen combined for only seven catches for 87 yards.

"We kind of got down when they scored so many points in such a short amount of time," Watkins said.

Amid the flurry of points, it was a defender who came up with second-longest scoring play in Orange Bowl history.

Clemson was on the verge of taking the lead in the second quarter when Ellington ran up the middle and disappeared into a heap at the 1. A teammate signaled touchdown, but the ball came loose and Cook grabbed it, then took off with nothing but the end zone in front of him.

"I saw the ball come loose," he said. "I grabbed it. I didn't hear a whistle, so I ran."

After Cook crossed the goal line, he gleefully leaped on mascot Obie, a smiling orange, and they both tumbled to the turf. Obie rose unhurt and resumed her duties.

Cook and Obie met on the field after the game and shared a hug.

"I didn't know you were a girl," he told the mascot. "I apologize."

Smith, standing in the sideline, watched a video replay of Cook's touchdown in disbelief.

"Crazy, man," Smith said. "When I saw that, I knew things were breaking our way."

The potential 14-point swing seemed to deflect the Tigers, who had moved the ball almost at will to that point.

"It was a pretty big moment," Swinney said. "They hadn't really stopped us. That was huge. Then it snowballed quickly."

The Tigers were doomed when quarterback Tajh Boyd committed subsequent turnovers on consecutive Clemson plays.

After Smith ran 7 yards on a keeper for a 35-20 lead, Pat Miller intercepted Boyd's pass. Smith flipped a 1-yard touchdown pass to Austin and, on the next play, a call was overturned, with the replay official determining Boyd had lost a fumble.

Alston then ran for a 1-yard touchdown with 4 seconds left in the half.

"Momentum swung not in our favor, and it was hard to recapture," Boyd said. "West Virginia is a great offense. You can't really get behind them. We couldn't stop them. Guys were gassed. Their legs were going. It was a tough loss - pretty embarrassing."

Defensive woes were nothing new for the Tigers, who won their first Atlantic Coast Conference title in 20 years but gave up at least 30 points in six regular-season games.

Clemson kept pace for a while, leading 17-14 after one period. It was the highest-scoring first quarter and first half in Orange Bowl history.

West Virginia went ahead for the first time early in the second period on an 80-yard touchdown drive capped by Austin's 27-yard catch, making the score 21-17. Cook's takeaway touchdown came next, and the Mountaineers were off to the races.

"You don't score 70 points by being good on offense," Holgorsen said. "You score 70 points by being good on all three sides of the ball."

© 2011 STATS LLC