SHEPHERDSTOWN — West Virginia closed its regular season with wins over Cincinnati and Baylor. North Carolina opened wide its season with a 6-0 record before losing four of its last six games.

Both Duke’s Mayo Bowl teams showed 8-4 records when it was over.

When it was 6-0, North Carolina’s players could have been thinking ahead toward a possible New Year’s Day bowl. When it got thumped by Texas, West Virginia players might have been staring at the ground and wondering if it wasn’t more of “Here we go again.”

But now that the teams are paired in a late December bowl game they both might be looking forward to a near avalanche of points and continual offensive fireworks in the early evening darkness in Charlotte.

North Carolina won a pair of double overtime games and averaged just over 36 points a game. Their opponents averaged 27 points a game. The Tar Heels actually played nine teams that are going to bowl games.

The bounce-back Mountaineers played against six teams that reached a bowl and averaged 31 points a game and had opponents score 27 points a game.

Injuries seemed to sting WVU more than they did the Tar Heels.

Running back Jahiem White is just a freshman and he ran for 337 combined yards in the Mountaineers season-closing wins over Cincinnati and Baylor — teams that failed to reach bowl heights.

Quarterback Garrett Greene was effective enough and had his showcase moments in a last-seconds, game-saving TD drive against Baylor.

Two offensive linemen — Wyatt Milum and Doug Nestor — played at Spring Valley High in Huntington. Nester, like a significant number of fellow Mountaineers, transferred to WVU, coming from Virginia Tech. Lee Kpogba (linebacker), Anthony Wilson (safety) and Beanie Bishop (corner back) were the statistical leaders of a defense that was bothered by continual injuries. Wilson came to WVU from Georgia Southern and Bishop played at both Western Kentucky and Minnesota before moving on to West Virginia.

This game will be played in spacious Bank of America Stadium, also the home of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers and a comfortable place that seats 73,778 people.

The bowl committee and its squad of planners have lined up an assortment of events and entertainment for the teams to help the players bring back watches, clothing, souvenirs and lifelong memories from their brief stay in Charlotte. The teams will also visit hospitals, see children and down a large amount of steaks and seafood before they get down to playing the game on Dec. 27 at 5:30 p.m.

The positive circumstances surrounding this game should actually make it a player-reward for winning seasons.