NEW YORK — It all ended with a simple kneel down.

As the clock ticked under one minute inside Yankee Stadium on Saturday, the result of the Pinstripe Bowl having long been decided, Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib closed out a win and an era with one of the simplest acts in football.

The last play of the game, one which sealed an impressive 38-14 win for the Orange, also closed the door on Syracuse’s tenure as a football member of the Big East conference against a team it has battled for the last 56 years. Syracuse toppled West Virginia in its final game as a member of the Big East, and now it is free to fully embrace its new home, the Atlantic Coast Conference, which it will officially enter in the summer of 2013.

“We look forward to going to the Atlantic Coast Conference,” Syracuse head coach Doug Marrone said. “We really haven’t talked about it as much as a team, but I’m very happy that we are going into a conference that is both competitive athletically in all men’s and women’s sports, but also competitive educationally and academically.”

And according to many of the Syracuse players, there was no better way to officially seal the Big East envelope than with a win over one of the school’s former rivals. Since 1993 Syracuse and West Virginia have battled for the Schwartzwalder Trophy, a prize named after Ben Schwartzwalder, who played at West Virginia and coached at Syracuse.

The trophy was not up for grabs on Saturday, meaning the all-time series record remains 33-27 in Syracuse’s favor.

But from 2002 to 2009, West Virginia won eight straight games over the Orange. And that stretch of dominance made Saturday’s win — SU’s third straight over the Mountaineers — sweeter for the Orange players.

“It was good to go out there and take care of business for a third time,” Nassib said. “They had our number in the past, but I can say that I’ve never lost to West Virginia as a starter. I don’t think many people can say that.”

The 24-point win on Saturday marked the second consecutive blowout in the rivalry was well. Last year, Syracuse stunned the 11th-ranked Mountaineers in the Carrier Dome by putting together an impressive and surprising 49-23 clinic in which all three phases of the game proved lethal.

The Orange failed to win a game from that point on, however, finishing the 2011 season without a trip to a bowl game.

But a year later, and another rivalry win later, Syracuse provided an emphatic ending to its tenure as a Big East member.

“I told the players the theme is three strikes and you’re out,” SU defensive coordinator Scott Shafer said. “Maybe the third time we can get their respect, beating them a third time in a row. Just maybe we’ll have that respect across the board.”

Published on December 30, 2012 at 12:55 am

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