WEST VIRGINIA MOUNTAINEER FOOTBALL 1980-2011

A SEASON-BY-SEASON RETROSPECTIVE

by Todd M. Pence

1980 - THE BEGINNING OF AN ERA

1980 will always be remembered with fondness as a special year for Mountaineer fans

everywhere. It was the year that it all began - the Don Nehlen era, the opening of Mountaineer

field, the brand new uniforms with the iconic flying WV on the helmet and the establishment of

West Virginia as a big-time player in Division I-A college football. After four straight losing

seasons under the reign of Frank Cignetti, the Mountaineers posted six victories in their first year

under Nehlen against six defeats. And while the squad did not pull off any major upsets during

the campaign, what is more important is that they won the games they were supposed to. Notice

was served that there would be no more embarrassing losses like those suffered at the hands of

the likes of Villanova, Colorado State and Tulane in recent years.

September 6 was the historic day that saw the brand new stadium nestled in the hills of the

Evansdale campus host its first football game. The Mountaineers romped over the University of

Cincinnati, 41-27, and John Denver himself was on hand to serenade Mountaineer fans with his

hit “Country Roads”, which would be a staple of WVU games for years and years to come.

In similar wins in the weeks to come over Colorado State, Virginia, and Temple, the

Mountaineers played with a vigor and confidence not seen under the Cignetti years. And

although they took it on the chin as usual from heavyweight foes like Maryland, Pitt and Penn

State, there was the feeling that those schools were not going to be able to bully WVU for much

longer.

The offense featured a strong ground game from Robert Alexander, who barely missed breaking

the single-season WVU rushing record held by Garrett Ford, Sr, with 1064 yards. Fullback

Walter Easley, who a year later would be a solid contributor to Bill Walsh’s first 49er

championship team, piled on 833 more. With all that, Oliver Luck still found time to put up over

1800 yards in the air - the most by a WVU QB in eight years. The defense boasted future NFLers

Darryl Talley, Dennis Fowlkes and Fulton Walker.

One notable adventure of the 1980 squad was traveling the furthest distance for a road contest of

any Mountaineer football team in history, when they made a date with the University of Hawaii

on October 11. The ‘Eers lost a tough game in the nation’s fiftieth state, and Nehlen later credited

jet lag from the journey to his team’s poor performance against Pittsburgh the following week.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

November 15: The up-and-coming Mountaineers look to make a statement in a game against a

decent Rutgers team in New Jersey. Nehlen enlists announcer Jack Fleming to fire up the squad

by creating a fantasy broadcast of the Mountaineers intercepting a pass early in the game. When

the team takes the field, they make the faux playcall a reality by picking off the ball on Rutgers’

third offensive play. The fired-up Mountaineers take a 24-15 victory.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

November 22: West Virginia has a chance to make Don Nehlen’s inaugural season a winning one

with a victory in the finale at home against 4-6 Syracuse. But the Mountaineers, perhaps having

exhausted themselves by their emotional win over the Scarlet Knights, come out flat. With a 20-7

loss, the 1980 team will have to settle themselves with a mark of .500.

1981 - MAKING THE SCENE

It took only two years for Don Nehlen to take a program which had won just seventeen games in

the four years previous to his arrival, and bring them into the national spotlight. The key to the

Mountaineer resurgence was a ferocious, aggressive defense made up of mostly unheralded

players (although future NFL star Darryl Talley was in the mix) which held opponents to just

under thirteen points a contest - still the benchmark standard for Mountaineer squads in the

modern era. On offense, the loss of blue-chipper Robert Alexander forced quarterback Oliver

Luck to open it up more, and he responded with 2,448 yards, the most by a Mountaineer

quarterback in nine years (nearly breaking the WVU single season record at the time held by

Bernie Galiffa). Luck found a pair of emerging talented young receivers to catch his throws in

Rich Hollins and Gary Mullen, and a running back by committee served as the ground infantry.

Early key victories over Maryland and Boston College helped bolster the Mountaineers to their

first 4-0 start in six seasons. The ability to force turnovers was a major factor in the early success,

as West Virginia registered thirteen takeways in those first four contests. October brought a

daunting challenge as the Mountaineers would have to face off against the top two teams in the

nation - Pitt and Penn State - in a span of three weeks.

WVU got a major break in those two games when both opponents were each forced to sideline

their showcase players, but it didn’t help the Mountaineers to win either game. Pitt’s all-world

quarterback Dan Marino sat out the Backyard Brawl with a bruised arm, but the Panthers still

smothered the Mountaineers 17-0 without benefit of completing a single pass. And while Penn

State was without the services of star runner Curt Warner, the Lions relied on backup Jon

Williams’ 140 yards to power past the Mountaineers 30-7. The two defeats underscored who the

two big bullies on the eastern block were, and the Mountaineers would set their biggest

immediate future goals on beating these two traditional rivals who had owned them in recent

years.

Aside from those two defeats, the Mountaineers’ performance was good enough to earn an early

invite to the Peach (now the Chick-Fil-A) Bowl, the program’s first postseason appearance since

the 1975 season.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

November 21: West Virginia ends their regular season on a disappointing note as they drop their

finale 27-24 to the Syracuse Orangemen, squandering a 17-7 lead in the process. SU’s Joe Morris

rambles for 168 yards and Gary Anderson kicks two fourth quarter field goals. The Mountaineers

waste a career-high 360 yard passing game by Oliver Luck, although Luck is also victimized by

four INTs. The loss prevents WVU from securing their best regular season record since 1969.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

December 31: West Virginia contributes the biggest surprise of the bowl season by dominating

Florida 26-6, holding the Gators to a paltry 105 yards in total offense and snatching six turnovers

into the bargain. Safety valve back Mickey Walczak emerges as the offensive hero, snagging 8

passes and scoring two touchdowns. Paul Woodside also has a banner afternoon, contributing

four field goals including a school-record 49-yarder. The triumph vaults the Mountaineers back

into the AP rankings - exactly six years to the day of their last appearance on that list.

1982 - PLAYING WITH THE BIG BOYS

Although the Mountaineers headed into Don Nehlen’s third season with the loss of ace passer

Oliver Luck to graduation and the NFL, they had a top transfer to fill his shoes. Jeff Hostetler

came from rival Penn State bringing a pro-caliber arm and the promise of a legend. West

Virginia was looking to prove to the nation that 1981's 8-3 record and Peach Bowl upset of

Florida was not a fluke. They would get the chance to do so right off the bat as opening day

brought a trip to Oklahoma to face the mighty Sooners.

Nehlen instructed his team not to worry if Oklahoma got a quick lead and to concentrate on

keeping the game close and playing for the fourth quarter. His squad exceeded his expectations.

Although the Sooners did, as expected, cruise to an early 14-0 lead, the game began to turn in the

second quarter after OU missed a 34-yard field goal attempt. Suddenly WVU’s offense came

alive. Hostetler zipped a 31-yard strike to Darrell Miller to set up a Paul Woodside field goal,

getting the Mountaineers on the board. Oklahoma went three and out as the West Virginia

defense seemed to have figured out the Sooner wishbone attack. Back on offense, Hostetler

found Rich Hollins with a 52-yard bomb which set up a ten-yard scoring pass to Mark Raugh.

Another three and out for the Sooners and another big Hostetler aerial, this one 48 yards to Willie

Drewery. A penalty took a potential go-ahead TD pass off the board, but another Woodside kick

pulled the Mountaineers to 14-13.

But the half wasn’t over yet. Nehlen gambled and called for an onside kick, and Brad Minetree

came up with the ball in Sooner territory. Hostetler elected to go up on top right away and hit

Miller with a perfect pass in the corner of Oklahoma’s end zone. A shocked crowd in Norman

witnessed the home team go into the locker room on the short end of a 20-14 score.

Oklahoma, however, battled back and retook the lead by driving for a TD on their first

possession of the second half. But a long kickoff return by Drewery set West Virginia up in great

field position, and Hostetler struck again on a 30-yard pass to tailback Curlin Beck - his third TD

pass of the game. West Virginia would shut down the suddenly floundering Sooner offense for

the remainder of the game, although Oklahoma tied the score by blocking a punt and returning it

for a touchdown at the end of the third. But the Mountaineers owned the fourth quarter. Hostetler

came through with yet another big gainer through the air, finding Hollins for 42. Then he hit

Wayne Brown for another score from nine yards out. The Sooners were forced to go to the air to

catch up, and quarterback Kelly Phelps was unequal to the task, running out of gas with a fourth

down failure in Mountaineer territory. The Mountaineers took the ball with the intent of running

out the clock and did much more than that as Beck broke free on a 43-yard scoring scamper to

write finis to the contest. The 41-27 victory was instantly proclaimed as the greatest win in the

history of Mountaineer football by many. Hostetler had had a brilliant debut with 321 yards and

four touchdown passes. It was Barry Switzer’s only opening-day defeat in his storied career as

OU’s coach.

However, the Oklahoma triumph was only one game in a season full of challenges. The

following week, WVU outdid themselves as they nipped a highly-touted Maryland squad 19-18.

But the onset of October brought heartbreak in the Pitt game. West Virginia smelled victory

early, jumping to a 13-0 lead on the strength of a Darryl Talley punt block for a touchdown. Pitt

legend Dan Marino, however, brought the Panthers back with two fourth-quarter touchdown

drives to take a 16-13 lead. The Mountaineers’ last chance to salvage a tie vanished when

Woodside barely missed a 52-yarder at the final gun.

West Virginia rebounded from the bitter defeat with a dramatic last-minute win over Boston

College secured when the Mountaineers recovered a fumbled punt deep in BC territory with just

a minute and a half to play. Hostetler called his own number from the 2 to give WVU a 20-13

win. Future Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie had a terrible time in his first meeting with the

Mountaineers, completing just nine of 33 for 98 yards and four interceptions.

Next on the slate was Virginia Tech, and the Mountaineers and Hokies played their typical

defensive slugfest with the Mountaineers escaping Blacksburg with a hard-fought 16-6 victory.

Then eventual national champion Penn State ran their streak over WVU to 24 games as the Lion

defense picked off their erstwhile enrollee Hostetler twice with Scott Radecic returning one for

an 85-yard TD. PSU blanked the Mountaineers 24-0.

Undaunted by the two defeats to top eastern powers, the Mountaineers rolled to easy wins in their

last four contests, capped by a sparkling 26-0 shutout of the Syracuse Orangemen. The 9-2

season earned them a Gator Bowl date with Florida State - a team coached by erstwhile

Mountaineer head coach Bobby Bowden.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

September 18: Almost any Mountaineer fan will instantly tab the opening-day upset of Oklahoma

as the no-brainer highlight of the 1982 season. But Don Nehlen himself is on record as saying

that the 19-18 victory over Maryland the following week was an even bigger win. The Terrapins,

led by hot-handed quarterback Boomer Esiason, were expected to challenge defending national

champion Clemson for the ACC crown. The Mountaineers got four booming field goals by

Woodside, three over forty yards, and a toouchdown pass from Hostetler. Victory was secured in

the closing moment’s when Bobby Ross’s gamble for a win on a two-point conversion pass

failed.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

December 30: A steady downpour in Jacksonville, Florida, underscores a miserable performance

by the Mountaineers in a 31-12 Gator Bowl defeat to Florida State. Hostetler has one of his worst

games of the season, completing just ten passes and tossing two interceptions. Meanwhile, the

Seminoles roll to 461 yards behind second-string QB Blair Williams. The most disappointing

series for the Mountaineers occurs when Drewery breaks into the clear on a punt return and

seems to be a cinch to score an 89-yard touchdown. Willie pulls up lame, however, and is

brought down at the seven. The Mountaineers subsequently fail to score when their offense does

nothing with the break and the usually money-in-the-bank Woodside misses a chip-shot FG.

Mountaineers’ only touchdown comes long after the contest has been decided and Hostetler has

ignominiously been pulled from it.

1983 - RESPECTABILITY

Although they had finished the previous two seasons with a final AP top twenty ranking, the

West Virginia Mountaineers felt that they still had something to prove in 1983. For one thing,

they had been snubbed by the AP in the preseason polls (although many magazine polls,

including Sports Illustrated, recognized them with a spot). Additionally, the Mountaineers,

although they had garnered a number of signature wins in the past two years, were still looking

for a victory over their greatest rival, the Pittsburgh Panthers, a win that had narrowly eluded

them in ‘82. West Virginia finally felt that they had reached an equivalent plateau, and beating

Pitt was the major goal for ‘83.

But first they had to concentrate on the four other games on the schedule before that October 1

assignation. WVU didn’t break a sweat in two easy tuneup games which the team won by a total

of 110-10. This impressive early performance snuck them into the poll at the final number 20

slot, and they looked to improve that ranking by going after number 17 Maryland in what would

be the last-ever duel between Jeff Hostetler and Boomer Esiason. The Mountaineers would

recover from a slow start as Hoss threw two early INTs which led to a quick 10-0 Terrapin lead.

The Mountaineers rebounded, however, tying the game by halftime and then taking control of the

game in the second half with two Hostetler touchdown passes to win 31-21.

The win vaulted WVU to number 12, but they could not rest on their laurels as they had to go on

the road for the second straight week to face another tough opponent in Boston College. This

time there was no slow start as the Mountaineers instantly converted a fumble on the opening

kickoff into a touchdown and then later extended their lead on two trick plays: a spectacular

67-run by fullback Ron Wolfley off of a fake punt, and a 15-yard scamper off of a reverse by

Gary Mullen. BC’s Doug Flutie threw for over 400 yards, but was picked four times, and the

Mountaineers romped 27-17.

And then came the triumph that Mountaineer fans had been waiting for since 1975 as Hostetler’s

bootleg for the winning score to cap off a 90-yard drive secured the first win over the Pitt

Panthers since 1975 and sent a then-record Mountaineer field crowd into a frenzy. The season

was rapidly taking on storybook proportions as the win took the West Virginia Mountaineers into

the top five for the first time in thirty years, a position they solidified with a 13-0 blanking of the

Virginia Tech Hokies.

It couldn’t last, and the next two games would bring Mountaineer dreams of a national title

crashing down. On October 22, Penn State did to the Mountaineers what they had done annually

since 1958 - beat them convincingly. It was a familiar story of Nittany dominance as the Lions

used an uncharacteristic pass attack that WVU could not keep pace with. PSU 41, WVU 23. The

following week, the Mountaineers were further brought back down to earth when

later-to-be-crowned national champion Miami clobbered them 20-3, holding them to just 210

total yards and chasing Hostetler from the game.

Although the Mountaineers kept themselves in the top twenty with three wins in the last two

games, instead of playing in a major bowl game, the ‘Eers found themselves in the pre-Christmas

Hall of Fame Classic matched against Kentucky. Hostetler began his final game as a Mountaineer

in an inauspicious fashion, missing on his first ten passes as UK took a 10-3 lead into the half.

The Mountaineers responded with a vengeance in the second half, setting the tone with a

successful onside kick and 17 unanswered points on their way to a 20-16 win. It was a modest

but satisfying conclusion to a season in which the Mountaineers, still overlooked by much of the

national media, had a brief taste of what it was like to be among college football’s elite.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

October 1: over sixty four thousand Mountaineer fans - fourteen grand more than capacity - are

treated to WVU’s first win over the Pitt Panthers in eight years. In the fourth quarter, WVU is

pinned back on their own ten. Jeff Hostetler enters his name permanently in the book of

Mountaineer legends as he leads a masterful 90-yard drive, completing it by calling his own

number on a six-yard bootleg. 24-21 victory becomes an instant classic in the Backyard Brawl.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

November 19: The Syracuse Orangemen do it to the Mountaineers again, beating them for the

sixth time in seven years, 27-16. WVU outgains the Orange in total yardage but is hampered by

four turnovers. Syracuse, meanwhile, scores in every quarter and gets three rushing touchdowns,

two by TB Harold Gayden. Mountaineers are held out of the end zone until the final quarter,

when Hostetler finds Gary Mullen with a 42-yard scoring strike which proves to be too little, too

late.

1984 - GOLDEN OCTOBER, BLACK NOVEMBER

Going into the 1984 season, West Virginia was enjoying a run of success unparalleled in school

history since Art Lewis’s teams of the early 1950's. Don Nehlen had taken the program to top

twenty national rankings in each of the last three seasons, including a pair of bowl game wins.

Mountaineer fans did not expect that level of success to continue in ‘84. Star quarterback Jeff

Hostetler was gone, as was his main target Rich Hollins. The Mountaineers also would be forced

to field a defense returning only three starters.

However, it seemed at one point as if this year’s edition of the Mountaineers were going to outdo

the achievements of the past three classes as the team surged to an 8-1 start and a number 12 AP

ranking, before stumbling down the stretch. Unheralded Kevin White was not as flashy as his

predecessor behind center, but played well enough to throw for 1,727 yards and a 55%

completion percentage. Willie Drewery, used primarily as a kick returner during the last three

seasons, emerged as a pass catching star, yet continued to show his return skills as well as he

brought back two kicks to paydirt in ‘84, finishing his WVU career with four such returns. The

young defense made up mostly of sophomores played superbly, holding opponents to an average

of just a smidgen over 14 points a game. The defense flexed its muscles early in a September

contest with Virginia Tech. After the Mountaineer offense gave them an early 14-0 lead, the

defense held off the Hokies for the rest of the game, collecting five turnovers and halting several

potential Tech scoring drives.

The Mountaineers experienced disappointment the next week against Maryland. After eking out

close wins against the Terrapins the past three years, the Mounties found themselves on the short

end of another tight, hard-fought ballgame. Comeback king Frank Reich led the Terps to a

come-from-behind fourth-quarter win at Mountaineer field, 20-17.

WVU rebounded by blasting the Panthers in Pittsburgh, 28-10. John Hollifield tallied twice and

Willie Drewery got his first receiving touchdown of the year, as well as bringing back a punt 74

yards for another score. The Mountaineers continued to display a balanced offense and a staunch

defense in a 20-10 win over Syracuse two weeks later.

The stage was set for two back to back weeks in late October which would yield two of the

greatest and most memorable wins of Don Nehlen’s coaching career. First, the Mountaineers

pulled Boston College and their Heisman candidate Doug Flutie from their lofty number four

ranking, nipping the Eagles 21-20. Then they looked to entertain the Penn State Nittany Lions - a

team that they had lost to for twenty five consecutive years.

When WVU’s Larry Holley picked off the Lions’ John Shaffer on Penn State’s final drive to

preserve a 17-14 win, a quarter century of frustration was relieved as fans poured onto the field to

take down the goalposts under a scoreboard whose marquee proclaimed the single word

“FINALLY”. All told, West Virginia took the ball away from PSU five times, breaking a fourth

quarter 7-7 deadlock with a 49-yard field goal by Paul Woodside and by Pat Randolph’s

memorable 22-yard dash around the right end which proved the deciding touchdown.

Perhaps the hangover of these two glorious weeks would contribute to the “Black November”

which followed for the 1984 squad. The Mountaineers dropped their final three contests of the

regular season, all to teams which WVU had traditionally owned. Virginia, Rutgers and Temple

all whacked the reeling Mountaineers, who suddenly no longer looked like one of the best teams

in the nation. The defense uncharacteristically became vulnerable to the run during the skid,

giving up a total of 843 yards on the ground in the three defeats. White suddenly floundered, and

was yanked during the season finale at QB in favor of John Talley.

The late-season collapse forced the Mountaineers to settle for a Bluebonnet Bowl date on New

Year’s Eve against the Horned Frogs of Texas Christian University. West Virginia regrouped

during the month off and TCU was no match for them as White threw three TD passes and

Drewery had 152 yards in catches. The Mountaineer D held the Frogs’ vaunted rushing attack to

just 150 yards and forced three TOs, giving Nehlen his third bowl victory in four years. It would

be the last Mountaineer team to win a bowl game for sixteen years.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT:

October 20: The triumph over Penn State will always have a special place in the hearts of

Mountaineer fans, but in scale of importance, it is the victory the previous week over Boston

College which is the year’s biggest win. The number-four ranking of the Eagles marked, at the

time, the first WVU football victory over a top five opponent in school history. The

Mountaineers fight back from a 20-6 halftime deficit behind a 52-yard bomb from White to

Drewery that sets up a Ron Wolfley TD. With Flutie unable to get the Eagles on the board in the

final two periods, John Gay completes the comeback by scoring from 5 yards out. BC is held to

their lowest point total of the season and Flutie completes his college career 0-3 against WVU

teams.

SEASON LOWLIGHT:

November 17: The Mountaineers’ once-promising season is in flames as an ugly 19-17 loss to

Temple completes a three-game losing streak after an 8-1 start. Temple’s Jim Cooper kicks a

36-yard field goal to win the game on the final play. West Virginia is held by the Owls to just

219 total yards on offense, completes just two passes on the day, and gives away a trio of costly

fumbles. It is the first WVU loss to Temple since 1979 and will be the last until 2001.

1985 - SEVEN WINS FOR NAUGHT

After four straight postseason trips, the 1985 edition of the West Virginia Mountaineers failed to

get any love from bowl selection committees despite posting a solid seven win campaign. From

the perspective of today, there are twice as many I-A division bowl games in college football as

there were in 1985, and bowl officials undoubtedly had much more higher standards in making

their selections in the early eighties (consider 1982, when two 10-1 I-A teams stayed home for

the holidays). This makes the 1985 squad arguably the best Mountaineer team of the past

thirty-two years not to get a bowl game bid.

The 7-3-1 final mark was particularly impressive given the dearth of talent at the skill positions

on offense, particularly at quarterback. The Mountaineers began the season with converted

wingback John Talley under center, switched early in the campaign to Tony Reda, and finally

finished the year with sophomore Mike Timko. None of the three signal callers was able to

generate much consistency or excitement, although each would have their moments throughout

the year. WVU quarterbacks were saddled with a steady but unspectacular running game

featuring John Hollifield and Tom Gray, and a complete lack of capable wide receivers. The lone

star on the offensive side of the ball was All-American tackle Brian Jozwiak. The strength of the

team was unquestionably the defense, with several starters contributing outstanding years.

The relatively unimposing schedule combined with the ugliness of some of the defeats may have

been a factor in turning bowl scouts off. On a nationally televised game in September WVU was

creamed by Maryland 28-0, and also suffered a 27-0 shutout at the hands of Penn State the

following month. The squad did rise to the occasion in the Backyard Brawl at Mountaineer field,

rallying from a 10-0 halftime deficit to salvage a 10-10 tie. The next week they ran roughshoud

over Virginia Tech to the tune of a 24-9 score.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

November 2: In a pitiful performance, the West Virginia Mountaineers are outgained 440-231 in

yardage and roll over for the Virginia Cavaliers in Charlottesville in a 27-7 loss. The Virginia

student body adds insult to injury with a halftime show that mocks the stereotypes of West

Virginians. The bad blood generated by this incident doubtlessly contributes to the two schools

not meeting again until the 2002 Continental Tire Bowl game.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

November 30: The Mountaineers close out their season on a major high note with a dramatic

last-minute drive securing a 13-10 upset of Syracuse at the Carrier Dome. Timko drives the ‘Eers

75 yards on their final march, hitting Grantis Bell with the game winner with just 35 seconds to

play.

1986 - COLLAPSE

In his first six years as West Virginia’s football coach, Don Nehlen had never suffered a losing

season. That was about to change drastically. The Mountaineers entered the 1986 season sporting

several question marks at key offensive positions; and while the defensive front appeared to be

solid, the secondary was made up of mostly unproven talent. And the brutal schedule featured

dates with both eventual participants in the national title game (Penn State and Miami), as well as

the usual slew of eastern powers.

But even the most pessimistic WVU fan probably couldn’t have foreseen just how ugly 1986 got.

Warning signs surfaced in the two tune-up games, as the Mountaineers fell behind bottom-feeder

Northern Illinois early in the opener before pulling away to win big, and then had to stage a

dramatic last-minute rally to pull out a victory against a terrible East Carolina team in Greenville.

It would be the last win Mountaineer fans would be able to enjoy for nearly two months.

After Maryland and Pitt both dominated the ‘Eers, fan unrest began to make itself heard. The

Mountaineer offense was imploding, and the defense was proving a major disappointment in

light of the veteran talent it boasted. Quarterback Mike Timko appeared out of his depth starting

for a major college program, and he received most of the abuse from the fanbase; as did

cornerback Stacy Smith, who was prone to giving up big plays on defense. A close 13-7 loss to

Virginia Tech in which the Mountaineers failed to score on two second-half goal line situations

didn’t improve the mood of Mountaineer Nation much. And then Miami came to town, with

Heisman Trophy frontrunner Vinnie Testaverde, for a nationally televised contest. The result was

one of the most embarrassing days ever in Mountaineer football history. Miami led 28-0 at the

end of the first quarter, sending fans streaming to the exit quicker than if a bomb threat had been

called into Mountaineer field. In the second half of the 58-14 debacle, ABC cameramen scurried

around the mostly-depleted student section in an attempt to congregate spectators into one area so

that they could get a usable crowd shot.

Nehlen changed quarterbacks for the next contest, against Boston College, spelling Timko for

future TV actor Ben Reed, but the result was the same - another loss. Then eventual national

champion Penn State blanked the Mounties 19-0. That brought the skid to six games - still the

longest Mountaineer losing streak in the modern era.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT:

November 8: The streak finally comes to an end in East Rutherford as Timko takes over for Reed

and stages a fourth-quarter rally with two Undra Johnson touchdowns to beat Rutgers 24-17.

SEASON LOWLIGHT:

November 22: Just 40,000 fans show up to witness the season finale against Syracuse. The

Mountaineers look to end the season on a high note with a three-game win streak, and take a

commanding 17-7 lead over the Orange. However, Don McPherson drives his team the length of

the field for a touchdown in just 44 seconds before the end of the half. That takes the wind out of

WVU’s sails, and Syracuse runs away with the game in the second half en route to a 34-23

victory.

1987 - ENTER THE MAJOR

Anticipation was high in Morgantown for the 1987 season as Mountaineer fans everywhere

looked to a savior to lead the program out of the wilderness following a moribund 4-7 campaign

the previous year. Pittsburgh-area recruit and redshirt freshman Major Harris, a tremendous

athlete with a cannon for an arm as well as a phenomenal running threat was being touted as the

greatest quarterback prospect in school history and would be taking the reins of the offense.

Harris would ultimately become everything his “can’t miss” label would proclaim him to be, and

more. He also in this his first year as a starter would lead the Mountaineers back to the realm of

postseason play after a two-year absence. However, the 1987 season will be remembered most by

Mountaineer fans for its succession of agonizingly close defeats, many of them coming late in the

fourth quarter and costing the team chances to pull off what would have been tremendous upsets

over ranked teams. Take away an early-season blowout loss to Ohio State and the Mountaineers’

remaining five losses, all told, came by a grand total of fifteen points. A year of both frustration

and triumph, 1987 marked the transitional point of the metamorphosis from the ugliness of 1986

into the magnificence of 1988.

In the early going, Harris struggled in his new role as the team’s leader, as the Mountaineers

stumbled out of the gate 1-3, with the offense sputtering. They were unable to score touchdowns

in both a 24-3 pounding to the Buckeyes and a 6-3 loss to Pitt in the Backyard Brawl, a game the

Panthers stole with a late field goal after the Mountaineers blew numerous opportunities to take

the lead.

The offense finally started to come together in early October, exploding to a 49-0 win against

East Carolina. Similar routs over Cincinnati and Boston College followed, leading the

Mountaineers into a Halloween date with traditional rival Penn State firing on all cylinders.

Harris was beginning to emerge as a dangerous option quarterback, and with outstanding runners

Anthony Brown and Undra Johnson in the backfield, defenses were contending with a

three-headed monster. Harris was passing infrequently, but developing a deadly accuracy with

the deep ball.

One such sudden deep strike, to tight end Keith Winn, gave West Virginia a 21-10 lead over the

Nittany Lions midway through the fourth quarter. Morgantown collectively jumped for joy,

anticipating the Mountaineers’ first victory in Happy Valley since the first Eisenhower

administration. Dreams of victory would go up in smoke, however, as Penn State calmly and

methodically drove down the field for TDs on their final two possessions to salvage a 25-21 win.

Similar heartbreak occurred in the season finale against Syracuse, when the Mountaineers scored

a late TD in the Carrier Dome and seemed on the verge of spoiling the Orangemen’s bid for an

unbeaten season with a 31-24 lead. Don McPherson, however, rallied his squad to a TD in the

final seconds, and Syracuse’s gutsy decision to put their unbeaten year on the line paid off with a

two-point play. Another killer of a heartbreak for the Mountaineers, 32-31.

The pain was salved somewhat the following day, when the Mountainners received an invitation

to play the Oklahoma State Cowboys in the Sun Bowl on Christmas Day. It turned out to be more

of a snow bowl as the City of El Paso was subjected to unusual flurries, and the game became yet

another gut-wrenching loss for WVU. In a rushing duel between State’s Thurman Thomas and

A.B. Brown, both of whom went over 100 yards, the Mountaineers took a 24-14 halftime lead

but couldn’t hold off the Cowboys in the second half. A late touchdown by fullback Craig Taylor

pulled West Virginia to within 35-33, but the two-point bid for the tie failed when Keith Winn

snagged a pass but was stopped inches short of the end zone. The play was symbolic of much of

the season for the Mountaineers. The frustration of 1987 would, however, boil over in a big way

the following year . . .

SEASON LOWLIGHT

September 19: The Mountaineers return a kickoff and an interception for touchdowns, both in the

first minute of play, to give themselves a quick 14-0 lead over the Maryland Terrapins in College

Park. However, once the West Virginia offense steps onto the field, they proceed to shoot

themselves in the foot with six turnovers, many of them halting potential scoring drives.

Maryland comes back to win, 25-20. Harris passes for just twenty-six yards on the day,

prompting Coach Don Nehlen to pull him for the reviled Mike Timko on the Mountaineers’ final

drive. Timko promptly fumbles the ball and WVU’s final chance at victory away.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

October 24: The young West Virginia squad plays their best game of the year in spoiling

Homecoming in Cherry Hill with a 37-16 rout of the Boston College Eagles. The Mountaineers

rush for 282 yards and Harris adds another 156 through the air on just ten attempts, including a

beauty of a 34-yarder to Grantis Bell. The Mountaineer defense collects four BC turnovers.

1988 - PERFECTION

There is no way that mere words can describe the experience of being a West Virginia

Mountaineer football fan during the 1988 season. Suffice it to say that if you weren’t lucky

enough to be a part of it, you missed out big time. From both a purely personal and a purely

objective standpoint, there can be no doubt or debate about what the best season of West Virginia

football for the past thirty-two years was. During the 1988 season, the Mountaineers fielded a

dream team, an talent-laden scoring machine led by a magician of a quarterback who week after

week did things on a football field that had to be seen to be credited. For the Mountaineer

faithful, that fall was a wondrous time never to be forgotten; and it culminated in the program’s

first unbeaten, untied squad and a trip to the NCAA national championship game, where it took

arguably the best college football team of the 1980's to finally stop them.

The 1988 Mountaineers averaged 41 points a game, a total surpassing even that of the 2006 and

2007 squads, and broke the fifty-point barrier in an astounding five games. Quarterback Major

Harris himself accounted for 21 touchdowns (6 rushing, 15 passing). The lowest margin of

victory during the regular season was a full ten points against Rutgers, a game in which the

Mountaineers allowed the Knights to score a couple of junk touchdowns late. Reggie Rembert,

A.B. Brown, Craig Taylor, Undra Johnson, Mike Fox, Renaldo Turnbull, Alvoid Mays and Bo

Orlando all had futures in the National Football League, and others such as Harris and wide

receiver Grantis Bell would go on to play arena football professionally.

There was no question that the Mountaineers had potential entering 1988, with the nation’s most

exciting player behind center, and nearly all of the offense and the vast majority of the defense

coming back from the 1987 season. For the first time since 1970, the team received a preseason

ranking, as they came in at number 16 in the AP poll.

The team showed right away that they were not going to disappoint. They put their full powers on

awesome display in a 62-14 opening day mauling of Bowling Green, the college which Nehlen

was once the quarterback and coach for. The next game was a mismatch against Fullerton State, a

school which would not even have a football program a few years later. West Virginia was

merciful in winning by a mere 45-10.

The end result was the same with the first “real” team on the schedule, although WVU struggled

early in its third straight home contest against the Maryland Terrapins. The Terps took an early

14-0 lead before the Mountaineers got their act together, outscoring Maryland 55-10 for the rest

of the contest. Six different Mountaineer players scored TDs in the rout, ending a three-game

losing streak to Maryland. The Mountaineers headed for their first road contest - a trip of a mere

70 miles - against another longstanding foe that they hadn’t beaten in three years - the Pittsburgh

Panthers - in a clash of ranked teams.

The Mountaineers were in control throughout, completely shutting down Pitt’s running game.

Harris staked an early lead with a touchdown dart to Rembert, and a tight ball game was broken

open in the third when A.B. Brown found daylight off left tackle to score on a 64 yard play. The

Mountaineers romped, 31-10, and West Virginia fans had completely taken over Pitt stadium by

late in the fourth quarter. Particularly satisfying was the fact that the two heroes of the game,

Harris and Brown, were both players who escaped the clutches of the Panthers. Brown was a

transfer and Pitt refused to let Harris play quarterback when he was being recruited. The

Mountaineers cracked the top ten after their victory, a position in which they would be

comfortably ensconced for the rest of the season.

The team looked lackluster in road contests against Virginia Tech and East Carolina, but still

won easily in both those games while registering their two lowest point totals of the regular

season. It turned out that they were just getting their second wind. When the Mountaineers

returned home in late October, rested after a bye week, they were ready to start pounding people

again. After another slow start against Boston College, the Mountaineers unloaded with eight

touchdowns, five of which Harris had a hand in, and 575 yards in a 59-19 mugging.

Coming to town next were the Mountaineers’ old friends the Penn State Nittany Lions. PSU was

uncharacteristically having one of their worst seasons in recent memory and had just been held to

169 yards total offense in a loss to Alabama. West Virginia’s team and fans, in the week leading

up to the game, were like sharks smelling blood in the water. For decades, Penn State had done to

West Virginia what Lion assistant Jerry Sandusky had done to little boys entrusted to his care. On

the last weekend of October, 1988, it was going to be payback time.

The Mountaineers opened the scoring with a play which became iconic for the remarkable career

of Harris as well as for the 1988 season as a whole. From the Penn State 26, Harris took the snap

and mistakenly turned to the right on a play designed to go to the left. Suddenly he found himself

in the midst of the Penn State rush, with no blockers available to protect him. Harris slipped by

one tackler, juked a second, zig-zagged past a third, and the next thing anyone knew he was

speeding into the end zone with the ball held triumphantly aloft.

The spectacular play was just the onset of one of the most dominant halves of football ever

played by a West Virginia football squad. Never was a team more focused on or better prepared

for a game, and the results showed. Harris threw touchdown strikes to Rembert and Calvin

Phillips, and Craig Taylor also found the end zone. With just a few seconds left to play in the

first half, West Virginia, leading 34-8, got the ball near midfield following a Nittany Lion punt.

With the ‘Eers lining up in a four wide receiver set, the entire stadium expected a deep pass.

Harris crossed up everyone by slipping the ball to Undra Johnson on a delayed handoff. Johnson

exploded through the vacated middle 55 yards to score on the last play of the half, and the

domination was complete. The Mountaineers coasted theough the second half en route to a 51-30

triumph over their old nemesis.

Some controversy occurred at the end of the game, when following a Penn State loss of

possession on downs, Mountaineers fans stormed the field to tear down the goalposts with 49

seconds still showing on the clock. These rowdies were castigated in the local media for their

lack of patience, with Daily Athenaeum editor Frank Ahrens even referring to them in print as

“assholes”. The incident, actually a repeat of the end of the home win over Penn State four years

earlier, was a minor blemish on what was otherwise one of the most enjoyable Mountaineer

football wins ever.

After the Mountaineers took to the road again to polish off Cincinnati and Rutgers, they stood on

the threshold of where no West Virginia football team had ever gone before. A win at home in

the season finale against number 14 Syracuse would give the Mountaineers a perfect regular

season record and a chance to play for the national championship.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

November 19: The Orangemen refused to let the Mountaineers spoil their perfect season the

previous year, and there was no way the Mountaineers are going to let Syracuse do it to them this

time around. Harris and Brown account for 201 of the team’s 317 rushing yards, and the offense

comes through in the clutch with a whopping 14 successful third-down conversions. The defense

forces six ‘Cuse turnovers, with Willie Edwards’ pick-six in the third quarter being the game

breaker. The 31-9 win is capped off by the Mountaineers taking a victory lap across Mountaineer

field., and there simply never has been a greater moment in West Virginia football history.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

January 1: It’s a rude awakening from a dream season as top-rated Notre Dame takes apart West

Virginia by a 34-21 score. Mountaineers receive a huge blow early when Harris’s throwing

shoulder is injured on their first series, and he spends the rest of the afternoon being harassed by

Notre Dame’s quick line. Meanwhile, Irish simply grind down WVU’s lighter defense,

methodically compiling 455 yards with powering runs and short passes. Famed “Luck of the

Irish” evidences itself on two first-half drives, as Notre Dame rushers are stopped short on third

down plays only to cough up fumbles which are recovered by teammates past the first-down

sticks. Trailing 23-6 at halftime, West Virginia cuts deficit to thirteen when Harris finds Grantis

Bell with a third quarter scoring pass and has a chance to get back in the ball game when an

Edwards interception sets them up at the Notre Dame 26; but they come away with no points

after a huge sack of Harris takes them out of field goal range. Irish then drive 80 yards to the

clinching TD, with quarterback Tony Rice hitting Rickey Watters with a 57-yarder to provide the

meat of the drive. Final is Notre Dame 34, West Virginia 21. The Mountaineers settle for a

number five ranking at season’s end.

1989 - BAD VIBRATIONS

Going into the 1989 season, it was probably unrealistic for Mountaineer fans to expect that the

team would duplicate its storybook season of the previous year, an unbeaten season which

culminated in a trip to the national title game. So whatever happened during the 1989 season was

almost sure to be a disappointment in comparison to the previous year.

When the dust settled, the result was an 8-2-1 record, a Gator Bowl bid, more gaudy stats for

quarterback Major Harris, and a top twenty ranking at the end of the regular season. That was the

team on paper. In real life, the 1989 squad was dogged by bad vibes; including a fanbase openly

critical of Harris’ style of play, internal conflicts, and losses (and in particular one tie) which

impressed themselves on the memory far, far more than the victories did.

The Mountaineers did what they were supposed to do in the beginning of the season, winning

their first four games. However, it was clear that the team was not dominating opponents the way

it had a year previously, as too-close-for-comfort wins over Maryland and Louisville made

evident.

The stage was set for one of the biggest games of the season, a nationally televised showdown on

the last day of September between the number 9 Mountaineers and the number 10 Pittsburgh

Panthers in the Backyard Brawl at Mountaineer field in a game nationally televised by ESPN.

What happened that night will go down in history as one of the most infamous games in the

series, at least from the standpoint of Mountaineer fans.

The game began like a dream for West Virginia fans, as the Mountaineers dominated the

Panthers for three quarters and five minutes. Major Harris threw four touchdown passes, the last

one to fullback Rico Tyler with just 9:22 left to give the Mounties a seemingly insurmountable

31-9 lead. It was all over but the shouting.

But Pitt was not done. West Virginia golden-armed native Alex Van Pelt began leading the

Panthers back with sustained scoring drives. Suddenly, all the luck West Virginia had enjoyed in

the first three quarters was going against them. The Mountaineers dropped an end zone

interception on one Pitt touchdown drive and then failed to cover an onside kick, leading to

another. In the waning moments of the game, WVU found themselves clinging precariously to a

31-28 margin. A third-down pass from Harris to Tyler appeared to have gotten what would have

been a clinching first down, but was wiped out by a phantom ineligible receiver penalty that

officials later admitted never should have been called. Pitt made the most of their last opportunity

as Van Pelt got them close enough for a successful 42-yard field goal at the final gun. Pittsburgh

31, West Virginia 31. Officially a tie, the result was for all intents and purposes a Pitt victory and

a West Virginia defeat, as the polls underscored the following week by moving the Panthers up

ahead of the Mountaineers.

The devastating meltdown carried its hangover into the following game, also a home date, as the

Mountaineers dropped a contest to the Virginia Tech Hokies, ending all talk of a national

championship. The team rebounded to blast Cincinnati and Boston College, and looked for

redemption in a trip to Happy Valley to play Penn State, a game the Moutnaineers felt they could

win for the second straight year. While Major Harriis accounted for over 300 yards total offense,

the ‘Eers threw away any chance they had of being the Nittany Lions with six untimely turnovers

in a 19-9 defeat.

The Mountaineers’ failures in their two showcase games soured Heisman voters on the WVU

quarterback, and he finished a distant third in the final voting. His stock further fell after a Gator

Bowl game in which Harris committed four turnovers in a 27-7 loss to Clemson. Although he

still had one final year of collegiate eligibility remaining, most who watched the game realized

that they had seen Major Harris play his final game as a Mountaineer.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

September 7: One week after the devastating tie to Pittsburgh, the Mountaineers come out flatter

than a pancake and drop a 12-10 contest to an undistinguished Virginia Tech Hokie squad. The

West Virginia defense does not give up a touchdown, but the Tech defense keeps Harris and

company under wraps for most of the afternoon, sacking the Mountaineer quarterback three times

and intercepting him twice. The loss sends the Mountaineers plummeting eleven slots in the

polls.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

November 23: Major Harris’ final victory as a Mountaineer is a memorable one, coming on

Thanksgiving night against a pesky Syracuse team. Harris becomes the first quarterback in

NCAA history to go over 5,000 yards passing and 2,000 yards rushing for his career and leads a

game-winning 46-yard drive following a fumble recovery in the final quarter.

1990 - FROM THE PENTHOUSE TO THE @$&*HOUSE

After a spring filled with highly-publicized clashes with Head Coach Don Nehlen, Mountaineer

immortal Major Harris elected to forgo his final year of collegiate eligibility and enter the NFL

draft. At the time, many WVU loyalists reacted to this news with surprising ambivalence.

Sporting a classic “what-have-you-done-for-us-lately” attitude, a sizable contingent of

Mountaineer Nation were all too ready to say good riddance to the Maj. Their rationale? Waiting

in the wings was backup Greg Jones, a highly-touted transfer from the University of Miami.

These fans were eager to see Harris out the door because they wanted to see what Jones could do

in his final year. In retrospect, this widespread attitude on campus can only be attributed to a bad

case of being SERIOUSLY spoiled by the success of the recent seasons which Major was an

integral and invaluable part of.

Well, Mountaineer fans got their wish. Jones was the starting quarterback during the 1990

season, and his performance was decidedly underwhelming, characterized by a noticeable lack of

both playmaking ability and leadership skills. With the Mountaineer offense further hampered by

the failure to find a consistent ground game, the result was a sad 4-7 campaign despite a

favorable schedule which included seven home games.

But perhaps the worst handicap to WVU’s 1990 season was the horrific year suffered by wide

receiver James Jett. Jett was nationally renown for his world class speed, but during this season

that swiftness was negated by hands of stone. Jett was unable to hang onto sure touchdown

passes in games against Maryland, Louisville and Virginia Tech - games the Mountaineers each

lost by less than a touchdown.

And so a program that had tasted a potential National Championship just two years earlier was

brought rudely back to the status of also-ran. After suffering those few frustratingly close losses

early in the season, the Mountaineers seemed to unravel and lose morale more and more as the

campaign went on, closing out the year by sleepwalking through blowout losses to Syracuse and

South Carolina.

No one will ever know what would have happened had the Maj stayed for his Senior season, but

I say he turns at least three of those L’s into W’s easily.

As a footnote, 1990 was the last season in which WVU officially competed as an Eastern

Independent school before joining the newly-minted Big East football conference for 1991.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT:

September 29: The Mountaineers choose to play what will be by far their best game of the year in

the Backyard Brawl at Pitt Stadium. Avenging last season’s infamous comeback tie, the

Mountaineers breeze to touchdowns on their first four possessions en route to a 38-24 laugher.

The Mounties roll up 547 yards in total offense, with 197 contributed in a career day by

otherwise-obscure RB Michael Beasley,

SEASON LOWLIGHT:

October 27: In one of the lamest WVU performances ever at Mountaineer Field, the team

implodes against Boston College, with four first half turnovers leading directly to Eagles scores

and a 27-0 halftime deficit. It’s an early postgame tailgate in Morgantown.

1991 - SHADES OF GRAY

The 1991 West Virginia Mountaineer football season is one that probably looks slightly better in

retrospect than it did when it was actually playing itself out. The squad arguably had far less

talent and experience than the group that had posted a lame 4-7 record the season before, and

expectations were that their record in ‘91 would be similar, or perhaps even worse, with a slew

that included six of the schools who had handed the Mountaineers losses the previous season,

plus the addition of perennial national title contender Miami. And there was a definite apathy

among the fanbase in 1991, as Mountaineer rooters with the sweet taste of the Major Harris years

still fresh in their mouths oftentimes didn’t seem interested in supporting a team that was no

longer a part of the AP poll discussion.

While the Mountaineers certainly took their lumps this year in blowout losses to Pitt, Penn State

and the Hurricanes, they survived to post a winning slate at 6-5. In fact, if it were not for one

botched play, the team might have put together an early six-game winning streak and the

complexion of the whole season might have been vastly different.

The team’s biggest issue was at quarterback, where senior Chris Gray and sophomore Darren

Studstill alternated with limited success. Gray had a strong arm but a slow release and little

accuracy. Studstill’s feet made him a mobile threat, but he still had lots to learn about the passing

game as evidenced by his thirteen interceptions. However, Studstill did come of age in the

Boston College game when he tossed three touchdown strikes, the last being the game-winner

from forty yards out with less than a minute to play.

1991 marked West Virginia’s first season in Big East Conference play. The Mountaineers were

the only conference team in this initial year to face all seven of their conference rivals in football.

A tragic footnote to the 1991 season would occur ten years later when the affable Gray, an

employee of Cantor-Fitzgerald at the World Trade Center, was one of the more than three

thousand Americans killed during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

September 7: Whatever else can be said about the 1991 team’s accomplishments (or lack

thereof), they achieve something done by no other Mountaineer football team in the past

thirty-two years (and, indeed, since 1956). The Mountaineers deny another school an undefeated

season by handing Don Nehlen’s alma mater Bowling Green their only loss of the year, 24-17, at

Mountaineer field. Chris Gray throws the lone touchdown pass of his career. Criminally, the

Falcons are unranked by the AP at season’s end.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

October 5: The Mountaineers are making a dramatic comeback in a struggle with the Virginia

Tech Hokies at Mountaineer field in a game that has had its second half delayed by heavy

rainstorms. With time running out and WVU trailing 20-14, they move their way closer and

closer to the Tech goal line. Chris Gray fakes a handoff and keeps the pigskin on a bootleg to the

left side. He looks to have a clear angle to go in for the score when he loses the handle on the

football. No one hits him, he just drops it. Tech recovers, leaving WVU with their most

agonizing loss of the season.

1992 - FIT TO BE TIED

The West Virginia Mountaineers were fit to be tied in 1992. Twice during the season, the team

was unable to resolve the issue with an opponent on the field and the result was tossed out of the

standings. A win in just one of those contests would have made this season’s edition of the

Mountaineers bowl eligible. Within just a few years, tie games would forever be eliminated from

the college game with the long-overdue instituting of an overtime system, preventing such

situations from ever happening again.

The first of those two deadlocks came in the traditional MAC opener versus Miami University of

Ohio. On a soggy, rain-soaked field, the Mountaineers showed that they were not ready for prime

time as they were unable to come out on top in the turnover-filled game. The effort did inspire a

classic Nehlenism. Referring to the numerous fumbles in the contest, Don noted “The ball looked

like a Mexican jumping jack out there.”

There were no problems with the weather a week later when the Mountaineers were greeted by

an absolutely gorgeous day in Pitt stadium the next week. They responded by demolishing the

Panthers by a 44-6 score. The victory was a measure of revenge against Pitt senior quarterback

Alex Van Pelt, a West Virginia native who opted for the Panthers over the Mountaineers. With

this defeat, Van Pelt finished his career with a losing slate against the school he spurned.

However, if the Pitt game was satisfying, it was just a prelude to the excitement that took place

the following week. At home against Maryland, the Mountaineers fell into a 33-14 hole early in

the fourth quarter. Darren Studstill, replacing starter Jake Kelchner, engineered one of the most

remarkable comebacks in Mountaineer football history, hitting on three touchdown passes in the

final frame to pull out the 34-33 win.

A trip to Blacksburg brought a 16-7 win over Virginia Tech, snapping a galling three game losing

streak to the Hokies. Then the Mountaineers squared off against Boston College at home in a

match of undefeated squads. After the game, both teams would still be undefeated. West Virginia

took a 14-3 lead in the second quarter, but fell behind after halftime and had to rally for a tie

score. They escaped defeat by smothering a BC field goal attempt in the final seconds.

Key to West Virginia’s start was a revitalized offense and a rapidly maturing defense. Notre

Dame transfer Jake Kelchner began to immediately fulfill his promise, and backup Studstill, with

a year under his belt, was playing with confidence and full ability. Native Hawaiian Adrian

Murrell, who had come on strong at the end of 1991, was on his way to the first 1,000-yard

season by a Mountaineer rusher since Robert Alexander in 1980. On the other side of the ball,

Darrik Wiley, Matt Taffoni, Tommy Orr and Mike Collins were leaders on an emerging

defensive unit.

The unbeaten skein was finally snapped the following week in a game that few Mountaineer fans

who witnessed it will ever forget. West Virginia led late in the fourth quarter, 17-13, and was

trying to hold off a final Syracuse drive to preserve the win. Syracuse quarterback Marvin Graves

was forced out of bounds on a scramble, and then turned around and threw the ball at West

Virginia defensive back Tommy Orr. A brawl broke out on the sidelines, and when the

donnybrook subsided, West Virginia found three of its defensive starters ejected. Syracuse

meanwhile, had just one player tossed - a marginal third-stringer. Graves, the instigator of the

melee, stayed in the game and promptly drove the Orange to the winning score. The TD came on

a pass against defensive back John Harper, who was in the game because starter Mike Collins

had been ejected. Mention of the 1992 20-17 loss to Syracuse raises the hackles of Mountaineer

football fans to this day.

October 24 saw the last-ever (to date) matchup with long-hated rival Penn State. In a wild,

bizarre game in which Mountaineer field was hit with every type of weather imaginable during

the course of the event, West Virginia once again came up on the short end to the Lions, this time

by a score of 40-26. Murrell and State’s Richie Anderson each rushed for over 100 yards, and the

Lions got the winning touchdown in the final minute (padding the margin by returning an

interception for a score on the ensuing WVU drive). It was a contest in which the Mountaineers

were not without their opportunities to win. Near the goal line with the score tied late in the

game, Studstill called the number of fullback Rodney Woodard. Woodard misheard the play and

the huddle, and surprised to get the ball, fumbled it away to the Lions at the one, sending WVU’s

hopes for victory up in smoke.

Following a 35-23 pounding in Coral Gables at the hands of the Miami Hurricanes, the

Mountaineers’ unbeaten 3-0-2 start had disintegrated into a 3-3-2 mark. After a solid 41-28 win

over East Carolina, the fate of the season rested in the final two games.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

November 14: The Mountaineers appear to have given up on the season in a listless 13-9 loss to

Rutgers at the Meadowlands, the program’s first loss to the Scarlet Knights in eight years. With

the record now at 4-4-2, West Virginia now faces the prospect of a losing season after starting

out unbeaten in the first five games.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

November 21: West Virginia rebounds and plays a solid game in a 23-3 win over Louisiana

Tech, a team that had earlier played eventual national champion Alabama toe-to-toe. The win

secures a winning season and sends a positive vibe into the offseason, one which will have a

tremendous payoff the following year.

1993 - THE UNLIKELY UNBEATENS

The 1993 West Virginia Mountaineers didn’t have any Heisman Trophy or All-American

candidates. They didn’t have any preseason top-25 rankings or expectations to win their

conference title. They didn’t have eye-popping statistics. They didn’t have a settled starter at

quarterback or a stable offensive line. They didn’t even have the pedigree of most other

Mountaineer squads of the era, with only offensive lineman Rich Braham and kicker Todd

Sauerbraun going on to substantial NFL careers. All they had was heart, a desire to win, and an

uncanny ability to find ways to win that often manifested itself in an almost preternatural luck. It

was as if all the breaks that had gone against the team in the 1992 season were going West

Virginia’s way in ‘93. The result was the second undefeated regular season of Don Nehlen’s

career, following in the footsteps of the 1988 squad. The two teams could hardly have been more

different. The 1988 squad was a juggernaut who barely broke a sweat in their 11-0 run, never

being seriously challenged in any of those games. By contrast, the 1993 team won five of their

eleven games by less than a touchdown, and all five of those victories provided plenty of

heart-stopping moments for Mountaineer fans.

The biggest concern coming into the 1993 season was the loss of three key players on last year’s

offense - running back Adrian Murrell, wide receiver James Jett, and center Mike Compton. A

pair of previously-unknown players stepped up to fill the first two vacancies. Robert Walker, a

sophomore from Huntington, had a dream season, setting a new single-season rushing record for

a Mountaineer with 1,250 yards. Mike Baker, a senior who had caught just three passes the year

before, likewise came out of nowhere to become a deep-threat receiver with 714 yards and five

touchdowns. Converted guard Dale Williams filled in at the center slot, resulting in a

hodgepodge of shifting lineups for the offensive line, but somehow the combinations worked,

with Braham providing the bedrock of stability. At quarterback, pro-style passer Jake Kechner

would begin the year, but as the season went on, Nehlen began to make more and more use of the

less-accurate but more mobile Darren Studstill. The Mountaineers quickly found themselves with

two capable quarterbacks and an effective platoon system.

The season’s first big game took place early in September at College Park, Maryland. The

Mountaineers would have all they could handle in a wild game, as Terp QB Scott Milanovich put

up a school-record 451 yards in an all-out passing assault. The Mountaineers, on the strength of

five long, sustained touchdown drives, led 42-23 in the fourth quarter. But Milanovich made

things dicey by nearly rallying Maryland with two quick late TDs, and only when the

Mountaineers successfully fell on a Terp onside kick in the final minutes could Mountaineer

nation breathe easier.

But if West Virginia fans thought that the Maryland game was a nail-biter, it turned out to be just

a prelude to a pair of the most nerve-wracking finales ever at Mountaineer Field. The first

occurred in the contest against Virginia Tech on October 2. The Mountaineers that day would

commit five turnovers against none for the Hokies, but pulled ahead late in the game following a

15-play drive that ended in a Rodney Woodard smash over the goal. Mountaineer fans held their

collective breath as VPI’s Ryan Williams lined up for a potential game-winner from 44 yards out

and a minute to play, but a fortuitous breeze helped to blow the kick wide right.

The next cardiac finish took place the following week against Louisville in a matchup of

unbeatens. Special teams would come up big for the Mountaineers on this day as three long

kickoff returns and killer punting from Todd Sauerbraun considerably aided WVU’s victory

effort. Walker was brilliant with 161 yards rushing including a 50-yard beauty which put the

Mountaineers up 33-28 in the third. Cardinal quarterback Jeff Brohm responded in the fourth

with his fourth TD pass of the game. Trailing 34-33, Mike Baker brought the kickoff back 46

yards to set up Sauerbraun’s 36-yard field goal. The Cardinals, plagued by late turnovers, were

unable to answer, and the Mountaineers escaped with another tight win and at 5-0 found

themselves slowly but surely creeping up in the lower ranks of the top 25 poll.

After pulling away in the second half to blow past Pittsburgh 42-21, the Mountaineers looked to

an October-ending date with Syracuse. Remembering last season’s bitter and controversial

defeat, WVU wanted to make a statement at the Carrier Dome. They would do so in a big way, as

Walker cruised for 198 yards, ten more than the entire Syracuse offense. Kelchner, not known for

his running ability, even contributed a 51-yard scamper for a touchdown. Leading just 7-0 at

halftime, the Mountaineers romped to 36 second-half points en route to a thoroughly satisfying

43-0 blowout.

The win vaulted West Virginia to a number eleven spot in the polls, and they cracked the top ten

after similar annihilations of Rutgers and Temple by a combined 107-29. The stage was set for a

fantastic finish to the season with games against two ranked teams.

In front of a record Mountaineer Field attendance of over 70,000 rabid fans, the Mountaineers

triumphed over the number 4 Miami Hurricanes for the first time in twenty years, 17-14. Now, as

the team headed to Cherry Hill to play the number eleven Boston College Eagles (who were fresh

off a huge upset of Notre Dame), talk of potentially playing in a national championship game was

in the air. The only other undefeated team in the mix (besides probated Auburn) was Nebraska,

but they seemed to be locked into a New Year’s day matchup with number one Florida State.

But the Mountaineers would first have to take care of business in Beantown, and there they

would face their biggest crisis. The undefeated season seemed to be vanishing into the chilly late

November air when BC took a 14-3 lead early in the fourth quarter to hand the Mountaineers the

largest deficit they had faced all season. With the dream slipping away; the Mountaineers, who

had been stymied on offense to this point, began to put together a 77-yard march.

A little-remembered Mountaineer hero, tight end Nate Rine, made two straight crucial grabs over

the middle - on third and eleven and fourth and five - to save the drive and the season for West

Virginia. Another fourth down situation was converted with a pass interference call against BC’s

Joe Chmura in the end zone. Rodney Woodard subsequently fought his way to paydirt, and the

Mountaineers trailed 14-9. The Eagles came marching right back to reach the WVU 27 yard-line

with less than three minutes to play, and looked to put the game away. But as with all teams of

destiny, the Mountaineers got the miraculous break they needed. Dave Green fumbled the

ball - one of five critical Eagle turnovers on the day - and Mike Logan recovered for West

Virginia. A huge run by Woodard took the ball into BC territory, and from the 24, Darren

Studstill found reserve receiver Ed Hill in the right corner of the end zone. Hill pulled in the ball

and fell to the turf with just a little over a minute remaining. After a successful two-point

conversion attempt Boston College’s last gasp attempt came up short when Glenn Foley threw a

desperation pass which was intercepted by Logan on the game’s final play. For the second time

in five years, Don Nehlen had led the Mountaineers to an unblemished regular season mark, a

major bowl game, and a shot at a national title.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT:

November 20: With a chance to prove to the nation that they are for real, the Mountaineers are

not about to waste the opportunity, and they vault into the nation’s top five with a 17-14 toppling

of conference Goliath Miami. Mike Logan sets the tone for the contest with a 42-yard return of

the opening kickoff.The game quickly turns into a battle of field position in which the

Mountaineers are ably assisted by the leg of Sauerbraun. This eventually yields a short field goal

by Tom Mazzone for a 3-0 halftime lead. Hurricanes wake up in the second half and pull ahead

14-10 behind Donnell Bennett’s two touchdowns. Robert Walker puts the Mountaineers on top

to stay on a 19-yard scoring run around the left end, and the game is clinched when Kelchner hits

a gutsy 42-yard pass to Jay Kearney to help the Mountaineers keep possession and run out the

clock at the end.

SEASON LOWLIGHT:

January 1: Nehlen’s lobbying for a showdown with undefeated Nebraska fall on deaf ears as the

Cornhuskers are matched with number one Florida State in the national title Fiesta Bowl game.

The Mountaineers will have to wait till the opener of next season for that matchup. Briefly

considering a meeting in the Cotton Bowl with Texas A&M, the athletic department opts for the

more lucrative Sugar Bowl against the Florida Gators. Things started off well with the

Mountaineers looking sharp and scoring on their first possession as Kelchener hits Kearney with

a scoring strike for an early 7-0 lead. WVU has Florida stopped on its next possession, but a

stupid personal foul penalty committed against Eric Rhett enables the Gators to keep possession

after they had been halted on third down. Rhett scores to tie the game, and shortly thereafter

Studstill is hit while trying to throw and Florida’s Larry Wright picks off the fluttering pass and

waltzes fifty-two yards into the Mountaineer end zone. The margin increases to 21-7 when Logan

slips in coverage, allowing Willie Jackson to take a pass to a 39-yard score 51 seconds before

halftime. Out of miracles for the season, West Virginia surrenders two more Rhett TD’s in the

second half on the way to a 41-7 blowout loss, rendering moot all discussion of their role in the

national championship debate.

1994 - TURNAROUND

The fall of 1994 was a tale of two seasons in Morgantown, as the West Virginia Mountaineers

shook off a horrible 1-4 start to go 6-1 down the stretch and claim a bid for a New Year’s Day

bowl game. While it is impossible to ignore the ugliness of some of the losses during the early

part of the schedule, it is inspiring the way the offense and defense both found themselves and

came on strong towards the end of the year. Unfortunately, the late-season magic did not

continue into the Carquest Bowl, when the Mountaineers were their own worst enemy in falling

24-21 to a beatable South Carolina team.

Coming into the campaign having lost nearly all of the key components from their 1993 national

title contender, the rebuilding squad faced a daunting task as they were pitted in the annual

Kickoff Classic game against the awesome Nebraska Cornhuskers, who would take the national

crown in ‘94 after having been denied in their narrow Fiesta Bowl loss the year before. Nebraska

predictably steamrolled the Mountaineers 31-0, and it might have been even worse had Todd

Sauerbraun’s booming punts not kept the Huskers in poor field position all day long. Perhaps the

shellshock of that brutal debut had its hangover effect in the weeks that followed, as perhaps did

being on the road for five of the first seven contests. West Virginia barely escaped against Ball

State 16-14, and then suffered an ugly 17-12 loss at the Meadowlands to the Rutgers Scarlet

Knights. It would be the last Rutgers win over a WVU team in, well, forever.

The spark that turned the entire season around came in a wild and wooly Backyard Brawl in

mid-October, a game that had to be seen to be believed. In a contest which featured over 900

yards offense, touchdowns on blocked field goal returns by each team, and even a deuce scored

by WVU’s defense on a Pitt conversion attempt, West Virginia led 31-6 at one point only to have

Pitt roar back to tie the game at 33 and set the stage for an incredible finale. With just a minute

and a half left, Chad Johnston hit Rashaan Vanterpool with an 80-yard bomb to put WVU back

on top again. But Pitt promptly swept down the field in the span of a minute to score a

touchdown and tack on a two-point conversion to take the lead 41-40. The Mountaineers were on

the brink of facing one of their worst meltdown losses in school history, when Johnston did it

again. With just fifteen seconds remaining, he found Zach Abraham streaking all alone deep

behind the Panthers’ short-zoned prevent. Abraham gathered the pass in and took it 60 yards to a

score for the 47-41 win, setting off parties all over Morgantown.

However, no one was thinking bowl bid, much less winning season, after the Miami Hurricanes

avenged last season’s loss to the Mountaineers in a 38-6 thumping that left WVU’s record at 3-5.

The stretch drive that achieved both goals came in an auspicious fashion as the Mountaineers

first annihilated Louisiana Tech and Temple by a combined 107-33. Then they proceeded to

knock off two consecutive ranked Big East foes, the latter of those a 13-0 shutout of Syracuse on

Thanksgiving in which the Mountaineer defense, heavily criticized for much of the season,

produced a gem.

The year failed to have a fairy tale ending as the Mountaineers fell victim to both SCU’s

legendary quarterback Steve Taneyhill as well as their own mistakes. Several golden scoring

opportunities in the second half were wasted by turnovers and fourth down failures, preventing

West Virginia from securing their first bowl win in over a decade in five tries.

SEASON LOWLIGHT:

September 17: A week after the Rutgers loss, West Virginia falls to 1-3 with an uninsipred defeat

at home at the hands of a subpar Maryland team, 24-13, after squandering a 10-0 lead. It is the

Mountaineers’ first loss to the Terrapins in four years. Maryland garners nearly 500 yards on

offense.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT:

November 19: The Mountaineers make a statement with a dramatic 21-20 win over number 17

Boston College, surviving a 300-yard passing performance by BC’s Mark Hartsell. Two

second-half touchdown passes by Chad Johnston - the latter to Zach Abraham with four minutes

left - put the Mounties on top, and they secure the victory with a fourth-and-one stuff on the

Eagles’ final drive.

1995 - A CASE OF THE BLUES

The West Virginia Mountaineers entered the 1995 season looking to build on the positive finish

of the previous year, when the club had started 1-4 but had rebounded to win six of the next

seven down the stretch to claim a Carquest Bowl bid. Instead, the team degenerated into a

mediocre also-ran despite returning key players at several positions from the previous year. Most

of the blame was put on an inexperienced and undermanned offensive line, which shuffled its

lineup and personnel throughout the campaign in an effort to find a working combination.

There was lots for the Mountaineer fan not to love about 1995; such as frustratingly close losses

to Purdue and Miami, as well as back-to-back shutout defeats to Syracuse and Virginia Tech. The

Mountaineers also lost to East Carolina University for the first time ever. Don Nehlen’s

playcalling in that game left fans scratching their heads as WVU had the ball trailing 23-20 with

scant time remaining and needing to go the length of the field. The Mountaineers proceeded to

run the ball on the first two plays of the drive, helping to kill the clock and whatever chance they

might have had to pull the game out.

When the 1995 edition of the Mountaineers did win, they often looked superb doing it, which

made their performance for most of the season puzzling. Also puzzling was the decline in

production from Robert Walker, the star of the magical 1993 season, whose totals had dropped

substantially each year since then.

SEASON LOWLIGHT:

September 16: The Mountaineers make a road date in College Park, Maryland, with a sartorial

twist: blue pants, instead of the traditional gold. In a driving downpour, West Virginia commits

seven turnovers and is soundly defeated by a beatable Terrapin squad by the score of 31-17.

Scores of traveling Mountaineer fans hoping to see a road win bring back only colds to

Morgantown and the blue pants are subsequently retired (at least for this decade).

SEASON HIGHLIGHT:

October 14: West Virginia gets their only win in the span of a month as they put forth a solid

effort on the road in a 31-19 win against Boston College. Chad Johnston tosses two TD passes

and Kantroy Barber has a pair of touchdowns as well.

1996 - THE PLAY THAT KILLED A SEASON

The 1996 West Virginia Mountaineer football season will forever be defined by and remembered

for one cataclysmic play which ruined a potential unbeaten season. Simply mention 1996 to any

true-blue-and-gold Mountaineeer football fan, and into their mind will instantly flash an image of

Tremaine Mack of the Miami Hurricanes swooping in to block Mountaineer punter David West’s

kick in the final seconds of a game the Mountaineers had a lock on, only to stunningly lose in an

instant. Of all the great heartbreaks in Mountaineer football history (and there have been many),

this one particularly stands out. It’s like no one can even remember any other game from this

season. After starting 7-0, the shell-shocked Mountaineers would win just one game the rest of

the campaign, although they did recover enough to give an excellent North Carolina team a battle

in the Gator Bowl before eventually succumbing, 20-13. It can only be left to wonder how

different the year would have turned out had “The Block” not happened.

West Virginia ran the table in its first seven games thanks to an outstanding defense which

allowed just 51 points in those games while registering two shutouts. John Thornton, Henry Slay,

Canute Curtis, Mike Logan, Vann Washington and Charles Emanuel were all experienced

performers who had big years. On offense, third-year starter Chad Johnston was coming into his

own as a mature, confident quarterback, and he had new blood in his backfield in emerging

legend Amos Zereoue, posting the first of his three consecutive thousand-yard seasons. However,

the Mountaineers’ lightly-regarded strength of schedule kept them from breaking into the ranks

of the top ten.

The golden opportunity to register that signature win that would meet the pollster’s approval was

blown by the Miami debacle. The Mountaineers would proceed to sleepwalk through the next

contest at home against Syracuse. West Virginia special teams would again prove

self-destructive, with two more punt blocks and a punt return for a touchdown, as the Orange

romped, 30-7. Despite a blowout of Rutgers (breaking the 50-point barrier against the Scarlet

Knights for the second straight year), the Mountaineers still seemed out of it going into the

all-important season finale against Virginia Tech. The Hokies took a relatively easy 31-14

victory. A team that had been a shoo-in for the Big East title in late October found itself saddled

with three losses in its last four games, and lucky to get a Gator Bowl berth.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT:

September 14: Probably the most important victory of the year comes in a nail-biter when the

Mountaineers survive a donnybrook with an East Carolina Pirates team (which crushed Miami

later that season), 10-9. WVU’s defense holds ECU’s dangerous option quarterback Marcus

Crandall in check throughout the afternoon, however, Pirates appear to have salvaged overtime

when Crandall throws a touchdown pass in the final seconds. But gutsy ECU coach Steve Logan

elects to play for the win, not the OT (overtime was instituted for the first year in 1996). Crandall

finds receiver Mitchell Galloway in the end zone, but he comes down out of bounds, prompting

sighs of relief from Mountaineer field. Had the Pirates elected to kick, the game likely would

have gone into the books as the first I-A football game in NCAA history to have an overtime

(that distinction would fall to Oregon and Fresno State two weeks later).

SEASON LOWLIGHT:

October 26: There can’t be any doubt or debate about this one. The Mountaineer defense outdoes

themselves and plays a brilliant beauty of a ballgame shutting down the Miami Hurricanes and

presenting the game on a silver platter to their offense, having its own problems dealing with the

‘Canes. West Virginia’s lone touchdown comes after Mike Logan gifts the ball to the offense on

the Hurricane three with an interception, Alvin Swope punches it in two plays later.

With 29 seconds to go in the contest, all the Mountaineers need to do is to get off a punt from

their own 30-yard line and the game is theirs. When wingman David Saunders is slow getting off

the football, Tremaine Mack jets past him to block David West’s punt. Miami’s Jake Halliman

picks up the ball and, going to the turf, quickly gives it to Nathan Brooks, who darts twenty yards

for a touchdown that silences Mountaineer field and kills the season for WVU. Some

Mountaineer fans later complain that Halliman was downed before he got the ball away to

Brooks, but the result stands. The Mountaineers never fully recover from this loss, staggering to

two more defeats in their final three regular-season constests.

1997 - MELTDOWN

At first glance, this looks like one of the more successful Mountaineer teams of the 1990's.

Didn’t the Mountaineers win seven games and a trip to a bowl game? Didn’t they clobber two

huge nemeses - Miami and Virginia Tech - during the campaign, satisfyingly settling recent

scores with both? Didn’t Marc Bulger spectacularly burst upon the scene as a sophomore,

accumulating the most passing yards by a Mountaineer quarterback in fourteen years?

Yes, it’s true that the 1997 Mountaineers accomplished all this. It’s also true that the Hindenberg

had a spectacular takeoff. It’s the way the season crashed and burned at the end that will always

be remembered.

Going into November, the Mountaineers held a 6-1 record and had their crosshairs set on a major

bowl game. They were white-hot, having just come off consecutive smackdowns of Miami,

Rutgers, Maryland and Virginia Tech. The latter would mark the only WVU triumph over the

Hokies in an eight-year span from 1994 through 2001.

Fans already beginning to speculate whether they would be heading to Miami, New Orleans or

possibly Arizona for the Holidays were about to witness a November meltdown of epic

proportions. First, the Syracuse Orangemen administered a public spanking on national TV to the

tune of 40-10. WVU attempted to right the ship by winning big over perennial Big East cannon

fodder Temple the following week, and then looked to a huge contest in South Bend, Indiana,

against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. A win in this one would effectively negate the Syracuse

debacle and put the Mounties back on track to a big time bowl bid.

It was one of those games in which one team moves the ball down the field on the other all day

but has trouble finding their way into the end zone. Meanwhile, their defense stuffs the other

team’s offense again and again . . . except for a few big plays which happen to be all they need

for victory. Remember the Pittsburgh Steelers’ win over Seattle in Super Bowl XL? That’s the

kind of game this was. Notre Dame took it, 21-14, wasting a career 234-yard day from Amos

Zereoue.

The loss dropped WVU from the top-25 poll, but they looked to salvage the season in the finale

by winning their sixth consecutive Backyard Brawl against the Pitt Panthers. Pitt, however, had

other ideas and sent the game into overtime. After Jay Taylor nailed a 52-yard field goal, West

Virginia needed just one stop on a fourth-and-17 to secure sweet victory. Pitt’s Pete Gonzalez

calmly converted the yardage with a deep pass, and then threw his fifth TD strike on the next

play, sending the Mountaineers off the field in anguish with the stench of their burning season in

their nostrils.

The Mountaineers would wind up in the second-tier Carquest Bowl, and the result was almost

predictable. West Virginia’s defense, perhaps embarrassed by their performance in the Brawl,

didn’t bother to show up and wasted a magnificent effort by the offense in a 35-30 loss to

Georgia Tech - WVU’s seventh straight failure in postseason play - in front of a

capital-P-for-Pathetic crowd of just 28,000. (For a bowl game? Really?)

No Mountaineer football team in the last thirty-two years started out with such promise and

ended up by leaving such a bad taste in the mouth of their fans.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT:

August 30: For the first time in seventy-four years, West Virginia meets the state’s other football

school - Marshall University - in what is destined to be a memorable game in the history of the

Mountain State. The Mountaineers threaten to make it another massacre, like the 81-0 tally in the

previous contest between the two teams, by jumping out to a 28-3 lead late in the second quarter.

Led by the spectacular exploits of future NFL blue-chipper Randy Moss, the Thundering Herd

roar back with 28 unanswered points of their own to take the lead going into the fourth quarter.

Nate Terry’s heroics save the game for WVU, as his two picks set up scores in the final frame to

nail it down for the home team. West Virginia 42, Marshall 31.

SEASON LOWLIGHT:

September 13: The lone blemish in the Mountaineers’ first seven games. A sorry, no account,

Boston College squad overcomes a 17-3 halftime deficit and hands West Virginia their first

defeat at Cherry Hill in twenty years. The galling and embarrassing loss - one of the worst of the

Nehlen era - ultimately serves as a foreshadow to the cataclysmic November the team will later

suffer.

1998 - YET ANOTHER BOWL BUMMER

Loaded with future talent on both sides of the ball, the 1998 edition of the West Virginia

Mountaineers began the season with a heady number eleven ranking. In terms of post-collegiate

success, no other West Virginia football squad was ever blessed with more personnel; as

Solomon Page, Anthony Becht, Marc Bulger, Amos Zereoue, John Thornton, Gary Stills, Barrett

Green, Jerry Porter and Charles Fisher all would go on to play in the NFL. But the year ended the

same way the previous two had, with a loss in a second-tier bowl game.

The Mountaineers got an early taste of reality when they opened the season by hosting

superpower Ohio State. The team played respectably in a 34-17 loss to the Buckeyes, but it was

made abundantly clear that this year would not have WVU contending for a national title as they

had in ‘88 and ‘93. The team did what they were supposed to do against bottom feeders, beating

the seven teams on their schedule who finished with losing records by an average score of 40-16.

But when faced with their own level of competition, they rose to the occasion only once, in a

memorable upset of Syracuse.

A pair of crucial, bitter defeats occurred in succession in late October; first to Miami, and then on

Halloween day to Virginia Tech. The Hokies in typical fashion used a blocked punt returned for a

touchdown to take control of the game early, and then blocked the extra point when the

Mountaineers answered with a tying touchdown. Mountaineer frustration was exemplified in the

second quarter when they failed to score on two second-quarter goal line situations. In the second

half, Hokie QB Al Clark took advantage of a blown coverage by Charles Fisher and hit a long

TD pass to seal the 27-13 win.

The players got together in a meeting following the VT loss, and vowed not to repeat the

previous season’s tail-end collapse. The Mountaineers would not lose again in the regular season,

finishing the year in style with blowout wins over Boston College and Pitt.

But a trip to the Insight Bowl turned out to be just another replay of a sad, familiar story to

Mountaineer fans. For the second straight year, the Mountaineers wasted a superb performance

by their offense in a bowl contest and dropped the game to the Missouri Tigers, 34-31. Special

teams killed the Mountaineers as the Tigers landed the first punch of the game by running back a

blocked field goal 70 yards for a score, and later blocked a Mountaineer punt for a key safety.

WVU staggered to a 24-3 halftime deficit, but the Mountaineers got back into the game in the

third by blocking a punt of their own, leading to a quick touchdown, the first of four West

Virginia second-half tallies in a furious rally. But time ran out on the Mountaineers, leaving them

with their eighth straight bowl defeat (a record at the time) dating back to the 1987 defeat in the

Sun Bowl. The Mountaineers hadn’t won a postseason contest since the 1984 triumph over TCU

in the Bluebonnet Bowl, a game that had been defunct for eleven years. Jokes about the

Mountaineer’s failure in the big games had long since seemed to be funny, and Mountaineer

nation wondered just how long it would be before the team finally brought another bowl trophy

home to Morgantown.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

October 24: For the second time in three years, West Virginia loses a heartbreaker to the Miami

Hurricanes. Bulger and company keep pace with the high-octane Hurricane offense throughout

the game, but fall behind late in the shootout 34-31. Bulger completes a long pass to David

Saunders in the final seconds, but the receiver comes out of bounds, and Jay Taylor misses a

53-yarder at the gun. Controversial pass interference calls which aid Miami in their victory have

Mountaineer fans grumbling at game’s end.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

November 7: An emotional West Virginia team, reeling after two straight tough losses which

have dropped them out of the top 25, rebounds on a nationally televised home game with a

thrilling 35-28 upset of number 15 Syracuse. Despite being outgunned by Donovan McNabb for

much of the night, the Mountaineers stay in the game with big plays, such as a 30-yard run off a

statue of liberty play by Amos Zereoue. Trailing 28-20 in the third, the Mountaineers put together

a long drive culminating in a 4-yard scoring run by the Z-man. Bulger hits Pat Greene in the

corner for the 2-pointer that ties the game. Syracuse kicker Nate Trout misses a 35-yarder, and

the Mountaineers get the ball again. With less than five minutes left, Bulger begins an

eighty-yard drive finishing off with a 43-yard scoring strike to a wide-open David Saunders.

Syracuse’s last chance ends when McNabb misses on a fourth-down pass into the end zone. Don

Nehlen’s final victory over a ranked team as WVU’s head coach is a sweet one.

1999 - A SAD SACK SEASON ALMOST SALVAGED

Don Nehlen’s penultimate squad was plagued by bad losses, bad injuries, bad press and just plain

old bad luck. An offense featuring talent such as Marc Bulger, Avon Cobourne, Khori Ivy and

Anthony Becht was hampered by injuries and by a less than stellar defense which struggled for

most of the year. Untimely sidelinings to Bulger were particularly devastating and forced

understudy Brad Lewis into a premature starring role. A 1-4 start included an opening day loss to

one-time schedule creampuff East Carolina, and drubbings to Maryland and Syracuse by a

combined 63-7 mark had Mountaineer faithful openly calling for Nehlen’s resignation. And this

time they were serious.

A magnificent opportunity to salvage an otherwise dismal year in a big way came early in

November only to end in agonizing heartbreak. Undefeated and number three ranked hated rival

Virginia Tech came to Morgantown. WVU put up a tough battle, but Tech predictably led 19-7

late in the fourth quarter when the Mountie offense, after doing little against the vaunted Tech

defense all day, suddenly put up two lighting quick TDs to astoundingly take the lead by one with

just 1:15 remaining. Hopes for an upset were dashed to bitter disappointment as future dog

murderer Michael Vick managed to use the time to drive his team to the winning field goal, and

what might have been one of the greatest wins in school history became just another loss in a lost

season.

The year did end on a high note as the Mountaineers broke fifty for the second straight year

against the Pitt Panthers to take the final Backyard Brawl ever to be played in old Pitt Stadium. It

served as a nice salve for the wounds the year had inflicted on the Mountaineers and their fans.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT:

September 11: The Mountaineers’ much maligned defense, criticized for its performance in the

opening day loss to ECU, puts it all together in a superb performance against Miami-Ohio and

their outstanding QB Mike Bath. The ‘Eers sack Bath six times and intercept him four times in

their 43-27 triumph. On the other side of the ball, a healthy Bulger throws three TD strikes.

SEASON LOWLIGHT:

October 2: On the other side of the coin, that same defense gets steamrolled for 388 rushing yards

in a frustrating 31-28 defeat at the hands of Navy which drops the Mountaineers to 1-4. During

the game, a plane flies above Mountaineer field trailing a banner proclaiming “NEHLEN MUST

GO”.

2000 - FAREWELL PRESENT

Don Nehlen’s final team at West Virginia University was far from being either his most

successful or his most talented. With a roster nearly identical to the squad which had finished 4-7

the previous season, the Mountaineers suffered brutal defeats to superior competition and often

struggled to beat inferior teams. Yet, the team overcame the adversity and numerous hardships of

the campaign to ultimately triumph and to give their beloved coach the best possible retirement

present - something no other Mountaineer squad had accomplished in sixteen years.

The season began in strong fashion with the Mountaineers posting solid, convincing wins over

Boston College and Maryland, only to be brought back to earth in game number three with a

beatdown at the hands of the Miami Hurricanes. Wins over Temple and Idaho brought the record

to 4-1, but the Mountaineers seemed to have their hands full in both of those so-called “breather”

games. West Virginia was hopelessly outclassed in their next two matchups, against Virginia

Tech and Notre Dame. While the Mountaineers took early leads in both games, they did not have

the horses to stay with those powers for four quarters.

A heartbreaking, demoralizing loss to Syracuse brought WVU’s mark to 4-4, putting thoughts of

the postseason out of the heads of even the most optimistic Mountaineer fan.

The crucial contest of the year came at Rutgers on November 11. With the Mountaineers once

again playing down to their level of competition, the Knights rallied to tie the game in regulation

and send it to an overtime session. Rutgers immediately scored in the first overtime frame, and

then forced West Virginia into a fourth-and-fifteen situation.

With the game and the season on the line, little-used substitute receiver Phil Braxton made the

most important play of the year when he snagged a Brad Lewis pass to gain the necessary

yardage for the first down. The Mountaineers went on to tie the game, and then win it on their

second overtime drive.

West Virginia would go on to garner the requisite six wins necessary to gain an invite to the

Music City Bowl in Nashville versus Ole Miss. The Mounties took in an infamous eight game

bowl losing streak dating back to their last postseason win in 1984, and few figured this game

would be the one to break the skein. Mountaineer fans and their coach were in for a pleasant

surprise, as they were treated to an offensive explosion seldom paralleled in the history of WVU

football. Fullback Wes Ours got things started on the opening possession when, on what had

become a signature play during the 2000 season, he rumbled 40 yards with a screen pass to the

Mountaineers’ first touchdown. Quarterback Brad Lewis was just getting started as he hit Khori

Ivy when another touchdown pass early in the second quarter, and then bombed the Rebels with

two more TD strikes of 35 and 60 yards to Antonio Brown. Just before the half, Ours collected

another score to make the intermission margin 35-9. Nate Terry ended whatever competitive

phase the game might have had by taking the second half kickoff 99 yards to the house, and it

later became 49-9 when Lewis threw another TD pass - his fifth of the game after totaling just

eight in the entire regular season - to Ivy. Eli Manning rallied the Rebels to three fourth-quarter

touchdowns to make the score a more respectable 49-38.

The victory was Nehlen’s 149th in a remarkable twenty-one year career which included two

perfect regular seasons. This final squad obviously did not have the resume of those two national

championship contenders, but they were none the less special to their coach or to Mountaineer

fans because of it.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

November 4: West Virginia apparently has a much-needed victory sewn up at home against the

Syracuse Orangemen. The Mountaineers have the ball and a 27-24 lead with less than two

minutes to play. Fans are horrified to see Scott McBrien throw an interception on an ill-advised

pass, giving the Orange a new life. Syracuse scores in the final seconds to take the game. In the

post-game press conference, Coach Nehlen announces his retirement effective at the end of the

season. Blame for the loss falls on the shoulders of McBrien, and he will transfer to Maryland

where he will be a major thorn in the Mountaineers’ side for years to come.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

November 18: Don Nehlen’s final game at Mountaineer field is a memorable one as his

Mountaineers pull out all the stops in a convincing triumph over a very good East Carolina team.

West Virginia excels in all three phases of the game, with the defense registering one TD and the

special teams setting up another. Brad Lewis throws for 290 yards, a career high which he will

eclipse in the forthcoming bowl game. The Mountaineers build a 29-7 halftime lead on the way

to a 42-24 final, and secure their date in Nashville.

2001 - AN INAUSPICIOUS DEBUT

It was a season of transition in Morgantown, as new coach Rich Rodriguez replaced departed

legend Don Nehlen. Rodriguez’s debut was anything but auspicious as the Mountaineers posted a

dismal 3-8 mark, the program’s lowest win total since 1978. West Virginia fans shocked and

depressed by the real world events of September 11 and their aftermath found little to lift their

spirits in their team’s performance on the field as blowout losses to Boston College, Virginia

Tech and Miami underscored the rebuilding status of the program. While Avon Cobourne shone

as usual on offense, posting another 1200+ yard season; quarterback Brad Lewis suffered from a

lack of quality receivers and struggled to move the ball successfully through the air. The

Mountaineers did put it all together for a staggering 80 points versus a hapless Rutgers squad,

achieving nearly half their point total for the rest of the season in that one game. However, the

achievement of the highest WVU single-game point total in fifty years was dimmed by the

context of the rest of the season and the quality of the opponent. Predictably, many of the

Mountaineer faithful openly questioned the hiring of Rodriguez during the campaign, but much

better days were on the horizon for the Blue and Gold.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT:

September 22: It didn’t get much better for West Virginia than a 34-14 win over Kent University,

the only team which finished with a winning record (6-5) that the Mountaineers defeated. The

victory propelled the 2001 squad to 2-1 before the roof caved in.

SEASON LOWLIGHT:

November 17: Perennial Big East doormat Temple scored their first victory over the

Mountaineers in over fifteen years. The Owls made the most of four WVU turnovers in the 17-14

upset.

2002 - THE SPREAD OFFENSE COMETH

In a remarkable turnaround from a terrible 3-8 season the year before, Rich Rodriguez took the

West Virginia Mountaineers back into the nation’s elite, sneaking into the top 25 for the school’s

first ranked campaign since the legendary 1993 season. Rodriguez’s unique version of the spread

offense - adapting the philosophy of a established passing formation and applying it to the

running game - began to get attention in the national media as the Mountaineers averaged 283

yards per game with its ground attack. Rodriguez found the ideal quarterback to run his attack in

sophomore Rasheed Marshall from Pittsburgh’s Brashear High School - the same institution that

had produced another great running quarterback, Mountaineer immortal Major Harris. Also in

the mix were feature back Avon Couburne, on his way to a career-best 1700 yards in his final

season, and emerging star Quincy Wilson, son of former Chicago Bear Otis.

Rodriguez’s defense often looked hapless in the early going, but the unit grew up during the year

and would make clutch game-saving plays in the Mountaineers’ stretch run at the end of the

season.

West Virginia certainly did not look like a top 25 team in the early going, being decidedly

overmatched in games against Wisconsin and Maryland. The squad began to turn things around

with wins over Rutgers and Syracuse by a combined 74-7. The turning point of the season,

however, may have come in the late October meeting with the Miami Hurricanes, who were

gunning for their second consecutive national championship. Although the Mountaineers lost the

game 40-23, they ran the Cane defense ragged to the tune of 363 yards on the ground. The

confidence garnered in the ability to hang with one of the best teams in the nation would cause

the team to catch fire in November on the way to closing with a four-game winning streak.

The Mountaineers continued to run wild with 250+ rush yards in wins over Temple and a Boston

College team which was coming off of a win over Notre Dame. Then came a stunning upset over

the Virginia Tech Hokies in Blacksburg, a game highlighted by a late goal-line stand. The

Mountaineer defense was similarly heroic in the Pitt game the following week, collecting four

Panther turnovers and stopping a last-ditch Pitt drive at the Mountaineer eleven to preserve a

24-17 triumph. QB Rasheed Marshall was beginning to find himself as a passer, hitting Phil

Braxton with a 79-yard scoring bomb. Marshall even caught a pass himself to set up another

Mountie TD.

The resurgence resulted in an invitation to Charlotte, North Carolina, for the Continental Tire

Bowl. Rodriguez’s postseason debut proved a disappointment as WVU was unable to keep pace

with the Virginia Cavaliers in a 48-22 track meet. But the Mountaineers still managed to hang on

to the last availible slot in the AP top 25 poll after the debacle, and notice had been served - West

Virginia was back as a football power.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

September 7: Mountaineer fans are given little reason to believe 2002 will be any different from

2001 as West Virginia is manhandled in an early road date with the Wisconsin Badgers. Badger

quarterback Brooks Bollinger faces scant pressure from the Mountaineer rush and finds open

receivers all afternoon long, throwing for over 200 first-half yards as the Badgers roll to a 34-3

halftime lead on their way to a 34-17 win.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

November 20: The West Virginia Mountaineers secure a huge signature victory for Rodriguez

early in his career with an upset of number 13 Virginia Tech. It is the Mountaineers’ first win

over their hated rivals in five years. A third-quarter rocket of a run by Quincy Wilson of 42 yards

surges West Virginia to a 21-10 advantage, and they hold off the Hokies with two fourth-period

defensive stands. Tech fails to score in three plays from the one when on fourth down Grant

Wiley got early penetration to cut down Hokie scoring machine Lee Suggs in the backfield. Tech

getsone more shot, but Brian Randall’s throw on the run is intercepted in the end zone by Brian

King.

2003 - GIANT KILLERS

The 2003 West Virginia Mountaineers will always be remembered for one game in an otherwise

up and down season. On a Wednesday night in late October, Rich Rodriguez’s lightly-regarded

squad clobbered a heavily favored Virginia Tech team which came into the game ranked number

three in the nation by the score of 28-7. The win was hailed as one of the greatest in Mountaineer

football history and set off one of the wildest nights of partying Morgantown has ever seen. It

also sparked a resurgence in the fortunes of the team, who surged to a seven game winning streak

after a lousy 1-4 start to claim a Gator Bowl berth.

Rodriguez’s spread offense, which had come on so well at the tail end of the 2002 season, failed

to ignite early in ‘03. Other than a big win over a horrible East Carolina team, the Mountaineers

stumbled through September, looking particularly bad in a 34-7 blowout loss to Maryland in

College Park.

Perhaps the turning point came in Coral Gables, in which the Mountaineers suffered an agonizing

loss to the powerful Miami Hurricanes, but apparently found new confidence in the near-miss.

Quincy Wilson made a spectacular 33-yard play for a touchdown to give West Virginia a late

20-19 lead. But Miami salvaged the game when Kellen Winslow Jr made a circus catch on a

fourth and long play to set the Canes up for the game-winning field goal.

As if spurred by the pain of the defeat, the Mountaineers set about turning the season around. The

moribund offense suddenly caught fire, jelling just in time for the nationally televised showcase

against the Hokies. Rasheed Marshall, Quincy Wilson, and Kay-Jay Harris ran wild as defenses

struggled to find a way to contain WVU’s spread. In early November, when Marshall was unable

to play because of injury in a key matchup against Boston College, sub Charles Hales stepped in

and played brilliantly in a 35-28 triumph. The following week, Marshall returned to rush for

three TDs as the Mountaineers broke open a high-scoring Backyard Brawl to run away in the

second half with a 52-31 victory. Solid wins over Syracuse and Temple completed the

seven-game run of the table, and the Mountaineers were on their way to Jacksonville for a

rematch with the Maryland Terrapins, the team that had handed them their worst beating during

the season. Any thoughts Mountaineer fans had for revenge were quickly stifled as the Terrapins

(led by Mountaineer exile Scott McBrien) dominated the Gator Bowl, beating the Mountaineers

even worse than in their September meeting. The disappointing finale became another in a long

line of embarrassing bowl game tanks for the Mountaineers.

SEASON LOWLIGHT:

September 13: In a terrible game featuring a combined fourteen fumbles between the two squads,

West Virginia falls flat on their faces in a 15-13 loss to a sorry, no-account Cincinnati Bearcats

squad at home. The Cats hold Marshall and company to just 243 yards of total offense and collect

five turnovers from the Mountaineers.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

October 25: In one of the most satisfying wins in Mountaineer football history, the ‘Eers

embarrass hated rival Virginia Tech, who comes into the game sporting a number 3 national

ranking, with a 28-7 beatdown. The Mountaineers dominate the game from the opening whistle,

coming up with turnovers on Tech’s first two possessions and turning them into touchdown

drives of their own. WVU gashes the Hokie defense for 264 yards rushing, with Wilson

contributing 178 of them. Tech’s only touchdown comes on a fluke play late in the second

quarter when, with the Mounties driving for another score, Wilson loses the handle on the

football and Tech’s Vagas Robinson recovers and laterals to teammate Vincent Fuller who

returns it for the TD. Replays clearly show that Robinson was clearly down before giving the ball

to Fuller. It turns out to matter little. Marshall ends the competitive phase of the game early in the

second half when, with the Mountaineers backed up near their own goal line, he lofts a pass deep

to Travis Garvin, who takes it to the house 93 yards. The Hokie meltdown is completed when

Tech coach Frank Beamer loses his cool in the fourth quarter and is caught by cameras slapping

receiver Ernest Wilford across the face.

2004 - UNDERACHIEVERS

Which West Virginia football team of the past thirty-two years were the biggest underachievers?

Considering the question purely from a standpoint of preseason expectations, most Mountaineer

fans will probably look no further than 2004 to answer that question. The Mounties went into the

season honored (branded, some would say in retrospect) with their first-ever AP preseason

top-ten ranking in school history. And while the team did not exactly fall flat on its face, neither

did they live up to that prenatal billing, finishing out of the money following an 8-3 regular

season (in which a pair of crucial losses late in the year cost them an outright Big East title and a

BCS berth) and a Gator Bowl loss to Florida State. The disappointment of Mountaineer fans was

not assuaged by the fact that, viewed objectively, 2004 was a slight improvement over 2003. But

only slight.

Everything seemed hunky-dory in the season opener, when the Mountaineers annihilated East

Carolina 56-23, looking every bit like a team worthy of their ranking. Kay-Jay Harris was

unstoppable with a school-record 337 yards and four touchdowns. Unfortunately, Harris would

never come close to achieving that total again. The back who had shone as Quincy Wilson’s

understudy in ‘03 struggled with injury for much of the year.

A particularly satisfying win in September came at home against Maryland, where the

Mountaineers snapped a four-game losing streak to the Terps as Chris Henry snagged a Rasheed

Marshall pass in overtime for a 19-16 triumph. West Virginia had moved the ball down the field

all day, amassing 352 total yards, but had struggled in the red zone.

The team’s AP ranking had risen to a lofty number six heading into a much-anticipated

showdown with Virginia Tech in Blacksburg. A brutal defensive struggle ended in a 19-13

defeat, subjecting Mountaineer fans in Lane Stadium to endure the taunts that Hokie fans had

experienced in Morgantown the previous year. The game turned on a blocked field goal run back

for a touchdown - a Tech trademark - in the second quarter, after WVU’s John Pennington was

unable to hang onto a third-down goal-line pass. Tech QB Bryan Randall, who had a nightmarish

all-time career vs. WVU, got the Mountaineers back into the game in the second half when he

threw a horrific INT to Eric Wicks which was returned for a touchdown, but the Mountaineers

were unable to complete the comeback.

As disappointing as the loss to the Hokies was, it seemed like just an annoying bump on the

tracks for the Mountaineer’s BCS train in the weeks to come. Four consecutive Conference wins

sent WVU into their second big game of the year, a home date versus Boston College. The

Eagles, lightly regarded in preseason press, took control of the race by capitalizing on early

Mountaineer mistakes for a quick 14-0 lead on the way to a 36-17 romp. Special teams were

cited as a culprit in the meltdown, as the Eagles brought back two punts for touchdowns.

The disintegration was completed on New Year’s Day as the Mountaineers played a competitive

game but were no match for ACC runner-up Florida State. Special teams once again hampered

WVU, this time plaguing the kicking game with two missed extra points on the Mountaineers’

first two scores. At the final gun, there was no trace to be found of West Virginia in the

postseason top 25 and the impending loss of Marshall, Henry, Harris, Pac-Man Jones and several

other key players made for a glum offseason in Morgantown.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

October 13: The West Virginia Mountaineers rebound from the disappointing VT loss in their

first Big East Conference game, their first meeting with new conference rival the University of

Connecticut, 31-19. The Mountaineer offense treat their fans and a national ESPN Wednesday

Night audience to over 400 yards of offense as Marshall and back Jason Colson (filling in for the

injured Kay-Jay Harris) each go over the century mark in rushing. The Mounties also collect

three picks from Husky quarterback Dan Orlovsky, with Mike Lorello taking back one for a score

to break the game open in the third quarter.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

November 25: On an inhumanly cold Thanksgiving night at Heinz Field, the Mountaineers stall

after a hot start and drop the Backyard Brawl, 16-13, to the Pittsburgh Panthers. The loss throws

the Big East standings into a hopeless logjam and all but doom the Mountaineers’ hopes of

playing in a BCS game. The Mountaineers dominate early, but let the Panthers hang around by

failing to capitalize on opportunities to extend their lead throughout the game. This sets up a

game-winning 73-yard fourth-quarter drive engineered by Pitt QB Tyler Palko to steal the game

following a Rasheed Marshall interception. Mountaineers blow chance at spectacular last minute

comeback win when Marshall nearly misses hauling in a sure touchdown on a gadget play pass

on their final drive.

2005 - DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH

Expectations were not high for West Virginia fans as Rich Rodriguez entered his fifth year as

head coach. The team returned virtually no one from a 2004 squad that many felt had

underachieved and been a disappointment after expecting to contend for a top ten spot in the

preseason. No one had any such hopes entering 2005. Compared with 2004, the talent level

seemed underwhelming, and national magazines all had WVU selected to finish in the lower half

of the Big East standings.

What happened that year was a very unique and highly exciting and enjoyable fall for

Mountaineer fans everywhere. The team started out of the gate stumbling and uncertain, with no

clear leadership or offensive direction. Yet they still managed to win, and win again. Like a train

gathering momentum, they gained confidence with each succeeding victory. And then, in

mid-season, Rodriguez found the keys to the second-ever top five finish in school history sitting

on his bench, wearing the numbers 5 and 10 - numbers which were soon to become iconic

Mountaineer jersey numbers.

The starting quarterback at the year’s commencement was Adam Bednarik, cousin to NFL

mega-legend Chuck. Bednarik was not the ideal quarterback to run Rich Rodriguez’s

offense - although a decent enough passer, he was notably slow afoot and immobile. Jason

Colson, Pernell Williams, and Jason Gwaltney were all steady runners but none were breakaway

threats. The result was a clunky offense which did just enough to claim a inelegant 15-7 win at

Syracuse on opening day.

The team began to find itself on a beautiful afternoon against Maryland at Byrd Stadium, a venue

where the Mountaineers had not won since 1997. The Mountaineers got their first look at young

Pat White when Bednarik was shaken up in the third quarter of a tight ball game which WVU

was leading 7-6. Although Bednarik had played well, the team seemed to have an extra spark

under White, who led two early fourth quarter touchdown drives spearheading a 31-19 victory.

One player who had his coming out party in the contest was first-year fullback Owen Schmitt.

Schmitt, a junior college product who had been rejected by the Terps, had a 34-yard rumble on

one scoring drive and finished off another. A Mountaineer legend was born.

White’s performance in the Maryland game earned him more and more playing time as he began

to get comfortable with the role of leader. Another piece of the puzzle emerged in a loss to

Virginia Tech as Rodriguez unveiled a previously sparsely used young back named Steve Slaton.

Slaton exhibited rocket speed in picking up a quick 90 yards in limited playing time, and found

himself just as quickly elevated to a starting position which he made the most of with a 139-yard

performance in a win over Rutgers.

At midseason West Virginia stood at 5-1 but still lightly regarded on the national radar, with nary

a sniff from the AP pollsters. One team that was in the top 25 was the Louisville Cardinals, who

came to Morgantown on October 15 for a game that was destined to become a classic in the

annals of WVU football.

Without intending any ill will towards Adam Bednarik, his ankle injury early in the fourth

quarter of the game turned out to be one of the most fortuitous ever for a team. At the time, the

Mountaineers were going down without a fight 24-7. White was forced into the game, and

suddenly brought the team alive, engineering three scoring drives in a seven minute span to tie

the game at the end of regulation. A wild overtime ensued, with the teams frantically trading

touchdowns. Trailing 46-44 and forced to go for a two-point conversion following a score,

Louisville’s Brian Brohm was stopped by Eric Wicks just short of the goal line and the

Mountaineers had secured a miraculous comeback. Steve Slaton was an unknown no longer as

his final tally for the game stood at 208 yards total offense and six touchdowns.

West Virginia would not come close to losing again in the regular season, and White was

suddenly receiving national attention with his footwork. On a wintry Thanksgiving night in a

romp over Pittsburgh he accounted for 220 of WVU’s 451 rushing yards, and scampered for 177

yards in the finale over South Florida as the Mountaineers wrapped up their first perfect record in

conference play in twelve years. They had steadily risen through the ranks to number 11, but as

the New Year’s holiday approached, West Virginia was expected to be Sugar Bowl fodder for

traditional SEC power Georgia.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

October 1: The Mountaineers suffer their lone defeat of the year, 34-17 to then number-four

Virginia Tech. It is to date the final game in the longstanding Black Diamond series. Once again

an injury to Bednarik puts Patrick White in the game, and he responds with two TD drives.

Mountaineer offense is no match for Marcus Vick and Tech on this day, however. Steve Slaton

emerges as diamond in the rough with 90 yards, including a 44-yard shot. Mountaineers get small

measure of revenge by eventually finishing ahead of VPI in final AP rankings.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

January 2: West Virginia’s third-ever visit to the Sugar Bowl turns out to be a charm. A game

moved to Atlanta’s Georgia Dome because of the New Orleans flood becomes essentially a

Bulldog home game. The Mountaineers will shock the crowd and the nation with first quarter

fireworks leading to a 28-0 lead, and then hang on by the skin of their teeth for a 38-35 win.

Slaton sets a Sugar Bowl record, breaking the old mark held by Tony Dorsett. His 204 yards

includes two 52-yard TDs - the former opening the scoring, the latter providing the clinching

margin. The Bulldogs nearly rally, twice pulling within three points in the second half, but the

Mountaineers secure what many view as the greatest win in school history when punter Phil

Brady unexpectedly runs for 10 yards on a fourth and six in the games final minutes. Critics who

complained about the Big East’s presence in the BCS are silenced, and the Mountaineers will

become a marquee college football team in the years to come, re-establishing a national presence

not held since Don Nehlen’s best years.

2006 - THE REDEMPTION OF THE BIG EAST

The NFL’s St. Louis Rams circa 2000 were known as “The Greatest Show on Turf” because of

their fast, talented, high-powered offense which was both high-scoring and thrilling to watch.

The Rams were expected to score in bunches every time they took the field, and usually lived up

to that promise. By the fall of 2006 Rich Rodriguez had assembled his own version of the

Greatest Show on Turf with his West Virginia Mountaineer squad. Quarterback Pat White and

running back Steve Slaton were two of the quickest skill players in the nation, and fullback Owen

Schmitt, the “runaway beer truck”, was a less-finesse style runner famous for his brutal,

punishing runs. Darious Reynaud and Brandon Myles provided two excellent receivers when

White felt the occasional need to put the ball in the air. The tandem would provide West Virginia

with its first squad ever to break the 500-point barrier total for one season. The team that had

finished number five in the nation in ‘05 with an upset of Georgia in the Sugar Bowl had its

sights set even higher in ‘06.

But they would have stiff competition this year. 2006 also marked the redemption of the Big East

Conference. The league had been the object of scorn and dismissal since losing three of its core

members in the past two years - with Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College defecting to the

Atlantic Coast Conference. Many openly questioned the conference’s worthiness to participate in

a BCS game. That all began to change with the Mountaineers’ big win the previous year. This

year, the conference would place three teams in the final top twelve of the Associated Press’s

rankings. By contrast, Wake Forest was the highest-ranking member of the supposedly more

attractive ACC, coming in at number 18. Louisville and Rutgers would each field outstanding

teams, easily the two greatest squads in the modern history of those two schools. What was good

news for the conference overall was bad news for West Virginia as they would find both major

roadblocks for their national championship aspirations.

The Mountaineers opened the season firing on all cylinders, blowing away Marshall and Eastern

Washington by a combined score of 94-13. Their first big contest was no contest as they took an

early 28-0 lead over Maryland on a nationally-televised ESPN Thursday night game. Little could

go wrong for the Mountaineers this night as exemplified by a pair of plays: Steve Slaton fumbled

near the end of a 52-yard run for the goal line, but teammate Brad Palmer was there to cover the

ball in the end zone for the score; and later, Darius Reynaud lost the handle on a kickoff but

picked up the loose ball and shot 96 yards through the frozen Maryland special teams squad for

another six-pointer. Slaton finished the 45-24 rout with a 195 yards and two touchdowns, making

him a viable early Hesiman candidate.

Like a heavyweight fighter facing a coterie of amateur contenders, West Virginia waltzed

through dates with East Carolina, Mississippi State, Syracuse and Connecticut, scoring no less

than 27 and allowing no more than 17 in any of those contests. The team had climbed to number

three in the polls, equaling the highest vantage-point ever previously achieved by a Mountaineer

football team. At the beginning of November, the stage was set for one of the biggest games of

the year on a Thursday night in the Bluegrass State against a number 5 Louisville team which had

also ripped through its schedule.

The game was everything it was billed to be, as the Mountaineers and Cardinals practically

burned down Papa John’s Stadium with over a thousand yards total offense between the two

squads. Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, an inability to hang onto the football cost them the

all-important game. The game-turning play was a fumble by Slaton who was nursing an injured

hand. It was returned to give Louisville a 23-14 lead in the third quarter, and a Cardinal punt

return for a score shortly afterward increased the advantage to 16. Pat White valiantly attempted

to rally the Mountaineers with 222 yards passing and another 125 yards on the ground, but they

would come up short in this one, 44-34. Slaton had 156 yards and a TD, and contributed another

74 yards receiving, but the fumble may have taken him out of Heisman consideration.

A week later, however, Louisville also was knocked out of the top five when they were upset by

Rutgers, who very quietly had snuck into the thick of the Big East and national title race. Now

the Mountaineers once again had an outside shot at the BCS berth. West Virginia responded with

big wins over Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, White and Slaton each rushing for over 200 yards as the

Mountaineers put on an offensive clinic in a 45-27 triumph in the Backyard Brawl.

BCS hopes eventually came to an end with a stunning upset loss at home to South Florida the

weekend after Thanksgiving. But the Mountaineers redeemed themselves in the season finale

with a dramtic three-overtime win against Rutgers, their second ranked conference opponent of

the season. The final 9-2 record was good enough for a Gator Bowl invitation to face off with the

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

The Gator Bowl had traditionally been a site of failure and disappointment for West Virginia and

their fans. This year, it looked as if another bowl bummer was in the cards for WVU. Tech

backup QB Taylor Bennett, making only his second career start, teamed up with star wide

receiver Calvin Johnson to make for a miserable first half for the Mountaineers. Owen Schmitt

had two TD runs to keep West Virginia in the game, but they trailed early in the third quarter by

a score of 35-17. White, despite being plagued by nagging injuries all over his body, masterfully

led a comeback to a 38-35 lead, highlighted by a 57-yard touchdown bomb to Tito Gonzales.

Given the lead, the West Virginia defense suddenly got its game on and Georgia Tech never

seriously threatened again. With the 38-35 bowl triumph, West Virginia looked toward a bright

future in a 2007 season in which the biggest stars on the squad would all be returning.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

November 25: Only one team is successful in stopping the West Virginia Mountaineer offense all

season long. The South Florida Bulls come to Morgantown with an aggressive defense which

puts the clamps on Pat White and Steve Slaton, holding them to just 43 and 17 yards rushing,

respectively, and taking advantage of Mountaineer turnovers. West Virginia has early scoring

drives bog down and is forced to settle for two Pat McAfee field goals. Late in the second

quarter, White is hit by Bull linebacker Chris Robinson, and George Selvie runs in the fumble

from nine yards out to give the Bulls their first lead. South Florida QB Matt Groethe leads a pair

of long, sustained touchdown drives of 66 and 77 yards, and South Florida has a 21-12 advantage

in the fourth. White goes to the air in an attempt to salvage the game, and hits Brandon Myles

with a 44-yard beauty to pull within 24-19 with five minutes remaining. But White is intercepted

on the Mountaineer’s last chance drive, dashing the Mountaineers hopes for a BCS bowl berth

this season.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

December 2: For Rutgers University, it’s the biggest football game in school history since they

inaugurated the sport in 1869. The Scarlet Knights come into Morgantown with a number 13

national ranking and possible BCS aspirations. The Mountaineers, with White sidelined by an

ankle injury, are forced to start backup QB Jarrett Brown. The offense doesn’t let down as the

Mountaineers roll to 439 total yards. Brown does his best White impersonation with a

spectacular 40-yard scoring run that puts WVU up 20-10 in the third quarter. Rutgers comes back

to take the lead 23-20 late in the game, but Pat McAfee ties it up with a 30 yarder in the last

minute of regulation. Overtime is reminiscent of the Louisville game a year earlier, as teams

trade touchdowns back and forth until Rutgers’ star running back Ray Rice, after scoring the

third OT TD, is unable to hang on to two-point conversion pass. It’s one of the greatest wins for

West Virginia in Mountaineer field history, 41-39.

2007 - THE BEST OF TIMES, THE WORST OF TIMES

For West Virginia Mountaineer football, 2007 was a season never to be forgotten - for all the

right reasons as well as the wrong ones. It was a season of unparalleled drama, disappointment

and redemption. Just a mention of the year 2007 is guaranteed to stir the strongest of mixed

emotions in the breast of any Mountaineer football fan. There never has been, nor is there ever

likely to be, a year quite like this one again. As the man once said, it was the best of times and it

was the worst of times.

For most of a golden autumn, Morgantown thrilled to the pursuit of a national championship, and

to the exploits of a team full of legendary players who were at the peak of their powers. For three

months, there was never a better time to be a Mountaineer football fan; and as November waned,

the wildest dreams of Mountaineer Nation seemed destined to become reality.

And then, the dream abruptly turned into a nightmare on a black December day with an

unfathomable, devastating defeat followed by a viciously venal betrayal which perpetuated the

darkest month in the history of WVU football. But the story ultimately had a happy ending with

one of the program’s most glorious triumphs under great adversity.

Following on the success of the 2005 and 2006 seasons, this year was expected to be even better.

The Mountaineers entered the year with by far their greatest national pre-season ranking - a

heady number three. Players such as Pat White, Steve Slaton and Owen Schmitt had become

nationally known, as exemplified by their appearance on the cover photo of the annual Sports

Illustrated college football preview issue. This year, that dynamic trio would be joined by a new

member - freshman phenom running back Noel Devine.

When the season opened, the Mountaineers would not disappoint. They looked unstoppable in

their opener, a 62-24 blasting of Western Michigan, achieving the highest point total by a

Mountaineer football team in six years. Next week following a slow start in Huntington, the

Mountaineers pulled away in the second half for a 48-23 triumph over Marshall.

Getting into the meat of the schedule against Maryland in a Thursday Night game in College

Park, the Mountaineers struck quickly as a Maryland fumble on their first offensive play was

instantly turned into a touchdown scamper by White. Devine burst on the scene with the first

100-yard game of his college career, and Slaton matched his total. Schmitt also had a big run

against the team that had originally rejected him as a walk-on candidate. WVU rolled, 31-14.

The Mountaineers were looking every bit the national title contender, as a 48-7 destruction of

East Carolina further evidenced. But on the last Thursday night of September, a monkey wrench

was thrown into the title plans. In a matchup of unbeatens, he Mountaineers ran into a fired up

South Florida team in Tampa and were upset, 21-13, committing 6 turnovers in the process. The

upstart Bulls, a program which was in just its eighth year of competition at the I-A level, had

conquered a ranked Mountaineer team for the second straight year. The win would vault the

Cinderella USF squad into its own top-five ranking, where they would climb as high as the

number two spot until late-October losses to Rutgers and Connecticut brought them back down

to earth.

With the Big East title still winnable, West Virginia got back on track following the South

Florida debacle. White and Slaton both saw limited action due to injuries, but WVU still

stomped Syracuse 55-12. Mississippi State also fell easily, 38-13. Now came a stretch run of key

conference games, the first two against teams which had both given the Mountaineers trouble the

previous year. Rutgers was swatted aside 31-3, behind Slaton’s three touchdowns and despite

Ray Rice’s 140-yard rushing day. Pat White won the Louisville game 38-31 in dramatic fashion

by dashing for a 50-yard touchdown with just a minute to play. Another close call came in

Cincinnati, where White’s 295 yards of total offense were just enough to hold off the Bearcats,

28-23.

Big, big, things happened for West Virginia on Thanksgiving weekend. On Friday, top-rated

LSU was upset by Arkansas in a thriller, moving the Mountaineers into the number two BCS

slot. All that West Virginia had to do was win out in their final two games, and a berth in the

national championship Sugar Bowl game against Ohio State would be theirs. Inspired, the team

went out on Saturday and did a number on Connecticut, rushing for over 500 yards in a 66-21

demolition of the Huskies. As Morgantown celebrated into the wee hours, the only remaining

obstacle to New Orleans was a final game at home against a sorry, no-account 4-7 Pitt team

which had lost three of its last four games. Oddsmakers didn’t give the Panthers a chance,

making them 28-point underdogs to the high-flying Mountaineers.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

December 1: Please don’t make me do this.

December 1st, 2007. A day that will live in infamy for West Virginia football fans. The one

hundredth edition of the Backyard Brawl, staged on a bitterly cold night on the first evening of

December, sees a capacity crowd at Mountaineer field expecting to witness the Mountaineers do

to the Panthers what they have done to ten other teams on their schedule - namely, cream them by

a big margin. Things start off swimmingly for the Mountaineers as Antonio Lewis intercepts a

pass on Pittsburgh’s first drive and brings it back to the Panther 27. In short order, WVU drives

down to the 2 before facing fourth down. The usually reliable Pat McAfee incredibly shanks the

kick. Later in the quarter, West Virginia drives to the Pitt 15 before stalling, only to have McAfee

miss another chip shot - two misses that will haunt WVU football fans forever.

The Panther defense brutalizes West Virginia’s vaunted offense, holding them to just 183 yards

on the day, with nine Mountaineer plays resulting in negative yardage. Slaton, Devine and

Schmitt combine for just 35 yards rushing. White is forced out of the game with a thumb injury

in the second quarter, but backup Jarrett Brown finally leads the Mountaineers to a touchdown,

carrying the ball in himself from six yards out. Pitt responds with a field goal on the last play of

the half, however, to make the intermission score 7-3.

The game turns on the second half kickoff when Vaughn Rivers fumbles the ball after a nice

return, setting up the Panthers at the Mountaineer 48. Pitt methodically grinds out the yardage in

11 plays, with QB Pat Bostick sneaking in for the score. With Pitt now in the lead, the Panthers

take control of the game with time consuming drives powered by short LeSean McCoy runs and

keeping the Mountaineer offense off the field. Brown is unable to get anything started, and his

fumble midway through the fourth quarter leads to another Pitt field goal. With the situation now

desperate, White returns to the game, but WVU’s hopes are dashed when he fails to convert

fourth downs on two consecutive drives in Panther territory. Pitt takes an intentional safety to

end the game and make the final tally 13-9 before a shocked and stunned crowd whose victory

celebrations for the night will be abandoned in the wake of the traumatizing loss.

Two weeks later, the still-reeling Mountaineer nation is hit with another bombshell when Head

Coach Rich Rodriguez, the architect of WVU’s rise to national prominence, announces he is

leaving immediately to take the head coaching job at the University of Michigan. A dispirited,

shell-shocked and despondent Mountaineer nation listlessly looks to a consolation Fiesta Bowl

game against number 3 Oklahoma.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

January 2: Assistant Bill Stewart is appointed coach for the bowl game, and immediately rallies

the squad and gets them focused on the contest. His preparations culminate in an impassioned

pregame speech, entreating the Mountaineers to “leave no doubt” as to who the better football

team is on the night. West Virginia indeed “leaves no doubt” as the team compiles 349 yards

rushing in a 48-28 laugher. Owen Schmitt, who always seems to have key big runs in

Mountaineer bowl victories, breaks the game open in the second quarter with a 57-yard rumble to

a score. Before the first half ends, Pat White finds Darius Reynaud with a 21-yard scoring pass.

Oklahoma closes the gap to 20-15 in the third quarter, but WVU will not be denied this night.

Noel Devine and Reynaud each contribute beautiful TD runs of 17 and 30 yards, ending the

competitive phase of the game. A 79-yard bomb from White to Tito Gonzalez later serves as a

cherry topping to the offensive showcase, and a 48-28 triumph. The tide of emotion following the

victory will eventually sweep Stewart into the permanent position of new head football coach for

the 2008 season, as players lobby for him in the wake of the Fiesta Bowl triumph.

Mountaineer play-by-play announcer Tony Caridi’s signature phrase following WVU football

victories is “It’s a great day to be a Mountaineer, wherever you are.” On the night of January 2nd,

those words have never been more true.

2008 - ENTER STEW, EXIT PAT

Bill Stewart, following an emotional Fiesta Bowl upset of Oklahoma the previous January in

which he held the team together amidst the turmoil of the abrupt departure of Rich Rodriguez,

was named the thirty-second head coach in West Virginia University football history for the 2008

campaign. Many at the time openly questioned the hiring, and a rocky start in which Stewart at

times seemed overmatched did little to assuage the doubters. However, Stewart was able to rally

his forces and keep the Mountaineers, who so nearly missed a shot at the national title the year

before, in the top 25 at season’s end.

After the Mountaineers began the season 1-2, including an awful 24-3 loss at East Carolina in

which they were thoroughly dominated by the Pirates, fans and pundits from all over openly

criticized Stewart’s play-calling and clock management. Stewart ignored the fire and kept the

Mountaineers on an even keel, and the team responded with solid if unspectacular wins over

Marshall, Rutgers and Syracuse. A highly anticipated nationally televised Thursday Night

meeting with traditional SEC power Auburn helped to ease a good deal of the heat. West

Virginia overcame a 17-3 deficit and ran all over the Tigers in the second half on their way to a

34-17 victory, and all of the sudden Stew was back in the good graces of Mountaineer nation.

Little matter that the win came against one of the lousier Auburn teams in recent memory.

With the pressure on their coach somewhat lessened, Stewart’s Mountaineers buckled down to

concentrate on winning the Big East. They shrugged off an early 10-0 hole at Connecticut to blast

the Huskies for the fifth straight year, 35-13, and then looked to a home date with Cincinnati in

what figured to be the game that would decide the Big East title.

The Mountaineers, seeming to have a penchant for putting themselves in trouble early in games,

spotted the Bearcats another 10-0 advantage right off the bat, on the way to the short side of a

20-7 intermission score in a first half punctuated by mistakes and missed opportunities. The

second half was filled with further frustration for the Mountaineers, as they failed to score on two

red zone opportunities. When the Bearcats took a safety to make the score 20-9 with just 1:11

left, the chances of a Mountaineer win seemed null. Incredibly, Pat White used the final minute

to rally the Mountaineers to 11 points and a tie, with the aid of a successful onside kick. It would

have gone down as one of the most legendary comebacks in WVU football history except for one

problem - the ‘Eers lost rather anticlimactically in overtime, failing to stop the Bearcats after a

Pat McAfee field goal had given them the lead for the first time.

Equally heartbreaking was the loss at Pittsburgh the day after Thanksgiving, costing the

Mountaineers a shot at a conference title tie. Pitt’s LaSean McCoy scored the winning TD with

less than a minute left as White almost rallied the Mountaineers, missing on a pass from the

Panther 18 on the last play of the game.

The Mountaineers, however, finished the regular season on a high note beating a real nemesis,

South Florida, who had seriously damaged the previous two WVU seasons with upset wins in

‘06 and ‘07. This time the defense put the clamps on the Bulls and the Mountaineers emerged

with a 13-7 victory. In honor of Pat White’s final home game, the team and fans wore white to

the game - and the weather co-operated as well, contributing a light snowfall.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

September 18: An early nationally televised showdown in Boulder against the Colorado Buffalos

ends in an overtime defeat when Pat McAfee’s attempt at a tying kick hits the right upright. After

spotting the Buffs a quick 14-0 advantage, WVU proceeds to rush for over 300 yards while their

defense shuts down Colorado for the rest of regulation, but the Mountaineers fail to captialize on

numerous scoring opportunities and drop an eminently winnable game to start the season 1-2.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

December 27: Pat White becomes the first quarterback in NCAA history to win four bowl games

as a starter. He does it in an unusual way - by throwing the football. White’s swan song features a

career high 332 yards through the air as the Mountaineers nip North Carolina in the Meineke Car

Care Bowl, 31-30. The win negates the heroics of the Tar Heels’ Hakeem Nicks, who hauls in

over 200 yards worth of passes on the day, and secures a top-25 finish for the Mountaineers.

2009 - NOEL, NOEL

The biggest change going into the 2009 campaign for the West Virginia Mountaineers was at

quarterback. Gone was Pat White, who had established a legendary status for himself with over

10,000 yards total offense in a four-year career. Stepping into the breach was Jarrett Brown, a

man who would never be confused with White, but a more than capable quarterback in his own

right. He would throw for over 2100 yards and rush for nearly 700 in ‘09.

But it was junior Noel Devine who stole the show this season, contributing a career-best 1465

yards rushing, and thirteen touches including several breakaway runs for key scores. Devine was

a threat to go all the way every time he touched the ball, and his heroics provided the greatest

source of excitement and pride for Mountaineer fans during this campaign. The team’s biggest

problems this year appeared to be turnovers, especially in the early part of the season.

Like all of Bill Stewart’s three Mountaineer teams, 2009 was characterized by frustrating losses

as much as it was for triumphant wins. Arguably the greatest victory of the Stewart era came in

this years’ Backyard Brawl, in a dramatic win over a Pittsburgh squad who came into the game

with a number eight ranking. On the negative side of the equation, the Mountaineers lost an early

shooutout with Auburn in which they coughed up the football six times, were beaten by the

South Florida Bulls for the third time in four years, and were nosed out of the conference title by

Cincinnati. The Bearcats won a tight 24-21 ballgame in which they scored a controversial

touchdown after an apparent fumble the play before. West Virginia had been awarded the ball,

but a replay official overturned the call despite an apparent lack of the requisite sufficient visual

evidence to do so.

But the biggest disappointment of the season came in a showdown with Florida State in the Gator

Bowl, against former Mountaineer mentor Bobby Bowden in his final game as a coach. A

defensive letdown in the 33-21 defeat wasted a brilliant afternoon by Devine, who picked up 168

yards and a touchdown. The Mountaineers took an early 14-3 lead before the Seminoles offense

took control of the game.

One notable debut took place during the October 17 game with Marshall. After an injury

sidelined Brown, future Hesiman candidate Geno Smith got the first substantial playing time of

his career and responded superbly in engineering a 24-7 win.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

October 30: What IS it about South Florida?, Mountaineer fans are asking themselves. The Bulls

raise their all-time record versus the Mountaineers to 3-2, bedeviling them once again in a 30-19

romp. Bulls quarterback B.J. Daniels accounts for over 300 yards in total offense and the Bulls

shut down the Mountaineer offense after allowing an opening 80-yard drive.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

November 27: Tyler Bitancurt becomes the new Bill Mackenzie when his fourth field goal

attempt, from 43-yards out, clears the crossbar to give the Moutnaineers an emotional 19-16

triumph over the top-ten rated Pitt Panthers at Mountaineer Field. Noel Devine makes the game’s

biggest offensive play with a scintillating 88-yard run to give the Mounties a 13-6 lead in the

third quarter. The win ensures West Virginia’s first undefeated home slate since 1993.

2010 - STEWART’S SWAN SONG IS PAR FOR COURSE

Say what you will about the late Bill Stewart, his teams were at least consistent. The three

Mountaineer squads under Stewart’s tutelage all finished with identical 9-4 marks, giving him a

better winning percentage than either Don Nehlen or Rich Rodriguez in his admittedly

comparatively brief tenure. Unfortunately, Stew will probably be remembered more for his

galling, often-times head-scratching losses more than he will be for his wins. These losses

included crucial conference matchups which cost the Mountaineers shots at BCS berths, as well

as two bowl losses to beatable ACC teams. Stew’s final season was emblematic of both the good

and the bad of his tenure.

The offense of the Mountaineers would have a much different look than in the recent past.

Pro-style passer Geno Smith was stepping into the saddle, and he would throw for the most yards

by a WVU quarterback in eleven years.

However, the offense would be hampered by the disappointing senior season of superstar Noel

Devine. Devine simply never got untracked in 2010, being hindered throughout the year by a

nagging foot injury, and was no longer the home run threat he had been in ‘09. In addition, Smith

having a less mobile style than predecessors Pat White and Jarrett Brown allowed defenses to

key on Devine, as well as forcing Noel into a role of workhouse back which he was ill-suited to.

His production fell off over 500 yards.

The team received a major scare in just their second contest of the season. It appeared as if

Marshall was going to defeat their in-state rival for the first time ever, as the Herd took an early

21-6 fourth-quarter lead in front of a delirious Huntington crowd. Smith led the Mountaineers to

one of the most remarkable comebacks in their history, engineering two 90-plus-yard drives in

the fourth quarter. The second ended with a 5-yard pass to Will Johnson with just twelve seconds

to play, pulling WVU to within two. Then Jock Sanders tied it by snagging Smith’s conversion

throw. It was Mountaineer fans’ turn to become delirious when Marshall missed their shot at a

tying field goal in overtime.

The Mountaineers settled down to business following that nailbiter, taking five of their first six.

The lone loss was a clash in Baton Rouge with mighty LSU, 20-14. WVU played toe to toe with

the Tigers, but untimely turnovers and giving up a long punt return for a score cost them a shot at

the upset.

The focal point of the season’s story, however, took place in late October. The Mountaineers

played poorly in close losses to Big East rivals which would ultimately cost them dearly.

Turnovers were the culprit in both losses. In the contest against Syracuse; Smith, appearing

unsure of himself for the first time all year, matched his season interception total by tossing three

to the Orangemen in a 19-14 loss. The loss to Connecticut the following week was even more

exasperating and crippling. WVU outgained the Huskies in yards 414 to 278, but lost four lethal

fumbles, including one by fullback Ryan Clark in a potential game-winning situation in overtime.

UConn took their first-ever win in the series between the two schools, 13-10.

A bye week enabled the ‘Eers to get back on track, closing the season by blowing away the

remaining four foes on their conference schedule to get back into the Big East race. Key was a

35-10 blasting of Pittsburgh in a memorable Backyard Brawl in which both teams wore special

commemorative uniforms. But on the final day of the regular season, the Mountaineers needed

help from South Florida against UConn to take the Big East BCS berth. They didn’t get it, as the

Huskies propelled themselves into the BCS with a 52-yard field goal in the closing seconds.

WVU was relegated to accepting a bid in the decidedly less prestigious Champs Sports Bowl,

and certainly played the game as if they wished they were playing somewhere else as five

second-half turnovers punctuated a thoroughly-forgettable 23-7 loss to North Carolina State.

Stewart’s three-year log, for all of its accomplishments, came down to one bottom line: No BCS

bowl berths and two straight postseason losses to ACC teams, not to mention the fact that the

Mountaineers dropped out of the final polls after a pre-season top 25 ranking. Changes were

most definitely in order, but that’s another story too long and sordid to tell here . . .

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

September 18: The Mountaineer offense is at its sharpest in a 31-17 demolition of the Maryland

Terrapins. Smith throws for 268 yards and four TDs in building a 28-0 WVU lead, and is

lights-out on third down, converting on 11 of 18 situations. On the other side of the ball, the

raucous West Virginia fans force the Terps into several false-start penalties. Maryland finishes

the game with -10 yards rushing and three turnovers.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

The Syracuse Orangemen hold West Virginia’s high-powered offense to just 284 yards and

subject quarterback Geno Smith to harassment all afternoon. The result is Syracuse’s first victory

over WVU in nine years, 19-14. Philip Thomas’ interception of Smith on the goal line is one of

three first-half picks by Geno, as well as one of two goal-line failures by the Mountaineers. Smith

is also sacked five times, including on WVU’s final offensive play of the game with the

Mounties in scoring range.

2011 - DANA’S DAZZLING DEBUT

The Dana Holgorsen era began a full year earlier than was originally planned for. West Virginia

had originally brought in the Oklahoma State offensive wizard as a “coach-in-waiting”, to take

over from incumbent Bill Stewart after a one-year apprenticeship. However, Stewart objected to

his “lame duck” status and attempted to clandestinely enlist reporters to “dig up dirt” on

Holgorsen, apparently in an effort to extend his own tenure. The move backfired when Stewart’s

actions became public and he was forced to resign, elevating Holgorsen to the position of head

man.

The Mountaineers looked to put the embarrassing soap opera of an offseason behind them as they

entered 2011 with the potential to field one of the most promising and explosive young offenses

in the nation. That potential would be realized with the spectacular season of Geno Smith, who

would shatter the Mountaineer single-season passing mark with 4,385 yards. As a byproduct of

the all-out aerial blitz, receivers Tavon Austin and Stedman Bailey each finished the year with

the two highest single-season receiving yard totals in Mountaineer football history.

On the down side, the team struggled on defense and in the department of special teams, the

latter an area which had been a Mountaineer weak spot for several years. These flaws very nearly

caused them to miss out on a BCS spot for a fourth consecutive year, but a strong finish after

mid-season struggles finally enabled the team to grasp the big-time bowl bid that had eluded

them in the three years under Stewart.

Holgorsen’s debut was a truncated one, as they were cruising to a 34-13 win over Marshall when

the game was postponed because of heavy thunderstorms, and eventually canceled. Mountaineer

fans faced a moment of uncertainty in the next week’s contest, as WVU trailed non-entity

Norfolk State at halftime. However, the Mounties pulled away in the second half for an easy

blowout win, and the Holgorsen show was off and running. They survived their first real test, a

37-31 barn burner with rival Maryland in which the teams combined for 957 yards. The

Mountaineers took a 34-10 lead in the second half and then withstood a Terp rally.

The Mountaineers got the chance for some real exposure September 24 when they hosted the

top-ranked LSU Tigers. Although WVU predictably fell by a 47-21 score, Smith put on a show

by setting a single-game Mountaineer passing mark of 463 yards (a record he would break later

that season against Connecticut). As in the previous year’s LSU game, an kick return for a score

proved a devastating blow for the Mountaineers.

The Mountaineers sailed into conference play with a 4-1 record and recognition as one of the

nation’s most powerful offenses. Although they continued to put up huge offensive numbers,

they were just 2-2 after the first four conference games. Defensive and special teams breakdowns

were the culprit, as a blocked field goal attempt returned for a TD was the key play in a 38-35

loss to Louisville.

Needing to win out in the three final games to have a shot at the rapidly fading BCS dream, the

Mountaineers would take three straight cliffhangers. They slipped by Cincinnati 24-21 by taking

advantage of someone else’s special team’s miscues for a change, blocking a potential

game-tying field goal at the end. The Mountaineers benefitted from knocking out Cincy star QB

Zach Collaras in the first half of that game.

Then came the Backyard Brawl the traditional Friday after Thanksgiving. This particular version

of the contest took on a special significance as speculation swirled due to off-field conference

realignments as to the possibility of it being the last series of the traditional rivalry, at least for

some time. The Mountaineers were not about to lose this year’s edition of the game. WVU came

from 10 points down in the slugfest, clipping the Panthers by a 21-20 score. The much maligned

Mountaineer defense came up huge, sacking Pittsburgh quarterback Tito Sunseri ten times during

the game, including four on the final drive to smother the Panthers’ last attempts to salvage the

contest.

The Mountaineers earned their trip to Miami for the Orange Bowl in similar never-say-die

fashion, scratching and clawing their way to a 30-27 fourth-quarter comeback win over South

Florida that was decided by a Tyler Bitancurt field goal on the final play. That followed a drive

that was kept alive by a huge circus reception by Stedman Bailey on a fourth and ten play.

Because of West Virginia’s imminent move to the Big Twelve Conference for the 2012 season,

2011 marked what appeared to be the final games for several traditional Big East Conference

rivalry games. This included both longstanding series with such foes as Syracuse and Rutgers as

well as recently-minted feuds such as those with South Florida and U-Conn, both of which had

existed for less than a decade. But the biggest casualty was the Pitt game - a contest which had

been played 104 times and annually since 1943, and one which had come to be recognized as one

of the most legendary rivalries in college football.

SEASON LOWLIGHT

October 21: The Mountaineers tumble from their number 11 ranking in the AP poll after they are

crushed by Syracuse in a thoroughly embarrassing 49-23 defeat. Syracuse is unstoppable as it

rolls up 443 yards and six offensive touchdowns, totals that Smith and the WVU offense can’t

keep up with. As in the LSU game, giving up a kickoff return for a touchdown helps seal the

Mountaineers’ fate - after WVU closes to 14-9 in the first half following a 64-yard bomb from

Smith to Bailey, Dorian Graham takes the ensuing kickoff 98 yards to the house, ending the

competitive phase of the game. Two untimely interceptions by Smith - one at the goal line - foil

the Mountaineer’s chances of coming back in this one. The Orange take their second straight

over the Mountaineers after an eight game WVU run in the series.

SEASON HIGHLIGHT

January 4: The Mountaineers stun the country by scoring an unprecedented 70 points in a

record-smashing performance against the Clemson Tigers in the Orange Bowl. A five touchdown

second quarter enables WVU to pull away from Clemson after a back and forth first quarter. The

key play is a 14-point swing early in the second quarter. Clemson, trailing 21-17, appears to be

about ready to retake the lead after driving to the Mountaineer three. But running back Andre

Ellington fumbles in a pileup at the goal line, and Darwin Cook speeds back 99 yards with the

recovery to give West Virginia an 11-point edge. A field goal to cut the deficit to eight is as close

as Clemson can come as the Mountaineers pile on three touchdowns in the half’s final three

minutes to leave the Tigers shell-shocked at the intermission. Smith calls his own number to cap

a 64-yard, 6-play drive. After an interception on the ensuing drive, Tavon Austin scores on a pass

from Smith. But the Mountaineers aren’t done yet as Clemson fumbles with just a minute to go,

setting up a Shawne Alston TD and a 49-20 halftime tally. WVU picks up right where they left

off in the second half with a 73 yard drive on their first possession and the rout is on. Orange

Bowl records besides the point total set by the Blue and Gold include Smith’s 401 yards passing

and Austin’s four six-pointers.