West Virginia Mountaineers
| West Virginia Mountaineers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| First season | 2013 |
| Head coach | smckenz3 5th season, 26–25 (.510) |
| Stadium | Milan Puskar Stadium (Capacity: 60,000) |
| Year built | 1980 |
| Field surface | Field Turf |
| Location | Morgantown, WV |
| League | NCAA Division I FBS |
| All-time record | 59–68–0 (.465) |
| Bowl record | 2–3–0 (.400) |
| Conference titles | 1 (2020) |
| Division titles | 1 (2017) |
| Heisman winners | 1 (2020) |
| Consensus All-Americans | 2 |
| Colors | Old Gold and Blue |
| Fight song | Hail, West Virginia |
| Mascot | The Mountaineer |
| Rivals | Pittsburgh Maryland Baylor Kansas State |
The West Virginia Mountaineers football team represents West Virginia University (WVU) in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). West Virginia plays its home games on Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium, located on West Virginia University's main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. The Mountaineers compete in the Big 12 Conference and are coached by smckenz3.
Contents
History
Period of Instability (2013-2014
The 2013 and 2014 seasons for the West Virginia Mountaineers were marked with continued instability. ChrisSchubert25 would take the helm of the Mountaineers in their initial season leading the team to a 2-6 record before resigning for personal reasons. The Athletic Department brought on new coach t-nawtical to take over the final games winning 2 of their final 4 games in the 2013 season to finish with a record of 4-8. t-nawtical would begin the 2014 season with 3 straight losses before he would also resign for personal reasons. DDhack18 would take over for the Mountaineers' final 9 games of the 2014 season leading them to 4 victories in 9 tries and ending the 2014 season with a record of 4-8. The Athletic Department decided to not renew DDhack18's contract and would begin a national search for a new head football coach.
ETMIV era (2015-2018)
2015
The 2015 season would see the WVU Athletic Department hire coach ETMIV to lead the Mountaineer football program. After a disappointing loss in his debut game against Auburn, coach ETMIV would lead the Mountaineers to a 6 game winning streak taking over the top spot for wins as a HC in school history. West Virginia's 6 game winning streak, which includes a triple-OT win and a double-OT win, would have harsh effects on the Mountaineers as they would make their USA Today poll rankings debut at 24 then promptly lose 3 straight to sit at 6-4. ETMIV would guide WVU to wins in its final 2 games to finish the regular season with a record of 8-4 and a bid to the Bourbon Bowl against Illinois. The Bourbon bowl would not end well for the good guys, however; as Illinois would dominate from the beginning in a 30-7 loss for the Mountaineers. Stability at coach would allow for improvements in recruiting and player retention.
2016
The 2016 season would see an home upset of #1 Texas and not much else to celebrate during the year. The Mountaineers would open the year with a road loss to #5 Iowa before losing their home opener to Stanford and a neutral site game to Tennessee. The 4th game of the year would see the #1 Longhorns come to town and the Mountaineers would pull of the stunning upset, holding the Texas offense in check, as they won by a score of 21-17. West Virginia would struggle down the stretch going 2-6 in their last 8 games to finish with a 3-9 record.
2017
The 2017 season is considered the gold standard in West Virginia University's CFBHC history. (Sr) QB Richmond King would lead the Mountaineers to a 9-0 start including a double-OT upset of #1 Texas in Austin. The Mountaineers would make it all the way to week 13 before they would suffer their first defeat of the season a 29-26 OT loss at the hands of the TCU Horned Frogs. The Mountaineers would meet the #1 Longhorns again in the Big-12 Conference Championship where they would suffer a 24-21 defeat at the hands of Texas. 2 games played against the Longhorns resulting in 54 points scored for each team. The Mountaineers would earn a bid in the Alamo bowl against the #20 California Golden Bears and they would cruise to a 49-14 victory and an 11-3 finish to the most successful season in WVU history to that point.
2018
The 2018 season saw the beginning of the Mohammed Foster era in Morgantown. Foster highlighted a recruiting class that also included RB Mohamed Mustafa and WR Elias Langston as future starts for the Mountaineer program. The season would start out with a bang as the Mountaineers would travel to Lawrence, KS to take on the #7 Kansas Jayhawks. Foster would debut in style as he would rack up 418 yards through the air with 3 touchdowns and 2 interceptions and scamper for 3 TDs on the groun with 145 yards on 13 carries. The Jayhawks would prevail, however; 48-45, but Foster would earn National Player of the Week honors for his stunning debut. The momentum would carry into the next week as the spunky Mountaineers would travel to Knoxville, TN to take on their 2nd straight #7 opponent in the Tennessee Volunteers. Foster would lead the charge as the Mountaineers would march into Neyland stadium and pull the upset defeating Tennessee 30-21 and propelling West Virginia into the top 25. The 3rd game of the season would bring the 3rd top 20 opponent as the Mountaineers would have their home opener against the #18 Penn State Nittany Lions. Foster and company would be unable to replicate the same magic as their previous game and would fall 13-17. The young Mountaineers season would never be the same as they would struggle going 2-7 in their final 9 games to finish the season 3-9. At the end of the regular season coach ETMIV would leave the team for personal reasons. The Athletic Department would waste little time hiring coach smckenz3 from Texas A&M the day after their Gator Bowl loss.
smckenz3 era (2019-Present)
2019
The 2019 season would mark the beginning of a new era in Morgantown. The smckenz3 era would start off with a bang as heralded wide receiver J.C. Weldon would announce his intention to transfer to WVU. The season would get off to an exciting start as the Mountaineers would take #5 Kansas down to the wire in an opening game loss. The Mountaineers would get their first taste of victory during the next week as they defeated Sean Sitton and the Arkansas Razorbacks 35-17, but then the Mountaineers would drop 3 straight before getting a 41-17 victory over the Kansas State Wildcats. West Virginia would fall victim to win-less TCU in their next game before going to Waco, TX and upsetting the #7 Baylor Bears in a thrilling 48-35 duel. The Baylor victory would trigger a run of 4 straight wins getting the Mountaineers to a bowl-clinching record of 6-5 heading into the Backyard Brawl. The Mountaineers would travel to Pittsburgh with an upset on their mind, but the #21 Panthers would prove to be strong as the Mountaineers ended the regular season with a 28-9 loss and a 6-6 record. West Virginia would accept an invitation to the Orlando Bowl to face the #20 Virginia Cavaliers out of the ACC. Coach smckenz3 would make some changes to both the offense and defense and pull the upset in Orlando taking down the Cavaliers with a score of 33-21. The Mountaineers would lead the Big 12 with 5 all-conference selections and (Junior) DT Hudson Adam would take home the conference's defensive player of the year award.
2020
The 2020 season will forever live in lore with the fans of West Virginia. The season would see the Mountaineers open up with two straight losses to future CFBHC playoff participants in Pitt and Penn State. After the opening losses the Mountaineers would go on a run that would see them finish the regular season at 10-2. They would get their first victory of the season over Arkansas with a 27-16 victory in Fayetteville. West Virginia would travel to Austin to take on the #21 Longhorns and announce their presence to the nation. Junior quarterback Mohammed Foster would lead the Mountaineers to a 48-17 thrashing of the Longhorns and in the ensuing week he would lead them to a 52-21 victory over Oklahoma in Norman. TCU would come to town the next week and West Virginia would pull off a 35-14 victory in rainy miserable conditions. The Mountaineers would then have dates with Kansas State and Kansas easily dispatching the both of them with scores of 45-24 and 51-14 respectively. The Mountaineers would score no less than 42 points in a game in their final four games as they finished with a perfect record (9-0) in Big XII conference play and earned a trip to the Big XII championship game against TCU. The Mountaineers would travel to Arlington to take on the Horned Frogs in the conference championship and they would leave no doubt who the conference's superior team was. West Virginia would crush the TCU offense all day and Mohammed Foster would lead a balanced scoring attack to defeat the Frogs by a score of 49-3. This victory would be the largest in Big XII conference championship history. The victory would propel the Mountaineers into the 2020 CFBHC Playoffs as #7 seed where they would take on the #2 seed LSU Tigers. The Tigers would bring a daunting defense that would prove to be too much for the Mountaineers in a 23-28 loss for West Virginia.
Junior quarterback Mohammed Foster would win the Heisman Memorial trophy which was the first in West Virginia history. Foster would also bring home the Walter Camp Award, the AP Player of the Year award, the SN Player of the Year award, he would be named the Big XII Offensive player of the year, and named to the Big XII all-conference team. Junior wide-out J.C. Weldon would bring home the Fred Biletnikoff award and the Paul Warfield Award along with being named an All-American. Senior defensive tackle Hudson Adam would also be named to the All American team. Finally coach smckenz3 would be named the Big XII coach of the year and guard Prince Calloway, defensive end Messiah Bernard, and punt returner Jamel Herron would join Foster and Weldon on the all-conference team.
2021
2022
2023
All-time record vs. Big 12 opponents
This is the Mountaineers' football record against current Big 12 Conference opponents through the 2021 season.
| School | Total Games | W | L | T | Pct. | PF | PA | First Year | Last Year | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baylor | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | .556 | 229 | 245 | 2014 | 2023 | W1 |
| Iowa State | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | .700 | 262 | 192 | 2014 | 2023 | W2 |
| Kansas | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | .500 | 246 | 226 | 2014 | 2023 | W2 |
| Kansas State | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | .700 | 235 | 172 | 2014 | 2023 | W2 |
| Oklahoma | 10 | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 | 204 | 234 | 2013 | 2022 | L2 |
| Oklahoma State | 8 | 5 | 3 | 0 | .625 | 168 | 190 | 2013 | 2023 | W2 |
| TCU | 8 | 2 | 6 | 0 | .250 | 251 | 256 | 2016 | 2023 | L4 |
| Texas | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | .444 | 203 | 209 | 2016 | 2023 | L3 |
| Texas Tech | 9 | 4 | 5 | 0 | .444 | 189 | 195 | 2014 | 2023 | W1 |
| 9 Opponents | 83 | 42 | 41 | 0 | .506 | 1,987 | 1,921 | 10 Seasons |
Season-by-Season Records
| Coach(es) | Year | Conference | Overall Record | Conference Record | Bowl | Final CP Ranking | ||
| Wins | Losses | Wins | Losses | |||||
| West Virginia Mountaineers | ||||||||
| ChrisSchubert25 | 2013 | Big 12 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2 | - | - |
| t-nawtical | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| 2014 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | ||
| DDhack18 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | ||||
| ETMIV | 2015 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 3 | Lost Bourbon Bowl vs. Illinois (30-7) | - | |
| 2016 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 5 | - | - | ||
| 2017 | 11 | 3 | 6 | 1 | Won Alamo Bowl vs Califorina (49-14) | #12 | ||
| 2018 | 3 | 9 | 2 | 5 | - | - | ||
| smckenz3 | 2019 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 3 | Won Orlando Bowl vs Virginia (33-21) | - | |
| 2020 | 11 | 3 | 9 | 0 | Lost CFP Quarterfinal vs LSU (23-28) | #5 | ||
| 2021 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 9 | - | - | ||
| 2022 | 6 | 7 | 4 | 5 | Lost Texas Bowl vs. LSU (20-23) | - | ||
| 2023 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| Total Games: 126 | 59 | 68 | 36 | 39 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Champions | Conference Champions | Bowl game berth |
Bowl games
The Mountaineers have appeared in 5 bowl games, posting a record of 2-3.
| Season | Bowl | Opponent | Result | ||
| 2015 | Bourbon Bowl | Illinois | L, 7-30 | ||
| 2017 | Alamo Bowl | California | W, 49-14 | ||
| 2019 | Orlando Bowl | Virginia | W, 33-21 | ||
| 2020 | CFP Quarterfinal | LSU | L, 23-28 | ||
| 2022 | Texas Bowl | LSU | L, 20-23 | ||
| Total | 5 Bowl Games | 2–3 | |||
Individual Award Winners
Players
All-Americans
- 2020
All-Big 12 Players
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