The Penn State–West Virginia football rivalry is an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

rivalry A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant ...

between the Penn State Nittany Lions and West Virginia Mountaineers. Penn State leads the series 48–9–2. Penn State and West Virginia have met 59 times, the third-highest number of meetings for a Nittany Lion opponent, trailing only Pitt (100) and Syracuse (71). The Nittany Lions and Mountaineers first met in 1904 and played every season from 1947 to 1992 (46 games), with the series ending in 1993 after Penn State and West Virginia joined the

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

and

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

Conferences, respectively.

Series history

In 1904, 1905, 1906, 1908, and 1909, West Virginia went to State College to face Penn State. They were shut out each time. They met again at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the origi ...

in 1923. The result was a 13–13 tie. In 1925, the first game in Morgantown took place. It was also West Virginia's first win, 14–0. The next game was also played at Morgantown in 1931, resulting in another Mountaineer victory. The next game was played at Penn State in 1940, a Nittany Lion victory. In 1941, the Lions won again 7–0. In 1942, West Virginia won at home 24–0. Penn State won in 1943 32–7, but West Virginia won 28–27 at home in 1944. Penn State won the next six. In 1953 and 1954, West Virginia upset Penn State at

New Beaver Field New Beaver Field was a stadium in University Park, Pennsylvania. It served as the third home of the Penn State University Nittany Lions football team, hosting the team until they moved in 1960 to Beaver Stadium. It was built to replace the origi ...

20–19 and 19–14. In 1955 West Virginia won at home 21–7. From 1956–83, Penn State went 27–0–1. They had consecutive victories over some of West Virginia's greatest quarterbacks, such as

Oliver Luck Oliver Francis Luck (born April 5, 1960) is an American business executive and former football quarterback. He is currently the executive director of the ASUN–WAC Football Conference (tentative name), a new NCAA Division I FCS conference starti ...

and Penn State-transfer

Jeff Hostetler William Jeffrey Hostetler (born April 22, 1961) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the New York Giants, Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, and Washington Redskins. His nickname is "Hoss." College career ...

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...

also became coach of Penn State in 1967, while

Don Nehlen Donald Eugene Nehlen (born January 1, 1936) is a former American football player and coach. He was head football coach at Bowling Green State University (1968–1976) and at West Virginia University (1980–2000). Nehlen retired from coaching ...

became West Virginia's coach in 1980. In 1984, West Virginia won for the first time since 1955 in Morgantown, with a 17–14 upset. However, Penn State won the next three. In 1988, under Major Harris' lead, West Virginia won 51–30, en route to an undefeated regular season, making them the only team to score more than 50 points on any Joe Paterno coached Penn State squad. Penn State followed up by winning the last four. The schools announced on September 19, 2013, that they would renew the series with two games in 2023 and 2024, one each in State College and Morgantown.

Game results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penn State-West Virginia football rivalry College football rivalries in the United States Penn State Nittany Lions football West Virginia Mountaineers football 1904 establishments in Pennsylvania

Series history

Game results

See also

References