2018 West Virginia Football Results: vs Tennessee (Charlotte, North Carolina, Belk College Football Kickoff), won, 40-14; vs Youngstown State, won, 52-17; at North Carolina State (canceled, Hurricane Florence); vs Kansas State, won, 35-6; at Texas Tech, won, 42-34; vs Kansas, won, 38-22; at Iowa State, lost, 30-14; vs Baylor, won, 58-14; at Texas, won, 42-41; vs TCU, won, 47-10; at Oklahoma State, lost, 45-41; vs Oklahoma, lost, 59-56; vs Syracuse (Camping World Bowl, Orlando, Florida), lost, 34-18.
Holgorsen was 61-41 over his eight seasons at West Virginia and had led the program for its entire Big 12 tenure; the Mountaineers joined the conference in 2012. West Virginia was Holgerson's first head coaching job.
Brown was head coach at Troy from 2015-18, where he went 35-16, won two Sun Belt Conference titles in a row (2017 and 2018) and won three straight bowl games (2016, 2017, 2018).
Prior to taking over Troy, Brown was the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for Texas Tech (2010-2012) and Kentucky (2013-2014).
Through 11 games at West Virginia, Brown is 4-7 (2-6 Big 12).
The Mountaineers have beaten James Madison, North Carolina State, Kansas and Kansas State.
West Virginia has lost to Missouri, Texas, Iowa State, Oklahoma, Baylor, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.
Offensively, the Mountaineers are averaging 21 points a game, 72 yards rushing per game and 257 yards passing per game.
West Virginia has run the football 307 times for 793 yards (an average of 2.6 yards per carry). WVU has scored seven rushing touchdowns.
The Mountaineers have thrown the football 419 times. They have completed 269 passes for 2,826 yards (an average of 10.5 yards per reception). WVU has scored 19 touchdowns through the air.
The West Virginia offense has allowed 19 sacks, which is fourth in the Big 12 and 48th nationally.
The Mountaineers have fumbled the football nine times. Opponents have recovered five of those fumbles.
Through the first nine games, Oklahoma transfer Austin Kendall (#12, a 6-2, 221-pound junior, started at quarterback for the Mountaineers.
In the ninth game, against Texas Tech, Kendall gave way to Jarret Doege (#2), a 6-2, 198-pound junior transfer from Bowling Green.
Doege, who is from Lubbock, Texas, was the Mountaineers' starting quarterback in the 10th and 11th games, against Kansas State and Oklahoma State, respectively. He is expected to start at quarterback against TCU, in Fort Worth, on Friday, November 29.
Kendall has completed 187 of 304passes for 1,989 yards. He has thrown 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He has a long completion of 83 yards.
Doege, who purposely was limited to playing in four games, so he would have two years of eligibility at West Virginia, has completed 59 of 85 passes for 660 yards. He has thrown five touchdowns and no interceptions. He has a long completion of 50 yards.
In his first start as a Mountaineer, against Kansas State, Doege completed 20 of 30 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns in West Virginia's 24-20 upset of the Wildcats in Manhattan. Doege's performance earned him Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors.
In his latest start, on November 23, against Oklahoma State (a 20-13 loss in Morgantown), Doege completed 28 of 38 passes for a season-high 307 yards and a touchdown.
West Virginia's leading receiver is redshirt freshman wide receiver Sam James (#13), six-foot, 182 pounds. He has caught 66 passes for 663 yards and two touchdowns. He is averaging six catches per game, which is third in the Big 12 and 27th nationally. He has a long reception of 51 yards.
Redshirt junior wide receiver T.J. Simmons (#1), 6-2, 199 pounds, has caught 34 passes for 446 yards and four touchdowns. He has a long reception of 44 yards.
Redshirt senior wide receiver George Campbell (#15), 6-4, 183 pounds, has 19 receptions for 469 yards and seven touchdowns. He has a long reception of 83 yards.
Redshirt freshman wide receiver Bryce Wheaton (#83), 6-3, 215 pounds, has caught 12 passes for 201 yards and two touchdowns. He has a long reception of 50 yards.
West Virginia's limited running game is led by sophomore running back Leddie Brown (#4), a 5-11, 212-pound sophomore. He has carried the football 92 times for 320 yards and one touchdown. He has a long run of 30 yards.
Senior running back Kennedy McKoy (#6), six-foot, 204 pounds, has rushed 90 times for 272 yards and three touchdowns. He has a long run of 23 yards.
Against the West Virginia defense, opponents are averaging 30 points a game, 160 yards rushing a game and 249 yards passing a game.
The Mountaineers' defense has recorded 31 sacks, which is second in the Big 12 and 24th nationally. WVU is averaging 2.8 sacks per game. In a 17-14 loss to Baylor, in Waco, on October 31, the West Virginia defense had eight sacks.
In addition to the sacks, the Mountaineers have 72 tackles for loss, which ranks fifth in the Big 12.
West Virginia has caused 12 fumbles, recovering six of them.
Redshirt junior safety Sean Mahone (#29), 5-11, 200 pounds, is the leading tackler for West Virginia. He has 74 tackles, five tackles for loss and two sacks.
Josh Chandler (#35), 5-11, 224 pounds, a sophomore linebacker, has 66 tackles and 3.5 tackles for loss.
Redshirt senior safety Josh Norwood (#4), 5-10, 179 pounds, has 64 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss.
Hakeem Bailey (#24), a redshirt senior cornerback, six-foot, 188 pounds, has 52 tackles and one tackle for loss.
 |
| Darius Stills (right) and Dante Stills |
Junior defensive lineman Darius Stills (#56), 6-1, 292 pounds, has 42 tackles, seven sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss.
Darius' younger brother, Dante Stills (#55), a 6-3, 295-pound sophomore defensive lineman, has seven sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss.
Darius' and Dante's father is former All-Big East and NFL Pro Bowl linebacker Gary Stills, who played at West Virginia from 1996 to 1998. The elder Stills had 26 career sacks, which is tied for second most in West Virginia football history. He played nine seasons in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs, St. Louis Rams and Baltimore Ravens.
Senior defensive lineman Reese Donahue (#46), 6-4, 285 pounds, has three sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss.
Redshirt senior cornerback Keith Washington II (#28), 6-1, 180 pounds, leads West Virginia with three interceptions, which is half of the Mountaineers' six interceptions. He ranks 38th nationally.
West Virginia's punter is redshirt senior Josh Growden (#96). He has punted 59 times for an average of 42 yards per punt. He has a long punt of 62 yards. He has had one punt blocked.
Staley has made seven-of-12 field goals. He has a long field goal of 44 yards. He has not had a kick blocked.
Legg has made two-of-four field goals, with a long of 51 yards. He has not had a kick blocked.
With a 756–502–45 record as of the conclusion of the 2017 season, WVU ranks in the top 20 for victories among NCAA FBS programs, as well as the most victories among those programs that never claimed or won a National Championship. The Mountaineers have registered 83 winning seasons in their history, including one unbeaten season (10–0–1 in 1922) and five 11-win seasons (1988, 1993, 2005, 2006, 2007). The Mountaineers have won 15 conference championships, including eight Southern Conference titles and seven Big East Conference titles.
From 2002–2011, the Mountaineer football program yielded its most prolific era to date, producing a 95–33 record. During that span WVU participated in 10 bowl games, finished ranked in at least one of the AP or Coaches Polls on seven occasions, won six Big East Conference titles, and produced three BCS bowl game victories. In 2012, West Virginia left the Big East and with TCU joined Big 12.
Former coaches at West Virginia include Bobby Bowden, who went on to fame and fortune as Florida State's head coach. Bowden replaced Jim Carlen, who departed West Virginia at the end of the 1969 season for Texas Tech.
It appeared that the Bowden era of Mountaineer football could not have begun more smoothly early in the 1970 season. The Mountaineers were 4–1 to start the season and led arch rival Pittsburgh 35–8 at halftime in week six.
What transpired was one of the most infamous collapses in West Virginia football history. The Mountaineers surrendered 28 unanswered points, losing to the Panthers 36–35 and leading Bowden to remark that he had "embarrassed the whole state of West Virginia."
Despite the disappointment of the Pitt defeat, West Virginia went on to finish the 1970 season with an 8–3 record.
Bowden coached at West Virginia through the 1975 season, after which he left for Florida State. In six seasons with the Mountaineers, Bowden produced a 42–26 record, good for fifth all-time in the program.
The longest-serving and most successful coach in Mountaineer history is Don Nehlen, who coached from 1980 through the 2000 season. He posted a 149-93-4 record during his tenure.
After Nehlen's retirement, the Mountaineers welcomed their 31st coach, Rich Rodriguez.
Rodriguez's tenure began ignominiously, as the 2001 Mountaineers finished 3–8, their worst record since 1978. The failures of 2001, however, set the stage for the emergence of the most successful era in Mountaineer football history. Rodriguez won 60 games, becoming the program's second all-time leader in wins.
Rodriguez left West Virginia for Michigan after leading the Mountaineers to a 10-1 regular-season record in 2007. He left prior to West Virginia meeting No. 3 Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.
Bill Stewart took the reins of the Mountaineers in the 2008 season.
At the end of the 2010 season, prior to West Virginia's Champs Sports Bowl game with North Carolina State, then WVU Athletic Director Oliver Luck announced the hiring of Dana Holgorsen as West Virginia's "coach-in-waiting."
Holgorsen, who had been Oklahoma State's offensive coordinator prior to going to West Virginia, served as the Mountaineers' offensive coordinator during the 2011 season and replaced Stewart as head coach in 2012.
Holgerson left West Virginia to become head coach of the Houston Cougars after the 2018 season. Holgerson compiled a 61-41 record at West Virginia, including a 5-2 record in the Big East Conference and a 38-32 record in the Big 12.
Neal Brown replaced Holgerson at West Virginia. Prior to taking over the Mountaineers program, Brown was head coach at Troy University from 2015-18.
Brown compiled a 35-16 record in four years at Troy, including a 23-9 Sun Belt Conference record. His Troy teams played in and won three bowl games.
Prior to his head coaching position at Troy, his coaching positions included being the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Kentucky (2013-14) and the offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at Texas Tech (2010-12).
West Virginia Football Stadium:
West Virginia plays its home football games in Morgantown, on the
health sciences campus of West Virginia University, at Mountaineer Field
at Milan Puskar Stadium, which opened on September 6, 1980. On that
dedication day, fans were surprised when singer John Denver made an
appearance and led fans in the singing of his hit song, "Take Me Home,
Country Roads." The song has been played at every Mountaineers home game
since 1972.
The seating area of the facility was renamed "Milan Puskar Stadium" in 2004, after a $20 million donation to the university by Morgantown resident Milan Puskar, the founder of Mylan Pharmaceuticals.
The original Mountaineer Field was located on the school's main campus, but it could not be expanded or modernized due to the proximity of campus buildings and roads near the stadium. It seated 38,000 when it was last used in 1979. The new stadium was originally to be called Mountaineer Stadium, but the fans ignored this and called it New Mountaineer Field, with the "new" eventually falling into disuse. Mountaineer Field was constructed in 1980 on the former site of a golf course between the Law School and Medical School buildings. The stadium's original cost was $22 million. There are 12 luxury seats on the first level of the press box, 18 in the north end zone, and 648 club seats in the north end zone called "Touchdown Terrace."
The stadium seats 60,000 people. The attendance record was set on November 20, 1993, when 70,222 fans packed the stadium to watch the No. 9 Mountaineers defeat No. 4 Miami.
Mountaineer Field has hosted non-university football games. One notable game was an NFL pre-season game on August 22, 1998, between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Atlanta Falcons.
The seating area of the facility was renamed "Milan Puskar Stadium" in 2004, after a $20 million donation to the university by Morgantown resident Milan Puskar, the founder of Mylan Pharmaceuticals.
The original Mountaineer Field was located on the school's main campus, but it could not be expanded or modernized due to the proximity of campus buildings and roads near the stadium. It seated 38,000 when it was last used in 1979. The new stadium was originally to be called Mountaineer Stadium, but the fans ignored this and called it New Mountaineer Field, with the "new" eventually falling into disuse. Mountaineer Field was constructed in 1980 on the former site of a golf course between the Law School and Medical School buildings. The stadium's original cost was $22 million. There are 12 luxury seats on the first level of the press box, 18 in the north end zone, and 648 club seats in the north end zone called "Touchdown Terrace."
The stadium seats 60,000 people. The attendance record was set on November 20, 1993, when 70,222 fans packed the stadium to watch the No. 9 Mountaineers defeat No. 4 Miami.
Mountaineer Field has hosted non-university football games. One notable game was an NFL pre-season game on August 22, 1998, between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Atlanta Falcons.
No comments:
Post a Comment