1982 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

NCAATeamFootballSeason
Year=1982
Team=West Virginia Mountaineers


ImageSize=150
Conference=Independent
Division=
ShortConference=Big East
CoachRank=19
APRank=19
Record=9-3
ConfRecord=
HeadCoach=Don Nehlen
OScheme=
DScheme=
Stadium=Mountaineer Field (60,000)
Champion=
Bowl=Gator Bowl
BowlResult=Lost, 31-12The 1982 West Virginia Mountaineers football team completed the regular season with a 9-3 record and traveled to the Gator Bowl, where they lost to the Florida State Seminoles 31-12.

chedule

1982 season

Jeff Hostetler was the starting quarterback for the Mountaineers. He led the team with 1916 passing yards and 10 touchdowns. Leading the team in rushing was Curlin Beck with 357 net yards. Darrell Miller led the team in receiving with 34 receptions for 565 yards.

The first game featured the Mountaineers against perennial powerhouse Oklahoma. Despite being a two touchdown plus underdog, the Mountaineers played a great game to upset the Sooners in Norman, 41-27. That was followed up with a 19-18 home victory over rival Mayland. The third game against Richmond, was a blowout, in which the Mountaineers won 43-10.

Their first loss of the season came to their hated rival, Pittsburgh, in the backyard brawl, by a score of 16-13. The Mountaineers rebounded with a hard fought 20-13 slugfest over Boston College, and quarterback Doug Flutie. WVU traveled to Blacksburg to take on rival Virginia Tech, in a game the Mountaineers won 16-6.

The next week, the Mountaineers hosted the number 1 team in the Nation, the Penn State Nittany Lions at home. WVU's offense never got rolling against the vaunted defense of Penn State, who pitched a 24-0 shutout. WVU rebounded once again with a blowout of its own against East Carolina, 30-3. The Mountaineers traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to take on Temple. The Owls gave the Mountaineers all they could handle, but lost a heartbreaker, 20-17.

West Virginia closed out the season with dominating wins over Rutgers, and Syracuse. That gave them a 9-2 record, a number 10 national ranking, and a trip to the Gator Bowl to take on Florida State.

References

*http://www.wvustats.com/football/schedule.php?team_id=308&season=1982
*http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_ia/bigeast/west_virginia/yearly_results.php?year=1980