From the time I can first recall following WVU football, around the beginning of Don Nehlen's tenure, up until Penn State shook up the world of Eastern college football by joining the Big 10 in '90, WVU had a rivalry hierarchy that looked like this:
Pitt-Penn State...those were the chief "circle the calendar" games. Then, Maryland - a great barometer border rival. Then, BC & Syracuse, mainly because of Doug Flutie and Dick MacPherson. Then, Virginia Tech, who was just a pesky little team who would always give us fits. Miami(Fla) was on our schedule in '83 & '84, but didn't jump back on there regularly until the Big East was created in '91. We played Rutgers and Temple annually...and that's about all you could say about them.
Our ultimate 80s schedule was encapsulated by '84: Ohio U.-Louisville-@ VT-Maryland-@ Pitt-Syracuse-BC-Penn State-Virginia-@ Rutgers-@ Temple.
Then, Penn State shook things up by joining the Big 10 in '90, and WVU, Miami, Temple Rutgers, and VT joined the Big East as "football only" schools in '91. Penn State officially dropped off our schedule in '92. Our first chief rival was gone. Throughout the rest of the 90s we used teams like Missouri, Purdue, Notre Dame and East Carolina to fill the Penn State gap in our annual sched.
Our ultimate 90s schedule was encapsulated by '96: @Pitt-W. Michigan-East Carolina-@Purdue-Maryland-BC-@Temple-Miami(Fla)-Syracuse-@ Rutgers-@ VT.
Things stayed static until the next round of realignment in 2004 when WVU schedule mainstays Miami & VT left to go to the ACC. WVU last played both on the reg during the '03 season, barely missing knocking off #2 Miami, but pummeling top ten VT at home. Now, our schedule lost three regular mainstay rivals in PSU, MIami and VT. Those were three great games that our fans go excited about each year...Gone. Temple was booted from the league as well, so they dropped off our sched. So, beginning in 2004, you'd start to see, replacing those four: UConn, Cincinnati, USF and Louisville.
Our 2005 schedule looked like this: @Syracuse, Wofford, @Maryland, ECU, VT, @ Rutgers, Louisville, Connecticut, @Cincinnati, Pitt, @USF. We're trending downward.
Then, the next round of realignment, in 2011, is when the shi* hit the fan. Syracuse and Pitt to the ACC, Rutgers and Maryland inexplicably to the Big 10. WVU goes to the Big 12. And, our 2011 schedule would be the final one that looked anything like the ones we knew all of those years. Starting in 2012, Pitt - our chief rival going back 100 years - was gone. Also gonzo were Syracuse, Rutgers and then Maryland did not renew our contract after 2013, playing one more game in 2015 and then taking a hiatus (until this year). Instead, our schedule looked completely different in 2012: Missouri-Youngstown St.-BYU-Kansas St.-@Texas Tech-TCU-@Oklahoma St.-Kansas-@Texas-Oklahoma-@Iowa St.-Baylor.
This was an upgrade from the mid-2000s, for sure, thanks to the '11 realignment. Having Texas and OU on our schedule annually has been fun. Ditto the frustrations of playing Oklahoma State and our weird games vs. Texas Tech. But, it's never felt right. It's never brought the passions, say, of our '03 VT game,, the '84 PSU and BC games, the '93 Miami game...the '03 Pitt game of Rasheed and Quincy vs. Larry Fitzgerald.
Now, we are staring another round of realignment right in the face. And, it may be "Back to the Future, Part IV" for WVU. When all of the dust settles, I do believe the momentum is trending toward WVU being asked to join the ACC, perhaps along with ND, perhaps not. But, there's a very good chance that WVU's future will be in the Atlantic Division of the ACC, which will be realigned to look like:
Pitt-WVU-Syracuse-BC-VT-Louisville-Miami(Fla)-Florida State. With Penn State coming on to our schedule for a couple years in 2023, all of the sudden, you're looking at a schedule that looks a whole heck of a lot more familiar to Gen X (And Boomer) WVU fans. There's a chance you could see WVU have an early autumn schedule September & early Oct. with games at Penn State, vs. Miami, vs. VT, and our game vs. Pitt at Thanksgiving annually. And, I don't know about you, but that fires me up a little bit.
Pitt-Penn State...those were the chief "circle the calendar" games. Then, Maryland - a great barometer border rival. Then, BC & Syracuse, mainly because of Doug Flutie and Dick MacPherson. Then, Virginia Tech, who was just a pesky little team who would always give us fits. Miami(Fla) was on our schedule in '83 & '84, but didn't jump back on there regularly until the Big East was created in '91. We played Rutgers and Temple annually...and that's about all you could say about them.
Our ultimate 80s schedule was encapsulated by '84: Ohio U.-Louisville-@ VT-Maryland-@ Pitt-Syracuse-BC-Penn State-Virginia-@ Rutgers-@ Temple.
Then, Penn State shook things up by joining the Big 10 in '90, and WVU, Miami, Temple Rutgers, and VT joined the Big East as "football only" schools in '91. Penn State officially dropped off our schedule in '92. Our first chief rival was gone. Throughout the rest of the 90s we used teams like Missouri, Purdue, Notre Dame and East Carolina to fill the Penn State gap in our annual sched.
Our ultimate 90s schedule was encapsulated by '96: @Pitt-W. Michigan-East Carolina-@Purdue-Maryland-BC-@Temple-Miami(Fla)-Syracuse-@ Rutgers-@ VT.
Things stayed static until the next round of realignment in 2004 when WVU schedule mainstays Miami & VT left to go to the ACC. WVU last played both on the reg during the '03 season, barely missing knocking off #2 Miami, but pummeling top ten VT at home. Now, our schedule lost three regular mainstay rivals in PSU, MIami and VT. Those were three great games that our fans go excited about each year...Gone. Temple was booted from the league as well, so they dropped off our sched. So, beginning in 2004, you'd start to see, replacing those four: UConn, Cincinnati, USF and Louisville.
Our 2005 schedule looked like this: @Syracuse, Wofford, @Maryland, ECU, VT, @ Rutgers, Louisville, Connecticut, @Cincinnati, Pitt, @USF. We're trending downward.
Then, the next round of realignment, in 2011, is when the shi* hit the fan. Syracuse and Pitt to the ACC, Rutgers and Maryland inexplicably to the Big 10. WVU goes to the Big 12. And, our 2011 schedule would be the final one that looked anything like the ones we knew all of those years. Starting in 2012, Pitt - our chief rival going back 100 years - was gone. Also gonzo were Syracuse, Rutgers and then Maryland did not renew our contract after 2013, playing one more game in 2015 and then taking a hiatus (until this year). Instead, our schedule looked completely different in 2012: Missouri-Youngstown St.-BYU-Kansas St.-@Texas Tech-TCU-@Oklahoma St.-Kansas-@Texas-Oklahoma-@Iowa St.-Baylor.
This was an upgrade from the mid-2000s, for sure, thanks to the '11 realignment. Having Texas and OU on our schedule annually has been fun. Ditto the frustrations of playing Oklahoma State and our weird games vs. Texas Tech. But, it's never felt right. It's never brought the passions, say, of our '03 VT game,, the '84 PSU and BC games, the '93 Miami game...the '03 Pitt game of Rasheed and Quincy vs. Larry Fitzgerald.
Now, we are staring another round of realignment right in the face. And, it may be "Back to the Future, Part IV" for WVU. When all of the dust settles, I do believe the momentum is trending toward WVU being asked to join the ACC, perhaps along with ND, perhaps not. But, there's a very good chance that WVU's future will be in the Atlantic Division of the ACC, which will be realigned to look like:
Pitt-WVU-Syracuse-BC-VT-Louisville-Miami(Fla)-Florida State. With Penn State coming on to our schedule for a couple years in 2023, all of the sudden, you're looking at a schedule that looks a whole heck of a lot more familiar to Gen X (And Boomer) WVU fans. There's a chance you could see WVU have an early autumn schedule September & early Oct. with games at Penn State, vs. Miami, vs. VT, and our game vs. Pitt at Thanksgiving annually. And, I don't know about you, but that fires me up a little bit.
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