2014 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

The 2014 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University in the 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Playing as a member of the Big 12 Conference (Big 12), the team was led by head coach Dana Holgorsen, in his fourth year. West Virginia played its home games at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia. They finished the season 7–6, 5–4 in Big 12 play to finish in a three way tie for fourth place. They were invited to the Liberty Bowl where they lost to Texas A&M.

2014 West Virginia Mountaineers football
Liberty Bowl, L 37–45 vs. Texas A&M
ConferenceBig 12 Conference
2014 record7–6 (5–4 Big 12)
Head coach
Offensive coordinatorShannon Dawson (3rd as coordinator, 4th overall season)
Offensive schemeSpread
Defensive coordinatorTony Gibson (1st as coordinator, 8th overall season)
Base defense3–3–5
Home stadiumMountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium
(Capacity: 60,000)
2014 Big 12 Conference football standings
Conf  Overall
Team W L    W L 
No. 7 Baylor +  8 –1     11 –2  
No. 3 TCU +  8 –1     12 –1  
No. 18 Kansas State  7 –2     9 –4  
Oklahoma  5 –4     8 –5  
West Virginia  5 –4     7 –6  
Texas  5 –4     6 –7  
Oklahoma State  4 –5     7 –6  
Texas Tech  2 –7     4 –8  
Kansas  1 –8     3 –9  
Iowa State  0 –9     2 –10  
  • + – Conference co-champions
Rankings from AP Poll

Coaching staff
2014 Coaching Staff

[1]

Schedule
DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
August 303:30 p.m.vs. No. 2 Alabama*
ABCL 23–3370,502
September 67:30 p.m.No. 22 (FCS) Towson*
RTPTW 54–056,414
September 13Noonat Maryland*
BTNW 40–3748,154
September 207:30 p.m.No. 4 Oklahoma
FOXL 33–4561,908
October 44:00 p.m.Kansas
FSNW 33–1452,164
October 11Noonat Texas Tech
FS1W 37–3458,502
October 18NoonNo. 4 Baylor
  • Mountaineer Field
  • Morgantown, WV
FS1W 41–2760,758
October 253:30 p.m.at Oklahoma StateNo. 22
ESPNW 34–1059,124
November 13:30 p.m.No. 7 TCUNo. 20
ABCL 30–3161,190
November 83:30 p.m.at TexasNo. 23
FS1L 16–3395,714
November 207:00 p.m.No. 13 Kansas State
  • Mountaineer Field
  • Morgantown, WV
FS1L 20–2647,683
November 29Noonat Iowa State
FS1W 37–2450,059
December 292:00 p.m.vs. Texas A&M*
ESPNL 37–4551,282
  • Schedule sources:[2]

Game summaries

Alabama
1 2 3 4 Total
Mountaineers 3 14 3 3 23
#2 Crimson Tide 3 17 10 3 33

Led by Clint Trickett 511 passing yards, West Virginia gave away a 22-point lead before Josh Lambert kicked a game winning 47-yard field goal to give West Virginia a 40-37 win over rival Maryland. Clint Trickett threw for 4 touchdowns in the win and Mario Alford was on the receiving end of two of those touchdowns. Kevin White had his best game of the season with 13 catches for 216 yards and a touchdown. West Virginia’s defense held the Terrapins to 4 of 15 on third downs and forced an interception. This win erased the bad memory for the Mountaineers of the 37-0 blowout in the 2013 installment of this rivalry.

Attendance- 48,154 Byrd Stadium • College Park, MD

Oklahoma
1 2 3 4 Total
#4 Sooners 3 21 14 7 45
Mountaineers 7 17 3 6 33

Samaje Perine rushed for 242 yards and four touchdowns to lead No. 4 Oklahoma to a 45-33 win in Morgantown over West Virginia. "They made good adjustments at halftime. They made a bunch of plays in the second half when the game was on the line" said West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen. Clint Trickett threw for 376 yards and two touchdowns for West Virginia, but he was intercepted twice and lost a fumble. His main target in the loss was senior receiver Kevin White who had 10 receptions for 173 yards and a touchdown.

Attendance- 61,908 Mountaineer Field • Morgantown, WV

Kansas
1 2 3 4 Total
Jayhawks 0 0 7 7 14
Mountaineers 16 10 7 0 33

Led by Clint Tricketts 302 passing yards and Mario Alford’s 94 yard kickoff return for a touchdown the Mountaineers beat Kansas 33-14. Rushel Shell ran for a season high 113 yards and a touchdown and Kevin White had 6 catches for 132 yards. West Virginia put up 557 yards of offense while the special teams played a very inconsistent game. After the Mountaineers' Jordan Thompson fumbled a punt on his 18 that led to a short touchdown run by the Jayhawks' Corey Avery, Alford took the ensuing kickoff into the endzone for a score to put West Virginia ahead 33-7 late in the third quarter.

Attendance- 52,164 Mountaineer Field • Morgantown, WV

Texas Tech
1 2 3 4 Total
Mountaineers 3 7 10 17 37
Red Raiders 14 7 6 7 34

Sophomore Josh Lambert kicked a career-long 55-yard field goal at the end of the game to lead West Virginia to a 37-34 win over Texas Tech. The Red Raiders built an eleven point lead and carried that into halftime before being outscored 27 to 13 in the second half with the Mountaineers rallying from 14 points down in the fourth quarter. Clint Trickett was held to a season-low 301 yards but still completed 28 of 44 passes and had two touchdowns. Rushel Shell added two touchdowns, including the game tying one yard touchdown run late in the game. This was West Virginia’s first win against Texas Tech since joining the Big 12 conference 3 years ago.

Attendance- 58, 502 Jones AT&T Stadium • Lubbock, TX

Baylor
1 2 3 4 Total
#4 Bears 13 7 7 0 27
Mountaineers 7 17 3 14 41

When West Virginia needed another late push to pull out a win, Clint Trickett and Kevin White fought through the rain, turnovers, and the Bears defense to beat fourth ranked Baylor. Trickett threw two of his three touchdowns in the fourth quarter as West Virginia knocked off Baylor in Morgantown. Two of Tricketts touchdowns fell into the hands of senior receiver Kevin White, who caught 8 passes for 132 yards. This is the third top 5 opponent West Virginia has faced this season after previously losing to number 2 Alabama and number 4 Oklahoma. Against Baylor, Trickett went 23 of 35 for 322 yards, his eighth straight 300-yard game going to last season. The WVU defense, coached by Tony Gibson also stepped up holding the bears to only 7 second half points and 318 total yards.

Attendance- 60,758 Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV

Oklahoma State
1 2 3 4 Total
#22 Mountaineers 14 0 3 17 34
Cowboys 0 10 0 0 10

TCU
1 2 3 4 Total
#10 Horned Frogs 7 0 14 10 31
#20 Mountaineers 13 0 14 3 30

ESPN's College Gameday made its second trip to Morgantown in its history.

Texas
1 2 3 4 Total
#24 Mountaineers 3 0 0 13 16
Longhorns 7 17 0 9 33

Kansas State
1 2 3 4 Total
#12 Wildcats 7 10 6 3 26
Mountaineers 0 3 7 10 20

Iowa State
1 2 3 4 Total
Mountaineers 7 20 0 10 37
Cyclones 14 7 3 0 24

Texas A&M–Liberty Bowl
1 2 3 4 Total
Aggies 14 14 17 0 45
Mountaineers 20 7 3 7 37

Rankings
Further information: 2014 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings
Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
Week
Poll Pre 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Final 
AP NR RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 22 20 24 RV RV RV RV RV NR 
Coaches NR RV RV RV RV RV RV RV 25 22 25 NR RV NR NR NR NR 
CFP Not released 20 23 NR NR NR NR NR Not released

References
  1. "Football Coaching Staff". West Virginia University Department of Athletics. Retrieved September 28, 2014.
  2. Montoro, Mike (November 5, 2014). "2014 Football Schedule Released". West Virginia University Department of Athletics. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
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