First meeting October 15, 1904 Next meeting September 2, 2023 | Latest meeting October 24, 1992 Meetings total 59 | |
All-time series Penn State leads, 48–9–2 Largest victory Penn State, 51–6 (1991) | ||
The Penn State–West Virginia football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Penn State Nittany Lions and West Virginia Mountaineers. Penn State leads the series 48–9–2.
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 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 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 and Penn State-transfer Jeff Hostetler. Joe Paterno also became coach of Penn State in 1967, while Don Nehlen 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.