1981 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

The 1981 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University in the 1981 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Mountaineers' 89th overall season and they competed as a Division I-A Independent. The team was led by head coach Don Nehlen, in his second year, and played their home games at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. They finished the season with record of 9–3 and defeated Florida in the Peach Bowl.

1981 West Virginia Mountaineers football
Peach Bowl champion
Peach Bowl, W 26–6 vs. Florida
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 18
AP	No. 17
Record	9–3
Head coach	Don Nehlen (2nd season)
Offensive coordinator	Gary Tranquill (2nd season)
Home stadium	Mountaineer Field
Seasons ← 1980 1982 →

1981 Major eastern college football independents records

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 3 Penn State $	5	–	0	–	0			10	–	2	–	0
No. 4 Pittsburgh	5	–	1	–	0			11	–	1	–	0
No. 17 West Virginia	3	–	3	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Temple	2	–	3	–	0			5	–	5	–	0
Syracuse	2	–	4	–	0			4	–	6	–	1
Boston College	1	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Rutgers	1	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
$ – Lambert Trophy Winner Rankings from AP Poll

1981 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Pittsburgh		–		–				11	–	1	–	0
No. 3 Penn State		–		–				10	–	2	–	0
No. 8 Miami (FL)		–		–				9	–	2	–	0
Southern Miss		–		–				9	–	2	–	1
No. 17 West Virginia		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
Colgate		–		–				7	–	3	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Navy		–		–				7	–	4	–	1
Cincinnati		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Florida State		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Holy Cross		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Tulane		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
UNLV		–		–				6	–	6	–	0
South Carolina		–		–				6	–	6	–	0
Temple		–		–				5	–	5	–	0
Boston College		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
East Carolina		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Northeast Louisiana		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Louisville		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Notre Dame		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Rutgers		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
William & Mary		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Syracuse		–		–				4	–	6	–	1
Richmond		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Army		–		–				3	–	7	–	1
North Texas State		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
Georgia Tech		–		–				1	–	10	–	0
Memphis State		–		–				1	–	10	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 12	at Virginia	Scott Stadium Charlottesville, VA		W 32–18	34,007	[1]
September 19	at Maryland	Byrd Stadium College Park, MD (rivalry)		W 17–13	38,300	[2]
September 26	Colorado State	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV		W 49–3	48,716	[3]
October 3	at Boston College	Alumni Stadium Chestnut Hill, MA		W 38–10	17,235	[4][5][6]
October 10	No. 4 Pittsburgh	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (rivalry)		L 0–17	54,280	[7]
October 17	Virginia Tech	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (rivalry)		W 27–6	49,115	[8]
October 24	at No. 1 Penn State	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)		L 7–30	85,012	[9]
October 31	East Carolina	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV		W 20–3	41,364	[10]
November 7	Temple	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV		W 24–19	40,342	[11]
November 14	Rutgers	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV		W 20–3	44,395	[12]
November 21	at Syracuse	Carrier Dome Syracuse, NY (rivalry)	ABC	L 24–27	33,117	[13]
December 31	vs. Florida	Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium Atlanta, GA (Peach Bowl)	CBS	W 26–6	37,582	[14]
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1981 West Virginia Mountaineers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 1 Gary Mullen Fr QB 10 Oliver Luck Sr FB 36 Ron Wolfley Fr WR 48 Willie Drewrey Fr G 79 Mike Durrette Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 50 Dennis Fowlkes Jr LB 90 Darryl Talley Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach Don Nehlen Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt