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 a record of nine wins and three losses (9–3 overall) and with a victory over 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 (Capacity: 50,000)
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

References

1. "Cavs grounded". The Times & World-News. September 13, 1981. Retrieved January 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
2. "Terps struggle again, lose to West Virginia". The Charlotte Observer. September 20, 1981. Retrieved January 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
3. "West Virginia romps 49–3". The Times Recorder. September 27, 1981. Retrieved January 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
4. "West Virginia rolls to 4–0, crushes Boston College". The News and Advance. October 4, 1981. Retrieved January 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
5. "Undefeated West Virginia knocks off Boston College". Tallahassee Democrat. October 4, 1981. p. 4F – via Newspapers.com.
6. "West Virginia 38, Boston College 10". St. Petersburg Times. October 4, 1981. p. 8C – via Newspapers.com.
7. "Pitt shelves air attack, wins, 17–0". The Miami Herald. October 11, 1981. Retrieved January 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
8. "Virginia Tech gets lesson in Luck, 27–6". The Pittsburgh Press. October 18, 1981. Retrieved December 16, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
9. "Warner substitute leads Penn State past W. Va". Sunday News Journal. October 25, 1981. Retrieved January 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
10. "W. Virginia gets by East Carolina, 20–3". The Pittsburgh Press. November 1, 1981. Retrieved March 4, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
11. "W. Va.'s Luck good; Owls' bad". The Courier-Post. November 8, 1981. Retrieved January 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "West Virginia rips sputtering Scarlet". The Home News. November 15, 1981. Retrieved January 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
13. "Syracuse, 4–6, upsets W. Va., 8–3". The Sunday News. November 22, 1981. Retrieved January 28, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
14. "West Virginia too much for Florida in Peach". The Atlanta Journal & Constitution. January 1, 1982. Retrieved November 2, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.