1971 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

1971 NCAA University Division independents football records
	Rankings from AP Poll

1971 West Virginia Mountaineers football
1971 West Virginia Mountaineers football
Conference	Independent
1971 record	7–4
Head coach	Bobby Bowden (2nd season);
Home stadium	Mountaineer Field
	Seasons ← 1970 1972 →

The 1971 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University in the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. It was the Mountaineers' 79th overall season and they competed as an independent. The team was led by head coach Bobby Bowden, in his second year, and played their home games at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. They finished the season with a record of 7–4.

Schedule[]

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 11	Boston College	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	W 45–14	31,500
September 18	at California	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, California	L 10–20	23,000
September 25	at Richmond	City Stadium Richmond, Virginia	W 16–3	11,000
October 2	Pittsburgh	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia (Backyard Brawl)	W 20–9	38,500
October 9	at William & Mary	Cary Field Williamsburg, Virginia	W 28–23	15,000
October 16	East Carolina	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	W 44–21	27,000	^[1]
October 23	Temple	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	W 43–33	25,000
October 30	No. 5 Penn State	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia (rivalry)	L 7–35	37,000
November 6	at Duke	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, North Carolina	L 15–31	30,150
November 13	VMI	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	W 28–3	24,000	^[2]
November 20	at Syracuse	Archbold Stadium Syracuse, New York (Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy)	L 24–28	18,049
Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game

^ "WVU defense intercepts four E. Carolina passes". Beckley Post-Herald and Register. October 17, 1971. Retrieved March 3, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "WVU downs stubborn VMI". The Pittsburgh Press. November 14, 1971. Retrieved February 1, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.

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v t West Virginia Mountaineers football
Venues	Mountaineer Field (1924–1979) Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium (1980–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Marshall Maryland Penn State Pittsburgh Syracuse Virginia Tech
Culture & lore	The Mountaineer Marching band "Take Me Home, Country Roads" 1921 Backyard Brawl (first college football game to be radio broadcasted) 2007 Backyard Brawl
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022

1971 NCAA University Division independents football records
v t	Conf			Overall
Team	W	L	T	W		L		T
No. 5 Penn State		–		11	–	1	–	0
Boston College		–		9	–	2	–	0
No. 17 Houston		–		9	–	3	–	0
No. 13 Notre Dame		–		8	–	2	–	0
Utah State		–		8	–	3	–	0
Florida State		–		8	–	4	–	0
Cincinnati		–		7	–	4	–	0
West Virginia		–		7	–	4	–	0
Temple		–		6	–	2	–	1
Air Force		–		6	–	4	–	0
Army		–		6	–	4	–	0
Colgate		–		6	–	4	–	0
Villanova		–		6	–	4	–	1
South Carolina		–		6	–	5	–	0
Southern Miss		–		6	–	5	–	0
Georgia Tech		–		6	–	6	–	0
New Mexico State		–		5	–	5	–	1
Northern Illinois		–		5	–	5	–	1
Syracuse		–		5	–	5	–	1
Dayton		–		5	–	6	–	0
Holy Cross		–		4	–	6	–	0
Miami (FL)		–		4	–	7	–	0
Rutgers		–		4	–	7	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		4	–	7	–	0
Navy		–		3	–	8	–	0
Pittsburgh		–		3	–	8	–	0
Tulane		–		3	–	8	–	0
Marshall		–		2	–	8	–	0
Xavier		–		1	–	9	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll