1987 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

1987 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
	Rankings from AP Poll

1987 West Virginia Mountaineers football
1987 West Virginia Mountaineers football
Sun Bowl, L 33–35 vs. Oklahoma State
Conference	Independent
1987 record	6–6
Head coach	Don Nehlen (8th season);
Home stadium	Mountaineer Field; (Capacity: 63,500)
	Seasons ← 1986 1988 →

The 1987 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University in the 1987 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Mountaineers' 95th overall season and they competed as a Division I-A Independent. The team was led by head coach Don Nehlen, in his eighth year, and played their home games at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. They finished the season with a record of six wins and six losses (6–6 overall), and with a loss against Oklahoma State in the 1987 Sun Bowl.

Schedule[]

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance
September 5	Ohio	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	W 23–3	46,744
September 12	at No. 5 Ohio State	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	L 3–24	88,272
September 19	at Maryland	Byrd Stadium College Park, MD (rivalry)	L 20–25	40,125
September 26	Pittsburgh	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (Backyard Brawl)	L 3–6	65,079
October 3	East Carolina	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	W 49–0	36,630
October 17	Cincinnati	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	W 45–17	46,488
October 24	at Boston College	Alumni Stadium Chestnut Hill, MA	W 37–16	32,000
October 31	at No. 18 Penn State	Beaver Stadium University Park, PA (rivalry)	L 21–25	85,108
November 7	Virginia Tech	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (Black Diamond Trophy)	W 28–16	47,322
November 14	Rutgers	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	W 37–13	44,717
November 21	at No. 6 Syracuse	Carrier Dome Syracuse, NY (Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy)	L 31–32	49,866
December 25	vs. No. 11 Oklahoma State	Sun Bowl Stadium El Paso, TX (Sun Bowl)	L 33–35	43,240
Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game

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

1987 NCAA Division I-A independents football records
v t	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 1 Miami (FL)		–		–		12	–	0	–	0
No. 4 Syracuse		–		–		11	–	0	–	1
No. 2 Florida State		–		–		11	–	1	–	0
No. 15 South Carolina		–		–		8	–	4	–	0
Pittsburgh		–		–		8	–	4	–	0
Penn State		–		–		8	–	4	–	0
No. 17 Notre Dame		–		–		8	–	4	–	0
Southern Miss		–		–		6	–	5	–	0
Rutgers		–		–		6	–	5	–	0
Southwestern Louisiana		–		–		6	–	5	–	0
Memphis State		–		–		5	–	5	–	1
Northern Illinois		–		–		5	–	5	–	1
West Virginia		–		–		6	–	6	–	0
Tulane		–		–		6	–	6	–	0
Army		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Boston College		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
East Carolina		–		–		5	–	6	–	0
Akron		–		–		4	–	7	–	0
Cincinnati		–		–		4	–	7	–	0
Louisville		–		–		3	–	7	–	1
Temple		–		–		3	–	8	–	0
Tulsa		–		–		3	–	8	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		–		2	–	9	–	0
Navy		–		–		2	–	9	–	0

Rankings from AP Poll