2020 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

2020 Big 12 Conference football standings
	Championship: Oklahoma 27, Iowa State 21
	$ – Conference champion; y – Championship game participant; Rankings from AP Poll.

2020 West Virginia Mountaineers football
2020 West Virginia Mountaineers football
Liberty Bowl champion
Liberty Bowl, W 24–21 vs. Army
Conference	Big 12 Conference
2020 record	6–4 (4–4 Big 12)
Head coach	Neal Brown (2nd season);
Offensive coordinator	Gerad Parker (1st season)
Co-offensive coordinator	Chad Scott (2nd season)
Defensive coordinator	Jordan Lesley (1st season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Jahmile Addae (1st season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Jeff Koonz (1st season)
Home stadium	Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium; (Capacity: 60,000)
	Seasons ← 2019 2021 →

The 2020 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University during the 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Mountaineers played their home games at the Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium, in Morgantown, West Virginia, and competed in the Big 12 Conference. They were led by second-year head coach Neal Brown.

Previous season[]

The Mountaineers finished the 2019 season with a 5–7 record, 3–6 in Big 12 play, failing to earn bowl eligibility.

Offseason[]

Coaching changes[]

Offensive coordinator Matt Moore was promoted to assistant head coach, and was replaced in his role as offensive coordinator by Penn State wide receivers coach Gerad Parker. Parker also replaced , who departed for South Florida, as wide receivers coach. Additionally, the Mountaineers hired from Ole Miss to serve as inside linebackers and special team coach and later became co-defensive coordinator.^[1]

On July 22, Defensive coordinator Vic Koenning parted ways with West Virginia after allegations of mistreatment by West Virginia players.^[2] To replace him, they promoted three defensive coaches to become co-defensive coordinators: Jordan Lesley, Jahmile Addae, and Jeff Koonz. They also moved linebackers coach Dontae Wright to safeties coach along with promoting analyst Jeff Casteel to outside linebackers coach.^[3]

Preseason[]

Big 12 media days[]

The Big 12 media days were held on July 21–22, 2020 in a virtual format due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4]

Big 12 media poll[]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
Big 12 media poll^[5]
1	Oklahoma	888 (88)
2	Oklahoma State	742 (6)
3	Texas	727 (4)
4	Iowa State	607
5	Baylor	489
6	TCU	477
7	Kansas State	366
8	West Virginia	287
9	Texas Tech	267
10	Kansas	100

Schedule[]

Spring game[]

The West Virginia football spring "Blue-Gold game" was canceled due to COVID-19.

Regular season[]

West Virginia released its 2020 schedule on October 21, 2019. The 2020 schedule originally consisted of 7 home games, 4 away games, and 1 neutral-site game in the regular season. The Mountaineers were to host two non-conference games against Eastern Kentucky and Maryland, and play a non-conference neutral site game against Florida State in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. West Virginia was to host Kansas State, TCU, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Baylor; and travel to Texas Tech, Texas, Oklahoma State, and Iowa State in regular-season conference play.

The Mountaineers' games against Florida State, scheduled for September 5, and Maryland, scheduled for September 19, were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[6]^[7]

Date	Time	Opponent	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 12	12:00 p.m.	Eastern Kentucky*	Milan Puskar Stadium Morgantown, WV	FS1	W 56–10	976
September 26	3:30 p.m.	at No. 15 Oklahoma State	Boone Pickens Stadium Stillwater, OK	ABC	L 13–27	14,672
October 3	12:00 p.m.	Baylor	Milan Puskar Stadium Morgantown, WV	ABC	W 27–21 ^2OT	978
October 17	12:00 p.m.	Kansas	Milan Puskar Stadium Morgantown, WV	FOX	W 38–17	10,759
October 24	5:30 p.m.	at Texas Tech	Jones AT&T Stadium Lubbock, TX	ESPN2	L 27–34	13,532
October 31	12:00 p.m.	No. 16 Kansas State	Milan Puskar Stadium Morgantown, WV	ESPN2	W 37–10	10,441
November 7	12:00 p.m.	at No. 22 Texas	Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, TX	ABC	L 13–17	17,843
November 14	12:00 p.m.	TCU	Milan Puskar Stadium Morgantown, WV	FOX	W 24–6	11,111
December 5	3:30 p.m.	at No. 9 Iowa State	Jack Trice Stadium Ames, IA	ESPN	L 6–42	14,256
December 31	4:00 p.m.	vs. Army	Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN (Liberty Bowl)	ESPN	W 24–21	8,187
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings (after November 24) released prior to game All times are in Eastern time

Schedule Source:^[8]

Coaching staff[]

Coach	Title	Year at West Virginia	Previous job
Neal Brown	Head Coach	2nd	Troy
Matt Moore	Assistant Head Coach/OL	2nd	Troy Co-OC/OL
Gerad Parker	OC/WR	1st	Penn State (WR/PGC)
Chad Scott	Co-OC/RB	2nd	Louisville (RB)
Jeff Koonz	ILB/ST	1st	Ole Miss (ILB)
Jahmile Addae	DB	2nd	Minnesota (DB)
Jeff Casteel	Defensive Analyst/OLB	1st	Nevada (DC/LB)
Jordan Lesley	DL	2nd	Troy (DL)
Seth Reagan	QB	2nd	Troy (Co-OC/QB)
Travis Trickett	TE/WR	2nd	Georgia State (OC/QB)
Dontae Wright	S	1st	Western Michigan (S)

Game summaries[]

vs. Eastern Kentucky[]

Eastern Kentucky Colonels (0–1) vs. West Virginia Mountaineers (0–0)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eastern Kentucky	0	7	3	0	10
West Virginia	14	28	7	7	56

at Milan Puskar Stadium • Morgantown, WV

Date: Saturday, September 12, 2020
Game time: 12:00 p.m. EDT
Game weather: mostly cloudy, 88°F
TV: FS1
Pregame line: West Virginia -40.0

Game information

First quarter

Second quarter

Third quarter

Fourth quarter

Statistics	EKU	WVU
First downs	9	31
Total yards	206	624
Rushes/yards	75	329
Passing yards	131	295
Passing: Comp–Att–Int	9-17-1	25-35-0
Time of possession	24:17	35:43

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Eastern Kentucky	Passing	Peyton McKinney	9-17, 131 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
	Rushing	Alonzo Booth	7 carries, 45 yds
	Receiving	Keyion Dixon	3 receptions, 53 yds, 1 TD
West Virginia	Passing	Jarret Doege	19–25, 228 yds, 3 TD
	Rushing	Alec Sinkfield	15 carries, 123 yds, 2 TD
	Receiving	Sam James	5 receptions, 72 yds, 1 TD

at Oklahoma State[]

West Virginia Mountaineers (0–0) vs. Oklahoma State Cowboys (0–0)

	1	2	3	4	Total
West Virginia	0	7	3	3	13
Oklahoma State	0	20	0	7	27

at Boone Pickens Stadium • Stillwater, OK

Date: Saturday, November 14, 2020
Game time: EST
Game weather: • Temperature:
Pregame line:

Game information

First Quarter

Second Quarter

Third Quarter

Fourth Quarter

Statistics	WVU	OKST
First downs
Total yards
Rushes/yards
Passing yards
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Virginia	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Oklahoma State	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

vs. Baylor[]

Baylor Bears (0–0) vs. West Virginia Mountaineers (0–0)

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
Baylor	0	7	0	7	7	21
West Virginia	7	0	7	0	13	27

at Milan Puskar Stadium • Morgantown, WV

Date: Saturday, November 21, 2020
Game time: EST
Game weather: • Temperature:
Pregame line:

Game information

First Quarter

Second Quarter

Third Quarter

Fourth Quarter

Statistics	BAY	WVU
First downs
Total yards
Rushes/yards
Passing yards
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Baylor	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
West Virginia	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

vs. Kansas[]

Kansas Jayhawks (0–0) vs. West Virginia Mountaineers (0–0)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Kansas	0	0	0	0	0
West Virginia	0	0	0	0	0

at Milan Puskar Stadium • Morgantown, WV

Date: Saturday, October 24, 2020
Game time: EDT
Game weather: • Temperature:
Pregame line:

Game information

First Quarter

Second Quarter

Third Quarter

Fourth Quarter

Statistics	KAN	WVU
First downs
Total yards
Rushes/yards
Passing yards
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Kansas	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
West Virginia	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

at Texas Tech[]

West Virginia Mountaineers (0–0) vs. Texas Tech Red Raiders (0–0)

	1	2	3	4	Total
West Virginia	0	0	0	0	0
Texas Tech	0	0	0	0	0

at Jones AT&T Stadium • Lubbock, TX

Date: Saturday, October 3, 2020
Game time: EDT
Game weather: • Temperature:
Pregame line:

Game information

First Quarter

Second Quarter

Third Quarter

Fourth Quarter

Statistics	WVU	TTU
First downs
Total yards
Rushes/yards
Passing yards
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Virginia	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Texas Tech	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

vs. Kansas State (Homecoming)[]

Kansas State Wildcats (0–0) vs. West Virginia Mountaineers (0–0)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Kansas State	0	0	0	0	0
West Virginia	0	0	0	0	0

at Milan Puskar Stadium • Morgantown, WV

Date: Saturday, September 26, 2020
Game time: EDT
Game weather: • Temperature:
Pregame line:

Game information

First Quarter

Second Quarter

Third Quarter

Fourth Quarter

Statistics	KSU	WVU
First downs
Total yards
Rushes/yards
Passing yards
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Kansas State	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
West Virginia	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

at Texas[]

West Virginia Mountaineers (0–0) vs. Texas Longhorns (0–0)

	1	2	3	4	Total
West Virginia	0	0	0	0	0
Texas	0	0	0	0	0

at Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium • Austin, TX

Date: Saturday, October 17, 2020
Game time: EDT
Game weather: • Temperature:
Pregame line:

Game information

First Quarter

Second Quarter

Third Quarter

Fourth Quarter

Statistics	WVU	TEX
First downs
Total yards
Rushes/yards
Passing yards
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Virginia	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Texas	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

vs. TCU[]

TCU Horned Frogs (0–0) vs. West Virginia Mountaineers (0–0)

	1	2	3	4	Total
TCU	0	0	0	0	0
West Virginia	0	0	0	0	0

at Milan Puskar Stadium • Morgantown, WV

Date: Saturday, October 10, 2020
Game time: EDT
Game weather: • Temperature:
Pregame line:

Game information

First Quarter

Second Quarter

Third Quarter

Fourth Quarter

Statistics	TCU	WVU
First downs
Total yards
Rushes/yards
Passing yards
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
TCU	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
West Virginia	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

vs. Oklahoma[]

Oklahoma Sooners (0–0) vs. West Virginia Mountaineers (0–0)

	1	2	3	4	Total
Oklahoma	0	0	0	0	0
West Virginia	0	0	0	0	0

at Milan Puskar Stadium • Morgantown, WV

Date: Saturday, November 7, 2020
Game time: EST
Game weather: • Temperature:
Pregame line:

Game information

First Quarter

Second Quarter

Third Quarter

Fourth Quarter

Statistics	OKLA	WVU
First downs
Total yards
Rushes/yards
Passing yards
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
Oklahoma	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
West Virginia	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

at Iowa State[]

West Virginia Mountaineers (0–0) vs. Iowa State Cyclones (0–0)

	1	2	3	4	Total
West Virginia	0	0	0	0	0
Iowa State	0	0	0	0	0

at Jack Trice Stadium • Ames, IA

Date: Friday, November 27, 2020
Game time: EST
Game weather: • Temperature:
Pregame line:

Game information

First Quarter

Second Quarter

Third Quarter

Fourth Quarter

Statistics	WVU	ISU
First downs
Total yards
Rushes/yards
Passing yards
Passing: Comp–Att–Int
Time of possession

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
West Virginia	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving
Iowa State	Passing
	Rushing
	Receiving

Rankings[]

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.
	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	NR	RV	RV	RV	NR	RV	NR
Coaches	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	NR	RV	RV	RV	RV	RV	NR
CFP	Not released															Not released

Players drafted into the NFL[]

Round	Pick	Player	Position	NFL Club
5	153	Tony Fields II	ILB	Cleveland Browns

References[]

^ Callihan, Schuyler. "Matt Moore Promoted to Assistant Head Coach". si.com. ABG-SI LLC. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
^ "West Virginia D-Coordinator Vic Koenning part ways". ESPN.com.
^ Sallee, Barrett. "West Virginia defensive staff to share coordinator duties in 2020 season after parting with Vic Koenning". CBSSports.com.
^ Rittenberg, Adam. "Big 12 football media days going virtual due to coronavirus". ESPN.com. ESPN, Inc. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
^ "Oklahoma Tops Big 12 Football Media Preseason Poll". big12sports.com.
^ Myerberg, Paul. "Big Ten football reduces season schedule to only conference games, maybe setting stage for others to follow". USA TODAY. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
^ Kelley, Kevin (30 July 2020). "All three Chick-fil-A Kickoff games canceled in 2020". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
^ "West Virginia Mountaineers Schedule 2020". ESPN.com. ESPN, Inc. Retrieved 8 February 2020.

[1] Callihan, Schuyler. "Matt Moore Promoted to Assistant Head Coach". si.com. ABG-SI LLC. Retrieved 8 February 2020.

[2] "West Virginia D-Coordinator Vic Koenning part ways". ESPN.com.

[3] Sallee, Barrett. "West Virginia defensive staff to share coordinator duties in 2020 season after parting with Vic Koenning". CBSSports.com.

[4] Rittenberg, Adam. "Big 12 football media days going virtual due to coronavirus". ESPN.com. ESPN, Inc. Retrieved 9 May 2020.

[5] "Oklahoma Tops Big 12 Football Media Preseason Poll". big12sports.com.

[6] Myerberg, Paul. "Big Ten football reduces season schedule to only conference games, maybe setting stage for others to follow". USA TODAY. Retrieved 10 July 2020.

[7] Kelley, Kevin (30 July 2020). "All three Chick-fil-A Kickoff games canceled in 2020". FBSchedules.com. Retrieved 30 July 2020.

[8] "West Virginia Mountaineers Schedule 2020". ESPN.com. ESPN, Inc. Retrieved 8 February 2020.

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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

2020 Big 12 Conference football standings
v t	Conf				Overall
Team		W		L		W		L
No. 9 Iowa State y		8	–	1		9	–	3
No. 6 Oklahoma y$		6	–	2		9	–	2
No. 20 Oklahoma State		6	–	3		8	–	3
No. 19 Texas		5	–	3		7	–	3
TCU		5	–	4		6	–	4
West Virginia		4	–	4		6	–	4
Kansas State		4	–	5		4	–	6
Texas Tech		3	–	6		4	–	6
Baylor		2	–	7		2	–	7
Kansas		0	–	8		0	–	9
Championship: Oklahoma 27, Iowa State 21
$ – Conference champion y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll.