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Penn State Nittany Lions-West Virginia Mountaineers
History
1st Meeting	October 15, 1904
Last Meeting	October 24, 1992
Number of Meetings	59
All-Time Series	PSU: 48-9-2
Largest victory	PSU: 62-14 (10/27/1973)
Current Streak	PSU: Won 4
Longest Penn State Win Streak	25 (1959–1983)
Longest West Virginia Win Streak	3 (1953–1955)

The Penn State–West Virginia football rivalry is a dormant American college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 rivalry game that was played by the Penn State Nittany Lions football

Penn State Nittany Lions football

The Penn State Nittany Lions football team represents the Pennsylvania State University in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision as a member of the Big Ten Conference. It is one of the most tradition-rich and storied college football programs in the...

 team of Pennsylvania State University

Pennsylvania State University

The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...

 and the West Virginia Mountaineers football

West Virginia Mountaineers football

The West Virginia Mountaineers football team represents West Virginia University in the NCAA FBS division of college football. Dana Holgorsen is the team's 33rd head coach. He has held the position since he was promoted in June 2011 after the resignation of Bill Stewart. The Mountaineers play their...

 team of West Virginia University

West Virginia University

West Virginia University is a public research university in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. Other campuses include: West Virginia University at Parkersburg in Parkersburg; West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery; Potomac State College of West Virginia University in Keyser;...

. The rivalry began in 1904 with a Penn State 34-0 victory. The last game of the rivalry came in 1992, when Penn State won 40-26. Penn State leads the all-time series with a record of 48 wins, 9 losses and 2 ties.

1904-1950

In 1904, the West Virginia Mountaineers

West Virginia Mountaineers

The West Virginia Mountaineers are the athletic teams of West Virginia University. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Big East Conference. On July 1, 2012 the Mountaineers will switch conferences, moving from the Big East to the Big 12, becoming...

 traveled to University Park

University Park, Pennsylvania

University Park, Pennsylvania is an unincorporated community in Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States, and is the location of the flagship campus of the Pennsylvania State University....

 to face the Penn State Nittany Lions for the first time. The Nittany Lions won the game, 34-0. West Virginia traveled to University Park for 1905, 1906, 1908, and 1909 matchups against Penn State; all losses. In 1923, after a 13-year hiatus, the two schools met again on the football field at Yankee Stadium in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. The result was a 13-13 tie.

In 1925, the first game of the rivalry was played at Old Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia

Morgantown, West Virginia

Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia. It is the county seat of Monongalia County. Placed along the banks of the Monongahela River, Morgantown is the largest city in North-Central West Virginia, and the base of the Morgantown metropolitan area...

. The game was also West Virginia's first victory of the rivalry, 14-0. Six years later, 1931, the next game of the series was again played at Morgantown, resulting in another Mountaineer victory. Nine years later, 1940, the next game was played at Penn State, a Nittany Lion victory. In 1941, the Lions won again to the score of 7-0.

In 1942, the Mountaineers won at home to the score of 24-0. The Lions won the next year, 32-7, but the Mountaineers upended them at home in 1944, 28-27. The next four matchups, up to 1950, were all Penn State victories.

1951-1983

In 1951 and 1952, Penn State beat the Mountaineers at home and at Old Mountaineer Field, respectively. In 1953 and 1954 , the Mountaineers upset the Nittany Lions at "New Beaver Field", the Nittany Lions home since 1909, by scores of 20-19 and 19-14. In 1955 the Mountaineers won at home to the score of 21-7. The Nittany Lion's ended West Virginia's three-game streak in 1956 with a 16-6 victory at home. They won 27-6 the next year, then there was a 14-14 tie in 1958 at Old Mountaineer Field.

From 1959 to 1983, Penn State posted a 26-game win streak. The streak included victories of 44-6 in 1965, 21-14 in 1967, 31-20 in 1968, 42-8 in 1970, 62-14 in 1973, 39-0 in 1975, 33-0 in 1976, 20-15 in 1980, and 41-23 in 1983. Penn State had consecutive victories over some of West Virginia's greatest quarterbacks, including Oliver Luck

Oliver Luck

Oliver Luck is the athletic director of West Virginia University, his alma mater. Luck is a retired American football player who spent four seasons in the National Football League as a quarterback for the Houston Oilers . He was also the first president and general manager of the Houston Dynamo...

 and Penn State-transfer Jeff Hostetler

Jeff Hostetler

William Jeffrey Hostetler is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League for the New York Giants, Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders, and Washington Redskins. His nickname is "Hoss".-Penn State:...

. Penn State went 15-5-1 in bowl games during this era. Joe Paterno

Joe Paterno

Joseph Vincent "Joe" Paterno is a former college football coach who was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions for 46 years from 1966 through 2011. Paterno, nicknamed "JoePa," holds the record for the most victories by an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision football coach with...

 also became the coach of the Lions in 1967, while Don Nehlen

Don Nehlen

Don Nehlen is a former American football player and coach. He was head football coach at Bowling Green State University and at West Virginia University . Nehlen retired from coaching college football in 2001 with a career record of 202–128–8 and as the 17th winningest coach in...

 became the coach of the Mountaineers in 1980.

1984-1992

In 1984, West Virginia broke the 25-game win streak of Penn State in Morgantown, West Virginia

Morgantown, West Virginia

Morgantown is a city in Monongalia County, West Virginia. It is the county seat of Monongalia County. Placed along the banks of the Monongahela River, Morgantown is the largest city in North-Central West Virginia, and the base of the Morgantown metropolitan area...

, with a 17-14 upset. However, Penn State won the next three contests; in 1985 and 1986 in shutouts and 1987 in a 25-21 contest. In 1988, under lead of Mountaineers' legend Major Harris

Major Harris

Major Harris is a former college football quarterback for West Virginia University during the 1980s. Harris was a 1989 All American and finished third and fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting in 1988 and 1989, respectively. He was also the ECAC Player of the Year in 1988 and 1989...

, West Virginia beat the Nittany Lions 51-30, en route to an undefeated regular season, also making the 1988 West Virginia Mountaineers the only team to score more than 50 points on any Joe Paterno coached Penn State squad.

In 1989, Penn State won 19-9 at Beaver Stadium. Penn State followed up with three consecutive wins, with the last game of the rivalry in 1992 with a 40-26 victory in Morgantown.

The rivalry currently lies dormant.

Game results

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