Virginia
West Virginia’s Top 10 All-Time Wins
Football season is just around the corner and to help you get fired up for its return, I thought we could take a look back at some of the best wins in West Virginia program history. I’m sure you will all agree exactly with all ten of my selections and the order in which they appear.
Here. We. Go.
Just two years removed from the game no one wants to talk about, West Virginia got its revenge on Pitt in the Backyard Brawl. Sure, it wasn’t a game that kept them out of a national championship, but it did keep them from going to a BCS game. Also, many of the players that were involved in that ’07 game were still in the program and were able to get their payback.
The Hokies entered this matchup a perfect 6-0 and had their sights set on a national championship. No one, including the Hokies, expected a 2-4 West Virginia team to show up and dominate one of the nation’s best teams. That loss sent Virginia Tech into a spiral, losing four of its final six games. WVU would go on to win five of its last six.
West Virginia lost 27 straight games to Penn State in addition to one tie prior to this game. Nearly 30 years went by before the Mountaineers saw themselves on the right side of the score against the dominant Penn State Nittany Lions. This ended up being one of Joe Paterno’s worst teams, but still, this was a moment Mountaineer fans had been waiting for for almost three decades.
“They got Flutie!” – one of the most iconic calls by Jack Fleming. West Virginia’s defense came up strong late in the game and running back John Gay ran in the go-ahead touchdown which would ultimately be the game-winner. WVU fizzled out at the end of the season, but at the time this was a gigantic win for the Old Gold and Blue.
The season-opener in 1982 was expected to be a blowout loss on the road against a top-10 Oklahoma team. The Mountaineers had a very young team and had Penn State transfer Jeff Hostetler at quarterback. That day, he made a name for himself and led WVU to a signature 41-27 win over the Sooners. Hostetler threw for 321 yards and four touchdowns that afternoon.
If you have this one higher on your list, I can’t blame you. To this day, this game featured the largest crowd ever to attend a football game at Mountaineer Field with 70,222 spectators on hand. WVU ripped off nine straight wins to open the season, but this was by far their stiffest challenge yet. Miami had a loaded roster and were playing for a national title berth as well. Robert Walker’s 19-yard touchdown with six minutes and change to go was the deciding factor.
SEC speed. That’s all WVU heard about during the month of bowl prep. How could a team from the Big East hang with the speed and athleticism of Georgia? Ask the Bulldogs how this one went. The young duo of Pat White and Steve Slaton caught the nation’s attention with this Sugar Bowl win. WVU caught Georgia off guard and jumped out to a 28-0 lead just a few minutes into the second quarter. The Bulldogs battled back, but were unable to complete the comeback. Phil Brady’s fake punt rush for a first down went down as one of the top plays in program history.
The win over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl is a moment Mountaineer fans will never forget. West Virginia lost out on a national championship appearance after falling to a four-win Pitt team and then shortly after, lost head coach Rich Rodriguez to Michigan. WVU fans were crushed and lost so much hope in such a short amount of time. Every college football analyst picked Oklahoma to crush West Virginia because of everything the team just went through mentally. They and 84% of the country were wrong. WVU came out with a point to prove and handled the Sooners 48-28. The “leave no doubt” pregame speech from Bill Stewart gives Mountaineer fans chills to this very day.
Perfection is not easy. It’s happened just twice in the history of the program and this win over Boston College sealed the deal for an undefeated campaign in 1993. They had to earn this one with backup QB Darren Studstill leading the way. He engineered a 77-yard scoring drive and just as BC threatened to answer, Steve Perkins forced a fumble which was recovered by Mike Logan. Studstill threw up a jumpball to Ed Hill in the end zone who came down with the game-winning catch. WVU should have secured a spot in the national championship game once again, but a one-loss Florida State team got in instead.
I’ll be honest, it’s very hard to peg the best win of all-time. You could make a case for really any of these victories I have listed in the top five. But I’m going with the ’88 win over Syracuse. Why? It gave West Virginia it’s first-ever perfect season. The first time you do something of that magnitude, it has to be recognized as the top moment in program history, at least until you win a national title. WVU had a fairly favorable schedule to this point in the season, but Syracuse was no slouch by any means. West Virginia silenced all the doubters pounding Syracuse and securing a spot in the Fiesta Bowl to take on Notre Dame for the national championship. The other wins were great, but can you really put anything else above the one that punched your ticket to the title game? I don’t think so.
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CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) — West Virginia has plenty of state symbols, be it the black bear as the state animal, the cardinal as the state bird or the rhododendron as the state flower, but did you know that the Mountain State also has its own official gun?
The Hall Flintlock Model 1819 was first manufactured in Harpers Ferry by John H. Hall in 1811 and was adopted by the United States Army in 1819, making it the first breech-loading rifle ever adopted by a country’s military.
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Model 1819 Hall Breechloading Rifle presented by Congress to Gustavous A. Bird for his participation in the Battle of Plattsburgh 9/11/1814 by John C. Bird via the Smithsonian Institution -
Model 1819 Hall Breechloading Rifle presented by Congress to Gustavous A. Bird for his participation in the Battle of Plattsburgh 9/11/1814 by John C. Bird via the Smithsonian Institution
All of this information is listed in Senate Concurrent Resolution 7, which was introduced and passed during the 2013 West Virginia Legislative session, and officially recognizes the Model 1819 as the official firearm of the State of West Virginia.
On top of being created in West Virginia, the resolution also points out that the rifle saw use during the Civil War, an event that directly led to West Virginia’s statehood.
While having an officially recognized state firearm may seem far-fetched, West Virginia is not the only state that has one. As a matter of fact, a fifth of the states in the country have officially designated a state firearm, including West Virginia’s neighbors in Kentucky and Pennsylvania.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In this world of college football, with the transfer portal and recruiting battles, bad blood is present more than ever before between head coaches.
That’s not the case between the Virginia Tech head coach and Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, however. In fact, Franklin revealed at ACC Kickoff on Thursday that the two are actually close friends, dating back to their time at the Nike trip that various coaches take over the summer.
“Dabo’s my guy,” Franklin said on Thursday. “We go way back. We’ve been on the Nike trip for a long time. His wife and my wife are friends.”
The long-time Penn State head coach is making the move to the ACC after being fired from the Nittany Lions in October. 12 seasons of being with the program had Franklin hold a 44-21 record against top 10 opponents, an impressive record for a new conference foe of Swinney’s.
But when that trip comes around, there’s a camaraderie between Swinney and Franklin and both of their wives. In fact, the two hang out with each other instead of the other coaches at times. It simply comes to an “edgy” time in college athletics that raises tempers.
“I’m going to be honest, I wouldn’t say we’re necessarily like the type of people that love a lot of other coaches and a lot of other programs,” Franklin said. “It’s hard when you just compete year-round.”
On Swinney’s end, there are a few who could immediately come to mind among Clemson fans. Perhaps the most recent would be Ole Miss coach Pete Golding, who played the most significant role in the tampering of former linebacker Luke Ferrelli.
It’s a select list of coaches who make the good side of the Tigers’ head coach, and Franklin is certainly on that list. On the other hand, Hokies’ head coach has Swinney on his own shortlist.
“Obviously, tremendous respect for what he has built at Clemson and what he’s done at Clemson, and what he’s done for the ACC,” he said.
The two will see that close relationship face off at Memorial Stadium this upcoming season. Clemson will host the Hokies on Oct. 24 in what could be a potential title-eliminator for the ACC Championship.
Of course, the last game that we’ve seen the Tigers play in was against Franklin’s former team in Penn State at the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl. That game ended in a 22-10 contest that saw a foundation of Franklin players end Clemson’s season in disappointment.
Swinney will see many of those players once again in October, including starting quarterback Ethan Grunkemeyer, in that contest. The anticipated Hokie starter recorded 260 yards and two passing touchdowns on the Tigers in the Bronx that day.
Although friends become foes, another ACC coach has given Swinney his flowers for what he’s been able to do for the conference. In the upcoming moments, Franklin will look to prepare his team to prove itself on one of the biggest stages in the ACC, while Swinney looks to put his team back at the top of a conference he’s dominated for over 15 years.
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MARTINSVILLE, Va. (WSET) — Extreme drought conditions in parts of Virginia have prompted an emergency drought warning for a wide swath of the region, including Bedford, Campbell, Charlotte, Franklin, Halifax, Henry, Mecklenburg, Patrick, Pittsylvania and Roanoke counties, along with the cities of Danville, Roanoke, Salem and Martinsville.
The governor has warned that if conditions worsen, she will activate mandatory nonessential water-use restrictions.
In Martinsville, city leaders have issued a voluntary water conservation notice and are urging residents and businesses to cut back where they can. The request comes as local businesses that rely heavily on water say the drought is already affecting day-to-day operations.
SEE ALSO: Botetourt County residents adjust daily routines as voluntary water restriction continues
John Hughes, owner of John’s Car Wash, said the dry conditions have hit his business hard in recent weeks. “For the last 3 weeks, it’s been hitting pretty hard. We done three yesterday and haven’t done anything today with the drought and hot weather. Yeah, I’m really concerned about it,” Hughes said.
Restaurants are also feeling the strain. David Kitzmiller, an owner of Be Wiched, said water is essential for routine tasks such as washing dishes and preparing some menu items.
“We use a lot of water for washing dishes and some of our recipes if they limit us in anyway defiently can’t produce and its a scary aspect,” Kitzmiller said.
Kitzmiller added that cutting back is not always realistic for businesses that must meet sanitation needs. “Not really feasible for a business that depends solely relies on water to wash their dishes, so that can’t definitely be an impact there,” he said.
City leaders emphasized that the conservation request is voluntary for now, but they are encouraging everyone to do their part by taking shorter showers, turning off the faucet when it is not in use, washing only full loads of laundry, and limiting outdoor watering whenever possible.
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