Mountaineers Finish 23rd
January 09, 2009 04:33 PM | General
January 9, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia ended the year right where it began - in the national rankings. The Mountaineers finished ranked 23rd in the final Associated Press top 25 poll announced Friday morning.
West Virginia (9-4) garnered 144 votes, edging 9-4 Michigan State and 10-3 BYU for the 23rd spot.
The only other Big East team to remain in the AP rankings was Cincinnati at No. 17. Pitt fell out of both polls.
Cincinnati was also the only Big East team to finish the season ranked in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches’ poll at 17th. West Virginia (101 points) fell 15 points shy of No. 25 California’s 116 poll points.
West Virginia began the year ranked eighth and remained in the polls for four weeks before falling out after a 17-14 loss at Colorado. WVU briefly made a return to the rankings at 20th on Oct. 26 before losing in overtime to Cincinnati.
This year represents the first time in school history that West Virginia has finished ranked in the top 25 four consecutive years. Former coach Don Nehlen had a run of three straight years in the rankings in 1981, 1982 and 1983, and Art Lewis also had a three-year run in the rankings in 1953, 1954 and 1955.
Overall, this is the 15th time West Virginia finished the season ranked in the Associated Press top 25.
