Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Campus Connection: A Homecoming History
October 02, 2018 05:50 PM | Football, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It's certainly been a mixed bag for West Virginia on homecoming through the years.
There have been good games, bad games, wins, losses, ties, comebacks, meltdowns, blowouts … you name it.
The first homecoming game ever played at WVU, way, way back in 1921, forever sealed Clarence Spears' disdain for Fielding Yost.
The famous Michigan coach was invited back to his alma mater to take in West Virginia's first-ever homecoming game against arch rival Washington & Jefferson, coached that year by the aptly named "Greasy" Neale (who later coached three unsuccessful seasons at WVU).
Neale beat West Virginia 13-0 that afternoon to earn a trip to the Rose Bowl, where his 11-man Presidents team famously tied undefeated California out in Pasadena.
Immediately after the W&J loss, the opinionated Yost pointed out to Spears all of the coaching blunders he had made during the game and what he needed to do to become a better football coach.
Spears was not a man who took constructive criticism constructively, and his relationship with Yost immediately deteriorated into an intense rivalry that continued when Spears became Minnesota's coach in 1925.
"They hated each other cordially," athletic director Harry Stansbury once said of the two.
So from that beginning, the homecoming game and parade down High Street eventually evolved into an annual occurrence by 1933 with West Virginia winning 52, losing 34 and tying three times for a .601 winning percentage on Old Grad Day as of this afternoon.
Saturday's homecoming opponent Kansas also played here on homecoming in 1941, a 21-0 Mountaineer victory, as well as four years ago in 2014, a 33-14 WVU win.
The opponent West Virginia has most frequently faced on homecoming?
That would be Syracuse, nine times in all.
On four instances the Orange rained on West Virginia's homecoming parade, once in 2010 and again in 2000 on the day Don Nehlen announced his retirement, and also in 1978 at old Mountaineer Field.
It poured on the Mountaineers in 1960 when the third-ranked Orangemen rolled to a 45-0 victory.
Speaking of ranked teams, 14 times nationally ranked opponents have to come Morgantown to help celebrate homecoming, including top-ranked Miami in 1986 when the Hurricanes were marching toward a meeting against Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship.
Of course, the '86 Hurricanes were not your typical homecoming opponent. Don Nehlen, growing more concerned each day as he watched over and over film of Miami scoring touchdown after touchdown, walked into defensive coordinator Denny Brown's office the day before the big game and asked him if there was any way they could beat the powerful Hurricanes.
"Sure Don," Brown answered, "if your offense can get us 55 points tomorrow."
It turns out Brown was wrong - West Virginia needed 59 that day.
Perhaps the Mountaineers were just hoarding points for a homecoming victory over Rutgers in 2001. First-year coach Rich Rodriguez scored 80 that afternoon against another first-year coach, the old Wood Chopper, Greg Schiano.
Gene Racz, writing in the Asbury Park Press, afterward penned this lead in his game story, "It was a fiasco of historic proportions."
Ouch.
Those 80 points were just 18 points more than the 62 West Virginia put on the scoreboard against Terry Shea's winless Scarlet Knights team during a homecoming game two years prior at Mountaineer Field.
Nehlen used to defend Shea religiously whenever the New Jersey sportswriters would ask him to give his opinion on what was ailing Rutgers football. When the subject of Shea's job security came up, West Virginia's Hall of Fame coach would bristle with indignation.
"Holy criminy, he's a Bill Walsh disciple!" Nehlen would growl. "How in the world could they ever think of getting rid of him?"
Meanwhile, Nehlen was beating the Bill Walsh disciple like a drum each time they played.
More recently, a couple of long Noel Devine touchdowns saved the 2008 and 2009 West Virginia homecomings.
The Mountaineers, clinging to a 10-6 lead over Syracuse in 2008, got a 92-yard touchdown run from Devine with four minutes left in the game to seal a 17-6 homecoming victory.
A year later, Devine's late-game heroics were even more dramatic. West Virginia saw its late lead over Connecticut go up in smoke when Marcus Easley burned the Mountaineer secondary for an 88-yard touchdown with 3:50 left in the game, giving the Huskies a 24-21 lead.
Then, about a minute later, Devine broke free at the WVU 46 to score the game-winning touchdown with 2:10 remaining.
Dana Holgorsen's last two homecoming games were certainly memorable.
Two years ago, West Virginia scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to rally and defeat Kansas State 17-16 for its first win against the Wildcats since joining the Big 12 in 2012. And last year, WVU exploded for 22 fourth-quarter points to overcome a 35-17 Texas Tech lead in a 46-35 triumph.
And, who can ever forget three of the most memorable games in school history taking place on homecoming?
West Virginia's first-ever Big 12 game against Baylor rewrote the record books, the two teams combining for 133 points, 1,237 yards and 67 first downs in the Mountaineers' 70-63 homecoming triumph.
Believe it or not, there were actually four punts sandwiched between all those touchdowns that afternoon if anyone can remember them.
West Virginia's geriatric supporters certainly point to the Mountaineers' come-from-behind, 21-20 victory over Doug Flutie-led Boston College in 1984 as one of the most unforgettable homecoming performances in school history.
The Heisman Trophy winner passed and ran BC to a commanding 20-6 halftime lead, and in the process, sucked the life out of Mountaineer Field.
But in the second half the West Virginia offense erupted for three scores, two coming on short touchdown runs and one on a Paul Woodside field goal. The Mountaineer defense, which couldn't contain Flutie in the first half, decided to blitz him on every snap in the second half, and he couldn't handle it.
By the way, it was the fourth straight time Flutie lost to the Mountaineers.
For younger Mountaineer rooters, their most unforgettable homecoming game took place on Oct. 15, 2005, when 19th-ranked Louisville was rolling along with a 24-7 lead late in the third quarter.
That's when Rich Rod decided scrap his two-platoon quarterback system and go exclusively with redshirt freshman Pat White. A 24-7 deficit soon became 24-14, then 24-17 and eventually 24-24 when freshman Steve Slaton scored with a minute to go in regulation.
In overtime, the two teams swapped six touchdowns before the game was finally decided in the third extra period after Cardinal quarterback Brian Brohm was stopped a yard short of the goal line on his two-point conversion try.
West Virginia had made theirs when White flipped a pass to Dorrell Jalloh running in the back of the end zone.
That victory was the starting point of an amazing run for West Virginia with White and Slaton in the backfield that saw the Mountaineers win a Sugar, Gator and Fiesta Bowl during the next three years.
Great wins, stinging losses, ties, blowouts, nail-biting comebacks … it's been a mixed bag, for sure.
At any rate, we'll see you on High Street Friday evening and then at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday afternoon for homecoming game No. 90 for West Virginia University.
There have been good games, bad games, wins, losses, ties, comebacks, meltdowns, blowouts … you name it.
The first homecoming game ever played at WVU, way, way back in 1921, forever sealed Clarence Spears' disdain for Fielding Yost.
The famous Michigan coach was invited back to his alma mater to take in West Virginia's first-ever homecoming game against arch rival Washington & Jefferson, coached that year by the aptly named "Greasy" Neale (who later coached three unsuccessful seasons at WVU).
Neale beat West Virginia 13-0 that afternoon to earn a trip to the Rose Bowl, where his 11-man Presidents team famously tied undefeated California out in Pasadena.
Immediately after the W&J loss, the opinionated Yost pointed out to Spears all of the coaching blunders he had made during the game and what he needed to do to become a better football coach.
Spears was not a man who took constructive criticism constructively, and his relationship with Yost immediately deteriorated into an intense rivalry that continued when Spears became Minnesota's coach in 1925.
"They hated each other cordially," athletic director Harry Stansbury once said of the two.
So from that beginning, the homecoming game and parade down High Street eventually evolved into an annual occurrence by 1933 with West Virginia winning 52, losing 34 and tying three times for a .601 winning percentage on Old Grad Day as of this afternoon.
Saturday's homecoming opponent Kansas also played here on homecoming in 1941, a 21-0 Mountaineer victory, as well as four years ago in 2014, a 33-14 WVU win.
The opponent West Virginia has most frequently faced on homecoming?
That would be Syracuse, nine times in all.
On four instances the Orange rained on West Virginia's homecoming parade, once in 2010 and again in 2000 on the day Don Nehlen announced his retirement, and also in 1978 at old Mountaineer Field.
It poured on the Mountaineers in 1960 when the third-ranked Orangemen rolled to a 45-0 victory.
Speaking of ranked teams, 14 times nationally ranked opponents have to come Morgantown to help celebrate homecoming, including top-ranked Miami in 1986 when the Hurricanes were marching toward a meeting against Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl for the national championship.
Of course, the '86 Hurricanes were not your typical homecoming opponent. Don Nehlen, growing more concerned each day as he watched over and over film of Miami scoring touchdown after touchdown, walked into defensive coordinator Denny Brown's office the day before the big game and asked him if there was any way they could beat the powerful Hurricanes.
"Sure Don," Brown answered, "if your offense can get us 55 points tomorrow."
It turns out Brown was wrong - West Virginia needed 59 that day.
Perhaps the Mountaineers were just hoarding points for a homecoming victory over Rutgers in 2001. First-year coach Rich Rodriguez scored 80 that afternoon against another first-year coach, the old Wood Chopper, Greg Schiano.Gene Racz, writing in the Asbury Park Press, afterward penned this lead in his game story, "It was a fiasco of historic proportions."
Ouch.
Those 80 points were just 18 points more than the 62 West Virginia put on the scoreboard against Terry Shea's winless Scarlet Knights team during a homecoming game two years prior at Mountaineer Field.
Nehlen used to defend Shea religiously whenever the New Jersey sportswriters would ask him to give his opinion on what was ailing Rutgers football. When the subject of Shea's job security came up, West Virginia's Hall of Fame coach would bristle with indignation.
"Holy criminy, he's a Bill Walsh disciple!" Nehlen would growl. "How in the world could they ever think of getting rid of him?"
Meanwhile, Nehlen was beating the Bill Walsh disciple like a drum each time they played.
More recently, a couple of long Noel Devine touchdowns saved the 2008 and 2009 West Virginia homecomings.
The Mountaineers, clinging to a 10-6 lead over Syracuse in 2008, got a 92-yard touchdown run from Devine with four minutes left in the game to seal a 17-6 homecoming victory.
A year later, Devine's late-game heroics were even more dramatic. West Virginia saw its late lead over Connecticut go up in smoke when Marcus Easley burned the Mountaineer secondary for an 88-yard touchdown with 3:50 left in the game, giving the Huskies a 24-21 lead.
Then, about a minute later, Devine broke free at the WVU 46 to score the game-winning touchdown with 2:10 remaining.
Dana Holgorsen's last two homecoming games were certainly memorable.
Two years ago, West Virginia scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to rally and defeat Kansas State 17-16 for its first win against the Wildcats since joining the Big 12 in 2012. And last year, WVU exploded for 22 fourth-quarter points to overcome a 35-17 Texas Tech lead in a 46-35 triumph.
And, who can ever forget three of the most memorable games in school history taking place on homecoming?
West Virginia's first-ever Big 12 game against Baylor rewrote the record books, the two teams combining for 133 points, 1,237 yards and 67 first downs in the Mountaineers' 70-63 homecoming triumph.
Believe it or not, there were actually four punts sandwiched between all those touchdowns that afternoon if anyone can remember them.
West Virginia's geriatric supporters certainly point to the Mountaineers' come-from-behind, 21-20 victory over Doug Flutie-led Boston College in 1984 as one of the most unforgettable homecoming performances in school history.The Heisman Trophy winner passed and ran BC to a commanding 20-6 halftime lead, and in the process, sucked the life out of Mountaineer Field.
But in the second half the West Virginia offense erupted for three scores, two coming on short touchdown runs and one on a Paul Woodside field goal. The Mountaineer defense, which couldn't contain Flutie in the first half, decided to blitz him on every snap in the second half, and he couldn't handle it.
By the way, it was the fourth straight time Flutie lost to the Mountaineers.
For younger Mountaineer rooters, their most unforgettable homecoming game took place on Oct. 15, 2005, when 19th-ranked Louisville was rolling along with a 24-7 lead late in the third quarter.
That's when Rich Rod decided scrap his two-platoon quarterback system and go exclusively with redshirt freshman Pat White. A 24-7 deficit soon became 24-14, then 24-17 and eventually 24-24 when freshman Steve Slaton scored with a minute to go in regulation.
In overtime, the two teams swapped six touchdowns before the game was finally decided in the third extra period after Cardinal quarterback Brian Brohm was stopped a yard short of the goal line on his two-point conversion try.
West Virginia had made theirs when White flipped a pass to Dorrell Jalloh running in the back of the end zone.
That victory was the starting point of an amazing run for West Virginia with White and Slaton in the backfield that saw the Mountaineers win a Sugar, Gator and Fiesta Bowl during the next three years.
Great wins, stinging losses, ties, blowouts, nail-biting comebacks … it's been a mixed bag, for sure.
At any rate, we'll see you on High Street Friday evening and then at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday afternoon for homecoming game No. 90 for West Virginia University.
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