Saturday’s Penn State-West Virginia game in Morgantown might be the last time the two teams meet for a while.
The schools signed on for one game at Penn State, which PSU won under the Beaver Stadium lights last season, and one in Morgantown, which is scheduled to kickoff at noon Saturday.
After that, who knows when the teams meet again?
There was one a time where Penn State and West Virginia played every year. With the schools being in the same region and both being nationally prominent, it’d be easy to assume that there was a rivalry, and many feel that it was.
But others look at the all-time record— 49 wins for Penn State, nine for West Virginia (seven of which came before 1956)— and don’t see a rivalry.
Todd Blackledge went 3-0 against West Virginia as Penn State’s starting QB. Two of those wins came in Morgantown.
1980 was the first season West Virginia played in Milan Puskar Stadium. That’s where the 2024 Penn State team will play Saturday, quite possibly the last time PSU plays there.
Since long before Milan Puskar Stadium, West Virginia fans have had a reputation for being rowdy. That’s been used as both an insult from outside West Virginia and a term of endearment from within.
As Blackledge remembers it, WVU fans lived up to their reputation on a cold, rainy, late October day in 1980.
“The one year we played, it was the very first year they opened the new stadium I’m pretty sure,” Blackledge told Nittany Sports Now at Big Ten Media Days in July. “And I remember it rained, it was cold rain when we played there and it was miserable. I remember that. We won the game, but it was just really, really cold and miserable.
Blackledge also remembers “some bottles being thrown.”
“Jack Daniels bottles landed on the field behind our bench,” he said.
West Virginia fans also made sure to give one of their native sons a less-than-warm welcome home.
Curt Warner grew up in Pineville, West Virginia, and instead of playing at the in-state school, went to Penn State and became the school’s all-time leading rusher, a mark he held until 2010 when Evan Royster eclipsed it.
“I remember that had like a number 25 jersey hanging from the rafters in the stadium there,” Blackledge said. “So they weren’t too happy about my roommate not going to school there. So, yeah, it’s a pretty rough place.”
“They love their football, they’re passionate. You know, they’ve got a great rivalry with the University of Pittsburgh, but we also had a really intense with them as well.”
It was the first year of the new stadium, and there were some kinks to work out.
“I don’t believe the visitor’s locker room was completely finished,” OL Bill Contz, who started along on Penn State’s 1982 national title team, remembers. “Greg Garrity would tell you the story that he remembers open water running or cold showers. I don’t remember that. But you knew that it was going to be a more hostile environment than most places.
“We had our hands full,” Contz said, “in 1980.”
The 1980 game was a closer call than most in the PSU-WVU series, and Warner played a big part.
In the third quarter, with a half-empty stadium and Penn State leading 10-8, Warner took a kickoff that followed a WVU score for an 88-yard touchdown, putting Penn State firmly in command.
Late in the game, WVU made it interesting when Penn State backup QB Jeff Hostetler— yes, he played at Penn State before becoming a West Virginia legend— fumbled, setting up a 9-yard touchdown run by Walter Easley.
Here’s what happened next, as described by John Antonik of MSNsportsNet.com in 2010, the 30th anniversary year.
“With 1:30 showing on the clock, quarterback Oliver Luck tried a pass down the middle to Thomas, but the senior split end couldn’t hang on to Luck’s high throw. The ball deflected from the hands of Penn State’s Pete Harris right into the arms of his younger brother Giuseppe, who slid to the turf at the 20. Game over. It was West Virginia’s 22nd consecutive loss to the Lions.
“I should have caught it,” said Thomas afterward. “Any ball that hits my hands I should catch. Sure, it was high but I could have caught it. If I do, we were ready to win this one.”
Blackledge, Contz and many teammates from 1980 returned to Milan Puskar two years later.
Penn State wound up winning its first national title, but at the time, was ranked a relatively modest ninth, still trying to get back near the top after losing at Alabama two weeks prior.
West Virginia, on the other hand, was getting rolling in the third season of what became a 21-year run for coach Don Nehlen.
With Hostetler now a Mountaineer and starting at QB, WVU opened the season by shocking coach Barry Switzer and No. 9 Oklahoma 41-27 in Norman.
WVU came into the Penn State game 5-1 and ranked No. 13, its only blemish being a 16-13 loss at No. 2 Pitt Oct. 2.
“In ’82,” Contz remembered, “that was arguably the biggest game played in Morgantown in 30 years when we came down there.
Penn State ended up winning 24-0 in a game that was closer than the final score.
PSU led 10-0 going into the fourth quarter, but an 85-yard INT return by LB Scott Radecic made it a three score game and effectively ended the Mountaineers.
So how did the WVU faithful respond after the loss?
“The remaining fans that did spot us that had a few cocktails in them by the time the game ended I’m sure gave us a one-finger salute on our way out of town,” Contz said. “But it’s not like they were pelting the buses with rocks and breaking windows or anything. I think the West Virginia fans were finally starting to embrace success on a consistent basis. Don Nehlen had arrived in think in ’79 or ’80, the game we played in 82. By that time, Don Nehlen and his players had turned around that program (to the point) where success was expected. 8-2 or 9-3 season.”
Current coach Neal Brown led WVU to a 9-4 record last season that would have been 10-3 if not for a Hail Mary at Houston. With plenty of players coming back, led by QB Garrett Greene, the vibes are high in Morgantown.
Contz won’t be in Morgantown for Week 1. The Cranberry, PA, native will watching the game at his brother-in-law’s house.
But he’s excited.
“It should be a very raucous environment,” he said. “Penn State could have picked a lot easier of a venue to get the season started. We’ll see how they respond in that type of environment. “It’ll be fun to watch. It’ll be fun to see two teams that had once a very strong rivalry get back to playing each other.
