2017 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

The 2017 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Mountaineers played their home games at the Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium, in Morgantown, West Virginia, and competed in the Big 12 Conference. They were led by seventh-year head coach Dana Holgorsen. They finished the season 7–6, 5–4 in Big 12 play to finish in a four-way tie for fourth place. They were invited to the Heart of Dallas Bowl where they lost to Utah.

2017 West Virginia Mountaineers football
Heart of Dallas Bowl, L 14–30 vs. Utah
Conference	Big 12 Conference
Record	7–6 (5–4 Big 12)
Head coach	Dana Holgorsen (7th season)
Offensive coordinator	Jake Spavital (1st season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Tony Gibson (4th season)
Base defense	3–3–5
Home stadium	Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium
Seasons ← 2016 2018 →

2017 Big 12 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team		W		L					W		L
No. 3 Oklahoma y$^		8	–	1					12	–	2
No. 9 TCU y		7	–	2					11	–	3
No. 14 Oklahoma State		6	–	3					10	–	3
Texas		5	–	4					7	–	6
West Virginia		5	–	4					7	–	6
Kansas State		5	–	4					8	–	5
Iowa State		5	–	4					8	–	5
Texas Tech		3	–	6					6	–	7
Baylor		1	–	8					1	–	11
Kansas		0	–	9					1	–	11
Championship: Oklahoma 41, TCU 17
^ – College Football Playoff participant $ – Conference champion y – Championship game participant Rankings from AP Poll

Preseason

Big 12 Media poll

The 2017 Big 12 media days were held July 17–18, 2017 in Frisco, Texas. In the Big 12 preseason media poll, West Virginia was predicted to finish sixth in the standings.^[1]

Big 12 media poll
Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
1	Oklahoma	303 (19)
2	Oklahoma State	294 (12)
3	Kansas State	231 (1)
4	Texas	213
5	TCU	202
6	West Virginia	183
7	Baylor	129
8	Texas Tech	85
9	Iowa State	83
10	Kansas	37

Coaching staff

Name	Title
Dana Holgorsen	Head coach
Tony Gibson	Associate head coach, Defensive coordinator/linebackers
Jake Spavital	Offensive coordinator/quarterbacks
Doug Belk	Cornerbacks
Matt Caponi	Safeties
Tyron Carrier	Receivers
Tony Dews	Running backs
Mark Scott	Defense/special teams
Bruce Tall	Defensive line
Joe Wickline	Offensive line

Schedule

West Virginia announced its 2017 football schedule on December 13, 2016. The 2017 schedule consists of six home, five away, and one neutral site game in the regular season. The Mountaineers will host Big 12 foes Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Texas, and Texas Tech, and will travel to Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, and TCU.^[2]

The Mountaineers will host two of the three non-conference opponents, Delaware State from the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and East Carolina from the American Athletic Conference and travel to Landover, Maryland to face Virginia Tech.

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 3	7:30 p.m.	vs. No. 21 Virginia Tech*	No. 22	FedExField Landover, MD (rivalry)	ABC	L 24–31	67,489
September 9	Noon	East Carolina*		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (Gold Rush)	FS2	W 56–20	56,797
September 16	Noon	Delaware State*		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	AT&TSN Pitt	W 59–16	51,482
September 23	Noon	at Kansas		Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS	ESPNU	W 56–34	23,901
October 7	3:30 p.m.	at No. 8 TCU	No. 23	Amon G. Carter Stadium Fort Worth, TX (College GameDay)	FS1	L 24–31	43,257
October 14	Noon	No. 24 Texas Tech		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (Stripe the Stadium)	ESPNU	W 46–35	60,928
October 21	8:00 p.m.	at Baylor	No. 23	McLane Stadium Waco, TX	FS2	W 38–36	45,389
October 28	Noon	No. 11 Oklahoma State	No. 22	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (True Blue)	ABC	L 39–50	57,507
November 4	3:30 p.m.	No. 15 Iowa State		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	ESPN2	W 20–16	55,831
November 11	3:30 p.m.	at Kansas State		Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium Manhattan, KS	ESPN2	W 28–23	51,223
November 18	Noon	Texas		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	ESPN	L 14–28	53,133
November 25	3:45 p.m.	at No. 4 Oklahoma		Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK	ESPN	L 31–59	86,117
December 26	1:30 p.m.	vs. Utah*		Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Heart of Dallas Bowl)	ESPN	L 14–30	20,507
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings after October 31 released prior to game All times are in Eastern time

Schedule Source:^[3]

Rankings

Further information: 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked RV = Received votes

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	Final
AP	22	RV	RV	RV	23	23	RV	23	22	RV	23	24	RV	—	—	—
Coaches	20	RV	RV	RV	23	23	RV	23	22	RV	RV	25	RV	—	—	—
CFP	Not released									—	—	—	—	—	—	Not released