With so many teams in college football it is hard to work out a non-conference, well, even a conference schedule.  Between trying to get teams to play you, and other teams trying to get you to play them it is often hard to work out a schedule that works out best for everyone.  But if I had dibs on any team, this would be my ultimate West Virginia schedule.

West Virginia is surrounded by some of the best football states in the country.  Pennsylvania, Ohio,Virginia and Maryland have some of the best high school talent in the country, and it shows.  Penn State and Ohio State have been national powers for quite some time. Virginia Tech went to the BCS National Championship game when the BCS was in its infancy, and in the era of George Welsh the University of Virginia rarely won less than 7 games and gave Florida State it’s first loss in ACC play. With this in mind, I have put together what I think would be the best and most exciting, or if you will, the Ultimate Schedule for West Virginia football.  Conference games are included of course, to make it at least somewhat realistic.  So here we go:

Marshall

The Mountaineers and Thundering Herd have not had a long standing rivalry by any means.  However, an in-state game brings emotion and intrigue to fans around the state and beyond.

Penn State

The Nittany Lions and the Mountaineers played many games until recently in what some may call a “rivalry”.  Joe Paterno holds an outstanding record against the Mountaineers but a renewal of the game between West Virginia and Penn State would not only interest those in this part of the country, but all over as well.

Virginia Tech

If there is a team that WVU fans hate more than Pitt, it is Virginia Tech.  The battle for the Black Diamond Trophy was put on hold shortly after the Hokies were kidnapped from the Big East.  But there was not a game that Mountaineer fans looked forward to more than when Virginia Tech and West Virginia got together. 

Ohio State

Morgantown and Columbus sit nearly three and a half hours from one another.  Yet a long standing football rivalry between the two has never amounted.  Not only is Ohio State already one of the most prestigious teams in the country, but they have one of the largest fan bases as well. West Virginia has just recently made a name for itself as an annual National Title contender, and an annual battle with the Buckeyes would solidify that claim.

Notre Dame

The Fighting Irish are looking more like the Retreating Irish these days, but they are still one of the most, if not the most storied program in all of college football.  In 1988 the Mountaineers lost to the Irish in the National Championship game after quarterback Major Harris was injured early on. An annual game with Notre Dame would assure that WVU would be on national television at least once a year, and give the Mountaineers a chance to avenge their championship loss year in and year out.

Conference Games:

Louisville

Pitt

UConn

Syracuse

Rutgers

South Florida

Cincinatti

Now obviously this schedule, at least in one season, would never occur.  West Virginia’s chance for a National Championship would be diminished from slim to none.  As a matter of fact, you would be hard pressed to find any team in the country that could go through this schedule unscathed, but it sure would make for an exciting season.  With this schedule WVU would have the potential to play eight ranked teams if you include Pitt and South Florida. 

Now, as said before, this schedule would never happen in one season, however, it would be nice to see WVU play some of these teams in non-conference action to renew or start a rivalry.  Obviously in the coming years West Virginia has bulked up their schedule to include teams like Auburn, Florida State, and Michigan State but excludes some of the schools such as Virginia Tech and Penn State.  Hopefully, in the coming years the rivalries that have been lost between the schools can be rekindled to make for some great football action.