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
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

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.

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]

Predicted finish	Team	Votes (1st place)
Big 12 media poll
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

References

^ "Media Picks Sooners in Preseason Football Poll". big12sports.com. Big 12 Conference. July 13, 2017. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
^ "2017 Football Schedule Released" (Press release). University of West Virginia Department of Athletics. December 13, 2016. Retrieved February 16, 2017.
^ "2017 West Virginia Mountaineers Football Schedule". FB Schedules. Retrieved February 16, 2017.

v t e West Virginia Mountaineers football
Venues	Mountaineer Field (1924–1979) Milan Puskar Stadium (1980–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Cincinnati Marshall: Friends of Coal Bowl Maryland Old Ironsides Penn State Pittsburgh: Backyard Brawl Syracuse Virginia Tech
Culture & lore	The Mountaineer Marching band "Take Me Home, Country Roads" 1921 Backyard Brawl 2007 Backyard Brawl
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024