1971 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

1971 West Virginia Mountaineers football
1971 West Virginia Mountaineers football
Conference	Independent
Record	7–4
Head coach	Bobby Bowden (2nd season);
Home stadium	Mountaineer Field
	Seasons ← 1970 1972 →

The 1971 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University in the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. It was the Mountaineers' 79th overall season and they competed as an independent. The team was led by head coach Bobby Bowden, in his second year, and played their home games at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. They finished the season with a record of 7–4.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 11	Boston College	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	W 45–14	31,500	^[1]
September 18	at California	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	L 10–20	23,001–25,000	^[2]^[3]
September 25	at Richmond	City Stadium Richmond, VA	W 16–3	11,000	^[4]
October 2	Pittsburgh	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (rivalry)	W 20–9	38,500	^[5]
October 9	at William & Mary	Cary Field Williamsburg, VA	W 28–23	15,000	^[6]
October 16	East Carolina	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	W 44–21	27,000	^[7]
October 23	Temple	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	W 43–33	25,000	^[8]
October 30	No. 5 Penn State	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (rivalry)	L 7–35	37,000	^[9]
November 6	at Duke	Wallace Wade Stadium Durham, NC	L 15–31	30,150	^[10]
November 13	VMI	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	W 28–3	24,000	^[11]
November 20	at Syracuse	Archbold Stadium Syracuse, NY (rivalry)	L 24–28	18,049	^[12]
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Pittsburgh at West Virginia

	1	2	3	4	Total
Pittsburgh	3	6	0	0	9
• West Virginia	13	0	0	7	20