The WVU football team hasn’t really owned another program quite like Rutgers.
The last game between these two former Big East team was in 2011, with the WVU football team earning a 41-31 victory. That was the 33rd win in the history of the series. The Mountaineers have only lost to Rutgers four times.
Those four losses came in 1994, 1992, 1984 and 1921. There were two ties, coming in 1916 and 1917. Basically, the Mountaineers had winning streaks of six, seven and 17 against the Scarlet Knights.
For 11 of those seasons, Rutgers was coached by Greg Schiano. It’s hard to win at Rutgers, but somehow Schiano built the Scarlet Knights into a competitive team by the end of his tenure there. Still, Schiano can’t beat the WVU football team.
He also can’t seem to get hired. Now, Schiano is currently an assistant coach at Ohio State. It’s a position he has held since a failed attempt at coaching in the professional ranks with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after leaving Rutgers in 2012. Schiano was all set to be hired at Tennessee, but was spurned because of his alleged involvement in the Penn State scandal with Jerry Sandusky.
Fair or not, Schiano was basically not hired because fans and boosters of the Volunteers didn’t want him there. It doesn’t seem like OSU had much to say about bringing him on board and neither did Tampa Bay. The Tennessee assessment seems to be overblown and ill timed. Now, Tennessee is scrambling to find a new head coach, after firing Butch Jones. Also, the UT fanbase as been painted with a bad brush because of the scorn it thrust on Schiano. Who is to say the next coach won’t receive the same treatment as soon as he’s hired, no matter if he has a back story or not.
More from Hail WV
- Every West Virginia potential March Madness venue in 2023 NCAA Tournament
- West Virginia March Madness Schedule: When do the Mountaineers play next? (Updated March 12)
- West Virginia vs. Kansas prediction and odds for Saturday, February 25 (Take Mountaineers as underdogs)
- WVU Football Recruiting: Mountaineers make Malik Hartford’s short list
- Previewing WVU basketball against Oklahoma State
Schiano may be a good coach, but against the WVU football team, he just didn’t have it. Schiano never beat the Mountaineers going 0-11. In his first year with Rutgers, the WVU football team earned an 80-7 victory. That was one of only three wins that year, which also happened to be Rich Rodriguez’s first year with the Mountaineers.
Rodriguez went 7-0 against Schiano and Rutgers, then Bill Stewart went 4-0. In all, the WVU football team outscored a Schiano-coached Scarlet Knights squad, 412-195. The WVU football program really can’t say it has dominated another team quite like that.
According to WVUstats.com, there is really not an impressive win-loss record for the Mountaineers against another Power 5 team. The WVU football team is 19-3 against East Carolina, 29-4 against West Virginia Wesleyan, 14-0 against Westminster and 16-0 against William & Mary.
Next: 30 best games in WVU football history
The WVU football team just hasn’t beat up a team quite like Rutgers. Schiano may end up being a head coach somewhere else, maybe even a team that will play West Virginia. Until then, he has never beaten the WVU football team.