# 2016 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

The 2016 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University in the 2016 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Mountaineers played as members of the Big 12 Conference (Big 12) and were led by head coach Dana Holgorsen, in his sixth year. West Virginia played its home games at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia. 2016 was the 125th season of West Virginia football. They finished the season 10–3, 7–2 in Big 12 play to finished in a tie for second place. They received an invitation to the Russell Athletic Bowl where they lost to Miami.

## Preseason
### Big 12 media poll

The 2016 Big 12 media days were held July 18–19, 2016 in Dallas, Texas. In the Big 12 preseason media poll, West Virginia was predicted to finish seventh in the standings.
Big 12 media poll :
| Predicted finish | Team | Votes (1st place) |
| 1 | Oklahoma | 258 (24) |
| 2 | TCU | 222 (2) |
| 3 | Oklahoma State | 202 |
| 4 | Baylor | 156 |
| 5 | Texas | 151 |
| 6 | Texas Tech | 141 |
| 7 | West Virginia | 126 |
| 8 | Kansas State | 88 |
| 9 | Iowa State | 59 |
| 10 | Kansas | 27 |

## Schedule

West Virginia announced its 2016 football schedule on November 24, 2015. The 2016 schedule consists of 7 home, 4 away, and 1 neutral site game in the regular season. The Mountaineers will host Big 12 foes Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, and TCU, and will travel to Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Texas, and Texas Tech.
The team will play three non–conference games, two home games against the Missouri Tigers from the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and Youngstown State Penguins from the Missouri Valley Football Conference, and one neutral site game which is against the BYU Cougars at FedExField in Landover, Maryland.
| Date | Time | Opponent | Rank | Site | TV | Result | Attendance |
| September 3 | Noon | Missouri* | | Mountaineer FieldMorgantown, WV (Gold Rush) | FS1 | W 26–11 | 60,125 |
| September 10 | 2:00 p.m. | No. 20 (FCS) Youngstown State* | | Mountaineer FieldMorgantown, WV | RTPT | W 38–21 | 56,261 |
| September 24 | 3:30 p.m. | vs. BYU* | | FedExFieldLandover, MD | ESPN2 | W 35–32 | 38,207 |
| October 1 | 3:30 p.m. | Kansas State | | Mountaineer FieldMorgantown, WV (Stripe the Stadium) | ESPNU | W 17–16 | 61,701 |
| October 15 | Noon | at Texas Tech | No. 20 | Jones AT&T StadiumLubbock, TX | FS1 | W 48–17 | 54,111 |
| October 22 | 3:30 p.m. | TCU | No. 12 | Mountaineer FieldMorgantown, WV | ABC | W 34–10 | 61,780 |
| October 29 | Noon | at Oklahoma State | No. 10 | Boone Pickens StadiumStillwater, OK | FOX | L 20–37 | 59,584 |
| November 5 | 7:00 p.m. | Kansas | No. 20 | Mountaineer FieldMorgantown, WV | ESPN2 | W 48–21 | 56,343 |
| November 12 | Noon | at Texas | No. 16 | Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial StadiumAustin, TX | FS1 | W 24–20 | 96,367 |
| November 19 | 8:00 p.m. | No. 9 Oklahoma | No. 14 | Mountaineer FieldMorgantown, WV (True Blue) | ABC | L 28–56 | 57,645 |
| November 26 | 3:30 p.m. | at Iowa State | No. 18 | Jack Trice StadiumAmes, IA | FS1 | W 49–19 | 51,365 |
| December 3 | 3:30 p.m. | Baylor | No. 16 | Mountaineer FieldMorgantown, WV | FS1 | W 24–21 | 49,229 |
| December 28 | 5:30 p.m. | vs. Miami (FL)* | No. 16 | Camping World StadiumOrlando, FL (Russell Athletic Bowl) | ESPN | L 14–31 | 48,625 |
| *Non-conference gameHomecomingRankings from AP Poll and CFP Rankings after November 1 released prior to gameAll times are in Eastern time ||||||||
    Schedule Source:

## Game summaries
### Missouri

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Tigers | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 11 |
| Mountaineers | 10 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 26 |

### Youngstown State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #20 (FCS) Penguins | 0 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 21 |
| Mountaineers | 7 | 7 | 17 | 7 | 38 |

### Vs. BYU

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Cougars | 7 | 6 | 6 | 13 | 32 |
| Mountaineers | 7 | 14 | 7 | 7 | 35 |

### Kansas State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Wildcats | 7 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 16 |
| Mountaineers | 0 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 17 |

### At Texas Tech

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #20 Mountaineers | 10 | 14 | 3 | 21 | 48 |
| Red Raiders | 7 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 17 |

### TCU

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Horned Frogs | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| #12 Mountaineers | 14 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 34 |

### At Oklahoma State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #10 Mountaineers | 3 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 20 |
| Cowboys | 6 | 14 | 7 | 10 | 37 |

### Kansas

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Jayhawks | 0 | 0 | 14 | 7 | 21 |
| #14 Mountaineers | 10 | 21 | 14 | 3 | 48 |

### At Texas

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #11 Mountaineers | 10 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 24 |
| Longhorns | 3 | 10 | 7 | 0 | 20 |

### Oklahoma

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #8 Sooners | 21 | 13 | 7 | 15 | 56 |
| #10 Mountaineers | 0 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 28 |

### At Iowa State

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #19 Mountaineers | 14 | 7 | 14 | 14 | 49 |
| Cyclones | 13 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 19 |

### Baylor

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Bears | 0 | 14 | 0 | 7 | 21 |
| #14 Mountaineers | 3 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 24 |

### Miami (FL) – Russell Athletic Bowl

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| #14 Mountaineers | 7 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 14 |
| Hurricanes | 0 | 21 | 10 | 0 | 31 |

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Final |
| AP | — | RV | — | — | RV | 22 | 20 | 12 | 10 | 14 | 11 | 10 | 19 | 14 | 14 | 18 |
| Coaches | — | RV | RV | RV | RV | 20 | 18 | 13 | 9 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 17 | 13 | 12 | 17 |
| CFP | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | Not released | 20 | 16 | 14 | 18 | 16 | 16 | Not released |