2010 West Virginia Mountaineers football team The 2010 West Virginia Mountaineer football team represented West Virginia University in the college football season of 2010 . The Mountaineers were led by head coach Bill Stewart and played their home games on Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown , West Virginia . They were members of the Big East Conference . They finished the season 9 – 4 , 5 – 2 in Big East play to share the conference title with Connecticut and Pittsburgh ( UConn earned the conference ' s BCS berth via a tiebreaker ) . They were invited to the Champ Sports Bowl where they were defeated by North Carolina State 7 – 23 . Game notes . Marshall . Facing a 21 - 6 fourth - quarter deficit , West Virginia outscored Marshall 15 - 0 on drives of 96 and 98 yards in the final 8 : 28 of the game . In overtime WVU took the lead with a field goal and won 24 - 21 when Marshall ' s kicker Tyler Warner missed a 39 - yard field goal attempt . The comeback win was significant because the loss would have marked Marshall ' s first ever win in the series . Syracuse . WVU lost their homecoming game to Syracuse after winning eight straight in the series . The loss , which saw Geno Smith throw three interceptions ( after throwing only two all season ) , broke the Mountaineers ' 12 - game home winning streak and dropped the team out of the BCS standings . Coming into the game , West Virginia was the only ranked team in the Big East . Connecticut . West Virginia lost to Connecticut for the first time in history after WVU ' s Ryan Clarke fumbled at the UConn one yard line and Connecticut ' s Dave Teggart kicked the game - winning , 27 - yard field goal in overtime . After the loss , the WVU coaching staff received criticism from fans and the media over the team ' s offensive struggles in two consecutive Big East conference games against Syracuse and the Huskies . Cincinnati . After losing two consecutive conference games , the Mountaineers needed to win against the Bearcats to stay in the Big East race . The Mountaineers snapped a two - game losing skid against Cincinnati by getting off to a quick start behind Geno Smith ' s four first - half touchdown passes . Louisville . The Mountaineers stayed in contention for the Big East title by winning 17 - 10 on the road in a contest highlighted by defensive performances . The West Virginia defense , at the time ranked 4th in the country and first in the Big East Conference , held the Big East ' s best rushing team ( averaging 192 yards per game ) to a total of 26 yards on the ground . The defense allowed only 3 offensive points — the other 7 coming off a Louisville fumble recovery in the end zone — and held the Cardinals to 2 of 13 on 3rd down conversions . However , the WVU offense failed to score a second - half touchdown for the fourth time in its five conference games . The Mountaineers also remained scoreless in the fourth quarter in Big East play . Pittsburgh . In the 103rd edition of the Backyard Brawl , the Mountaineers remained in contention for the Big East ' s BCS Bowl bid by winning 35 - 10 at Heinz Field . Pittsburgh controlled its own destiny , and needed to win its last two games to claim the Big East title and BCS bowl birth outright , but the West Virginia defense forced 4 turnovers off of 6 Panther fumbles and an interception to defeat Pitt for the second year in a row . The West Virginia offense , plagued by poor performances in the second half of its previous Big East games , showed improvement by totaling 21 points in the second half and breaking its scoreless streak in the fourth quarter of conference games . The momentum heavily favored the Mountaineers after Geno Smith threw a 71 yard touchdown pass to Tavon Austin to make the score 21 - 7 in the third quarter . Following the win , the Mountaineers appeared in the top 25 rankings , listed 24 in the BCS and 23 in the AP , for the first time since their home loss to Syracuse over a month earlier . Rutgers . Geno Smith threw for a career - high 352 yards , Ryan Clarke had three short touchdown runs , and No . 23 West Virginia overcame turnover problems to beat the Scarlet Knights 35 - 14 to clinch a share of the Big East title . It marked the fifth shared or outright Big East title for the Mountaineers since 2003 . Smith finished the season with 2 , 567 passing yards and 22 TDs . Both are the second most in school history behind Marc Bulger ' s 3 , 607 yards and 31 TDs in 1998 . WVU extended its winning streak over Rutgers to 15 , and have never lost to the Scarlet Knights in Morgantown . After defeating Rutgers in the regular season finale , WVU needed a UCONN loss to obtain berth in a BCS bowl . The Huskies defeated South Florida later that evening , and despite winning a share of the Big East title , the Mountaineers lost the head - to - head tiebreaker with Connecticut who received the conference ' s BCS bowl bid .