1993 West Virginia Mountaineers football team The 1993 West Virginia Mountaineers football team completed the regular season with a 11 – 0 ( 7 – 0 conference record ) and won the school ' s first Big East Conference championship in what was the first year of round robin play for the conference . The team traveled to the , where they lost to the Florida Gators , 41 – 7 . WVU finished the season 11 – 1 . Schedule . season . The 1993 season began with an uncertainty at quarterback . Both Darren Studstill and Jake Kelchner were up for the spot , but coach Don Nehlen decided to have a rotation each game while playing freshman Chad Johnston a few games . Star running back Adrian Murrell was replaced that season by Robert Walker and All - American center Mike Compton was replaced by Dale Williams . Guard Rich Braham provided help to Walker in the run game . Young Aaron Beasley and Mike Logan led the secondary . The first game against was an easy win . The next was against the University of Maryland . Kelchner passed for 270 yards and Harold Kidd grabbed a big interception to seal the win , 42 – 37 . The next week , the Mountaineers blew by the 35 – 3 in Morgantown . The next week was a close win against Virginia Tech , 14 – 13 . The Mountaineers won , even though turning the ball over five times , when the Tech kicker missed a 44 - yard field goal . In that game , Mike Collins returned a fumble 97 yards for a score and Vann Washington had an interception taken 27 - yards for another score . The next game was against the University of Louisville , one of the toughest games of the season . Led by Brian Brohm ' s older brother , Jeff Brohm , the Cardinals were undefeated like the Mountaineers . But Robert Walker score three times , and led the Mountaineers to a close 36 – 34 win . The win led the Mountaineers into the Top 15 in the country . The next game , against the University of Pittsburgh , had a close first quarter . But Robert Walker rushed for over 150 yards and Mike Baker caught a couple of touchdown passes to pull away and win , 42 – 21 . The next game was a revengeful game . In 1992 , West Virginia played the , when a massive fight occurred . In a controversial decision , three Mountaineers were ejected , while only one Orangeman was ejected . That led to the Syracuse win . In the ' 93 version of the game , after missing two field goals , the Mountaineers were up 7 – 0 at halftime . But in the second half , the Mountaineer exploded . After a 90 - yard run by Robert Walker , the Mountaineers won 43 – 0 . After beating and , the Mountaineers were 9 – 0 . In one of the biggest games in Mountaineer history , the # 4 University of Miami came to Morgantown and played before a record Mountaineer Field crowd of 70 , 222 , a mark that still stands today . The game was close , but Robert Walker won the game when he took a run to the sideline in the fourth quarter . Up 17 – 14 , with four minutes left , Jake Kelchner threw a 40 - yard bomb to seal the game . After the game , Jake Kelchner injured his arm and Vann Washington had leg problems . The next game was against , who was coming off an upset win of their own over then # 1 Notre Dame , the Mountaineers were almost taken by surprise . Down 11 points with 13 minutes left , Don Nehlen told defensive coordinator Steve Dunlap to put in Keith Jones and Mike Logan . The next play , Jones hit the fullback , resulting in a fumble which was recovered by the Mountaineers . Darren Studstill drove 63 - yards downfield , and hit Eddie Hill for one of the greatest scores in West Virginia history . West Virginia finished the season 11 – 0 , their second undefeated season . Sugar Bowl . West Virginia was scheduled to play the Florida Gators in the . The Mountaineers first drive went 80 - yards and scored on a pass , then stopped the Gators on their first drive . The next Gator - drive almost went three - and - out , until a personal foul on Steve Perkins gave Florida the momentum . Jake Kelchner was playing a good game , but then Don Nehlen surprised many by putting Studstill in . On the Mountaineers first drive , Studstill threw an interception . Florida ran off with the game after that , winning 41 – 7 . Coach Don Nehlen said of the game , " We had wanted to play Nebraska in the Orange Bowl as the only two undefeated teams , but the Bowl Coalition didn ' t like the match . Instead , we were slotted to play Texas A & M in the . Instead , the Sugar Bowl paid more money so the conference and administration wanted us to play Florida . If we wanted the best chance to win , we should have taken the Cotton ; playing a slower , more physical team outdoors would have worked to our advantage a lot more than playing those Florida speed - burners indoors on a smooth surface . "