1988 West Virginia Mountaineers football team The 1988 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University in the 1988 NCAA Division I - A football season . It was the Mountaineers ' 96th overall season and they competed as a Division I - A Independent . The team was led by head coach Don Nehlen , in his 9th year , and played their home games at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown , West Virginia . They finished the season with a record of eleven wins and one loss ( 11 – 1 overall ) , and a loss against No . 1 Notre Dame in the 1989 Fiesta Bowl for the National Championship . 1988 season . The 1987 season was the beginning of Major Harris as the starting quarterback for West Virginia . Only a redshirt - freshman , Harris led the Mountaineers to a Sun Bowl berth , after a 1 – 3 start . The ' 88 season opened with coach Don Nehlen ' s alma mater , . The win marked the beginning of the run , winning 62 – 14 . West Virginia beat their next opponent , , 45 – 10 . West Virginia ' s first challenge was against the Maryland Terrapins . West Virginia got behind the Terps 14 – 0 , but pulled away at halftime , winning 55 – 24 . West Virginia ' s next game was at the Pittsburgh Panthers . The game was a defensive struggle , until runningback A . B . Brown , a Pitt transfer , ran a draw for 64 - yards and the score . Scoring 14 - points in the fourth quarter , the Mountaineers broke away . In the 1988 Backyard Brawl , West Virginia was installed as a one - point underdog by the odds makers . The Mountaineers rolled to a 31 – 10 victory over Pitt on the way to their first undefeated , untied regular season in school history . West Virginia then traveled to rival Virginia Tech , and won 22 – 10 , even though they produced four fumbles in the game . The next two games , a win at East Carolina , and a 59 - point win at , gave West Virginia a 7 – 0 record . Next , the late October matchup vs Penn State at Mountaineer Field is widely regarded as one of the greatest games in Mountaineer football history . Before a nationwide CBS audience , the Mountaineers were up 34 – 8 before the half . On a draw play , runningback Undra Johnson ran 55 yards for the touchdown to end the half . The game also included a touchdown run by Major Harris , which is forever remembered in West Virginia lore as " The Run " . The next game was at the , where the Mountaineers started slow in the first half . Receiver Reggie Rembert scored three times , and the Mountaineers won by scoring 24 points in the third quarter . The Mountaineers traveled to Giants Stadium to play , who had beat Penn St . , Boston College , and Michigan State . The Mountaineers played poor , but came out with the win . The final regular season game of the season was at home , against the . The Orangemen were 8 – 2 , while the Mountaineers were 10 – 0 . The highlight of the game was a 49 - yard interception by Willie Edwards that was taken for a touchdown . The Mountaineers won 31 – 9 , and took a famous lap around the stadium to entertain the 65 , 000 fans in Morgantown . National Championship . West Virginia traveled to the Fiesta Bowl to play the only other undefeated team in the NCAA , the Notre Dame Fighting Irish . Free - safety Darrell Whitmore was out for the Mountaineers , but Nehlen moved star Bo Orlando from strong safety to free to fill the hole . Nehlen recalled the move as " our first mistake . . . " . " Another mistake I made is that I let the media overrun us . " West Virginia ' s offense was doomed from the third play of the game . Major Harris separated his shoulder on the third play when he was slammed to the ground by Irish Linebacker Michael Stonebreaker . He couldn ' t throw well for the rest of the game . Linemen John Stroia and Bob Kovach were injured for the Mountaineers in that game as well . Notre Dame completely dominated the game . West Virginia only made one serious threat . Willie Edwards ( Now coaching at Morgantown High School * class of 1984 ) picked off a Tony Rice pass in the 3rd quarter . ND led by 13 points at the time . A Harris incompletion and two ND sacks took WVU out of field goal range , and the threat was over . ND opened up a 21 point lead before a late WVU touchdown made the score respectable . WVU lost 34 – 21 , it was their first loss of the season for the national championship . Roster . West Virginia ' s ' 88 team was highlighted with an explosive offense , led by Major Harris . Harris , only a sophomore , threw an exceptional deep ball in addition to his remarkable scrambling ability . Running backs A . B . Brown , Undra Johnson , Eugene Napoleon , and Craig Taylor at fullback highlighted the run game . The runners were led by Rick Phillips and Brian Smider on the offensive line , along with Stroia and Kovach , while Kevin Koken led the line at center . Early in the season , Keith Winn was moved from receiver to tight end , providing help to the run game , but was more famous as a deep - pass threat . The receivers catching the balls from Harris were led by Reggie Rembert , who was accompanied by Calvin Phillips and Grantis Bell . Coach Don Nehlen credited West Virginia ' s ' 88 team ' s defense as being the main factor to their success . The linebacking core included Renaldo Turnbull , Chris Haering , Steve Grant , Dale Jackson , Theron Ellis , and Bobby Pickett . Mike Fox and Chris Parker headed the defensive line , along with Chris Haering . The secondary was one of the best in West Virginia history , led by Bo Orlando and Darrell Whitmore . Orlando had a good pro career with the Houston Oilers and Pittsburgh Steelers , while Darrell went pro in baseball . Willie Edwards played corner along with Alvoid Mays , who went pro as well , and Lawrence Drumgoole and David Lockwood played solid backup corner . Don Nehlen was the head coach while being assisted by assistant head coach , wide receivers coach , and recruiting coordinator Doc Holliday .