2002 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

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2002
Mountaineer Field
(Capacity: 63,500)
Seasons
2002 Big East Conference football standings
Conf Overall
Team   W   L     W   L  
No. 2 Miami (FL) $   7 0     12 1  
No. 25 West Virginia   6 1     9 4  
No. 19 Pittsburgh   5 2     9 4  
No. 18 Virginia Tech   3 4     10 4  
Boston College   3 4     9 4  
Temple   2 5     4 8  
Syracuse   2 5     4 8  
Rutgers   0 7     1 11  
  • $ – BCS representative as conference champion
Rankings from
AP Poll

The 2002 West Virginia Mountaineers football team completed the regular season with a 9–3 record and traveled to the Continental Tire Bowl, where they lost to the Virginia Cavaliers 48–22. They finished with a record of 9-4 and a ranking of 25/20.

WVU's 9–4 record marked the biggest one-season turnaround in Big East Conference history, after posting a 3–8 record the previous season.

Schedule

DateTimeOpponentRankSiteTVResultAttendance
August 316:00 p.m.
Mountaineer Field
  • Morgantown, West Virginia
  • MSNW 56–754,455
    September 7Noonat No. 21
    ESPN+
    L 17–3476,320
    September 147:00 p.m.at Cincinnati*MSNW 35–3228,806
    September 28NoonEast Carolina*
    • Mountaineer Field
    • Morgantown, West Virginia
    ESPN+W 37–1754,497
    October 5NoonMaryland*
    • Mountaineer Field
    • Morgantown, West Virginia
    ESPN2L 17–4855,146
    October 123:30 p.m.at
    Rutgers Stadium
  • Piscataway, New Jersey
  • ESPN+W 40–012,973
    October 19NoonSyracuse
    • Mountaineer Field
    • Morgantown, West Virginia
    ESPN+W 34–745,088
    October 26NoonNo. 1 Miami
    • Mountaineer Field
    • Morgantown, West Virginia
    ESPN2L 23–4056,817
    November 2Noonat TempleW 46–2015,042
    November 9NoonBoston College
    • Mountaineer Field
    • Morgantown, West Virginia
    ESPNW 24–1448,474
    November 207:00 p.m.at No. 12 Virginia TechESPN2W 21–1862,723
    November 301:00 p.m.at No. 18 ABCW 24–1766,731
    December 2811:00 a.m.vs. )ESPN2L 22–4873,535

    Roster

    2002 West Virginia Mountaineers football team roster
    Players Coaches
    Offense
    Pos. # Name Class
    WR 85 Dee Alston  Fr
    C 51 Matt Ameri  Fr
    WR 21 Phil Braxton Sr
    RB 22 Avon Cobourne Sr
    WR 83 Miquelle Henderson So
    FB 36 Adam King Jr
    QB 18 Rasheed Marshall So
    WR 86 John Pennington Jr
    OT 71 Justin Williams So
    Defense
    Pos. # Name Class
    LB 32 Ben Collins Sr
    DB 19 Lance Frazier Jr
    DB 9 Adam Jones Fr
    DE 92 Ben Lynch So
    LB 6 Grant Wiley Jr
    Special teams
    Pos. # Name Class
    LS 57 Chad Lavender So
    Head coach
    Coordinators/assistant coaches

    Legend
    • (C) Team captain
    • (S) Suspended
    • (I) Ineligible
    • Injured Injured
    • Redshirt Redshirt

    Roster

    2002 season

    Rasheed Marshall was the starting quarterback for the Mountaineers. He led the team with 1616 passing yards and 9 touchdowns. Leading the team in rushing was Avon Cobourne with 1710 net yards. Miquelle Henderson led the team in receiving with 40 receptions for 496 yards.

    The home opener for the West Virginia Mountaineers was against Chattanooga, in which the Mountaineers won handily 56–7. In the second game of the season, WVU played at Wisconsin, where they lost 34–17. They then traveled to Cincinnati, where they beat the Bearcats 35–32.

    They then defeated East Carolina by a 37–17 margin at home. They got demolished at home by ACC powerhouse Maryland 17–48. They then traveled to Rutgers, where they won handily 40–0. The next game was a 34–17 home win over Syracuse.

    They played host to the number 1 team in the land, the Miami Hurricanes, but lost by a 23–40 count. They played at Temple, and blew out the Owls 46–20. A home game against Boston College resulted in a 24–14 Mountaineer victory. Their next game was against Virginia Tech, where they won 21–18, in Blacksburg.

    On November 30, they played at archrival Pitt in the Backyard Brawl, and won 24–17. In the Continental Tire Bowl, they lost to the Virginia Cavaliers 22–48 to finish the season.

    Team players in the NFL

    Player Position Round Pick NFL club
    Lance Nimmo Tackle 4 130 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
    James Davis Linebcaker 5 144 Detroit Lions

    References