WVU is One Win Away From 4-0: What Happened the 7 Times It Started That Way Since 2000?

West Virginia reached 3-0 for the first time since 2018 and can record their first 4-0 start since the same year by beating Oklahoma State this Saturday. Winning the first four games of the season is not an easy thing to do, as the Mountaineers have only accomplished that feat seven times this century.

In those seven seasons, WVU averaged 9.4 wins. In the seasons when Rich Rodriguez was the head coach, that number was 10.3. Let's look at each of those seven years.

2004: 8-4

Chris Henry — WVU Athletics Communication

The Mountaineers crushed East Carolina and UCF, took down No. 21 Maryland 19-16, and then handled business against James Madison. The perfect start came to an end in Week 5 on the road in Blacksburg, falling to Virginia Tech 19-13. WVU followed that up with a four-game winning streak before ending the year on a three-game slide, including the Gator Bowl loss to No. 17 Florida State.

2005: 11-1

Sep 28, 2007; Tampa, FL, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers quarterback Pat White (5) scrambles against the South Florida Bulls during the first quarter at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Mandatory Credit: Jason Parkhurst-USA TODAY Sports Copyright © 2007 Jason Parkhurst | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The Sugar Bowl season was a special one, but boy, did it get off to an U-G-L-Y start. The Mountaineers coughed the ball up four times, yet held on to win 15-7. We pointed this game out last week when everyone was concerned with this year’s opener against Coastal. WVU then beat Wofford, Maryland, and East Carolina before suffering their first and only loss of the season to No. 3 Virginia Tech.

2006: 11-2

This season, the Mountaineers opened up with seven straight Ws before getting beat by No. 5 Louisville on the road in a high-scoring affair, 44-34. They bounced back with wins over Cincinnati and Pitt, lost to USF, and ended the regular season with a win over No. 13 Rutgers with backup QB Jarrett Brown starting in place of the injured Pat White. That season ended with a 38-35 win over Calvin Johnson and Georgia Tech.

2007: 11-2

Rich Rod’s offense was putting up silly numbers through the first four weeks and then plummeted back to Earth in Week 5 on the road at No. 18 USF. They moved the ball, out-gaining the Bulls 437-274; they just couldn’t stop turning the ball over. Six turnovers in the game, losing three of the five fumbles they had. The very next week they put up 55 on Syracuse, and it was smooth sailing until, well, you know. Before that night that no Mountaineer fan speaks of, West Virginia took down three ranked opponents in four weeks, winning by an average of 25 points per game. Just pure domination. The season was capped off with a statement against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.

2012: 7-6

After his ridiculous 8-touchdown game against Baylor and taking down No. 11 Texas on the road, everyone was handing QB Geno Smith the Heisman Trophy. Unfortunately, that win over the Longhorns is where all of the fun would come to an end. WVU just clearly didn’t have the depth or surrounding talent beyond its stars to compete in the Big 12. Five straight weeks would go by without a win. WVU did end the year on a two-game winning streak, taking down two of the worst teams in the league at the time — Iowa State and Kansas — before losing to Syracuse in the Pinstripe Bowl.

2016: 10-2

WVU squeaked out a couple of one-score games against BYU and Kansas State en route to what would end up being a 6-0 start to the year. Their first loss came against Oklahoma State on the road. They did win four of their last five, with the only other regular season loss being a 56-28 beatdown at the hands of Oklahoma. The season ended at the Russell Athletic Bowl, where Miami won pretty convincingly, 31-14.

2018: 8-4

Nov 23, 2018; Morgantown, WV, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers quarterback Will Grier (7) celebrates during the second quarter against the Oklahoma Sooners at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports

WVU won its first five games in 2018 and went to Ames as the sixth-ranked team in the country. You all know the story: West Virginia’s offense laid an egg, and the perfect start came to an end against then-freshman QB Brock Purdy, who had the Mountaineers biting on pump fakes all night. They answered the bell with a 58-point performance against Baylor, a 42-point outing against Texas (that down-to-the-wire finish), and a 47-point day against TCU. All they had to do was win one of their final two games against Oklahoma State or Oklahoma, and they would have played for the Big 12 title. They blew a three-score lead in Stillwater and fell short in a 59-56 shootout to Oklahoma. Several key players sat out the bowl game, leading to a 34-18 loss to Syracuse in the Camping World Bowl.

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