The history of Penn State football’s rivalry with West Virginia ahead of Week 1

Penn State has been in the Big Ten since 1993, but the football program’s biggest rivals and most familiar opponents still date back to its days as an independent. In 2016, Penn State rekindled its long-standing rivalry with Pitt, and in 2019, they played the final of the four scheduled matchups and the 100th meeting of all time. 

While Pitt and Penn State may not play again anytime soon, the Nittany Lions kickstarted another historic rivalry in Week 1 of the 2023 season, playing West Virginia for the first time since 1992, when both were independents. James Franklin led his team to a 38-15 win at Beaver Stadium last year, and now he’ll begin his 11th season at the helm in Morgantown. 

For years the matchup was a yearly occurrence, playing every season from 1947-92 and 60 times in total. Only Pitt and Syracuse are more common opponents. Penn State has an all-time record of 49-9-2 against the Mountaineers and West Virginia’s most recent victory came in 1988, 51-30. 

Six of those nine losses that Penn State has suffered to WVU, came in Morgantown and the last time that the Mountaineers won in Happy Valley was in 1954 when they were still a part of the Southern Conference and went 8-1 under Art Lewis. 

Penn State’s rivalry with West Virginia is inextricably linked to its rivalry with Pitt. The three played in an annual round-robin and the team with the best head-to-head record between the three would win the Old Ironsides Trophy. 

The trophy supposedly went missing in 1984 while in Penn State’s possession and the Nittany Lions haven’t had both Pitt and WVU on its schedule since 1992. This season and last, West Virginia has had both Pitt and Penn State on its schedule, but with ever-expanding conferences, it is unlikely that Penn State will ever make room for another non-conference rivalry game. There are no plans to play either opponent in the upcoming seasons.