The 2008 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University as a member of the Big East Conference during the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. Led by first-year head coach Bill Stewart, the Mountaineers compiled an overall record of 9–4 with a mark of 5–2 in conference play, placing in a three-way tie for second in the Big East. West Virginia was invited the Meineke Car Care Bowl, where the Mountaineers defeated North Carolina. The team played home games at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Stewart took over as the interim head coach at the end of the 2007 season after the departure of head coach Rich Rodriguez to the University of Michigan.
Schedule
Rankings
Spring Game The Gold & Blue Spring Game was held on Saturday, April 19, 2008, at Mountaineer Field. A record crowd of over 25,000 fans attended as the Gold defeated the Blue 59–15. Kicker Pat McAfee was four-for-four on field goals with a long of 47 yards, and starting quarterback Pat White and backup Jarrett Brown both had touchdown passes. Brown also had a four-yard touchdown run and two backup kickers hit a field goal each. The defense recorded six sacks in total, and walk-on defensive back Darnell Christian led all corners with three passes deflected. Sophomore linebacker Pat Lazear had the only interception on the game off of a White pass. Backup running back led all ballcarriers with 54 yards on 17 carries while sophomore Brandon Hogan led all receivers with 49 yards on six catches.
Game summaries Syracuse
Noel Devine 18 Rush, 188 YdsESPN. Retrieved 2014-Oct-06.
Auburn
ESPN. Retrieved 2014-Oct-06.
Personnel Coaching staff Head coach Bill Stewart was the Mountaineers 32nd head coach in school history. He returned defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel and defensive line coach Bill Kirelawich. His new hirings were associate head coach, recruiting coordinator, fullback, and tight ends coach Doc Holliday, assistant head coach and safeties coach Steve Dunlap, running backs coach Chris Beatty, offensive line coach Dave Johnson, and cornerbacks coach David Lockwood. Jeff Mullen, former quarterbacks coach at Wake Forest, was announced as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. The receivers coach was named on January 29, Lonnie Galloway, the receivers coach from Appalachian State.
Recruiting class
Statistics
Team Team Opp Scoring Points per game First downs Rushing Passing Penalty Total offense Avg per play Avg per game Fumbles-Lost Penalties-Yards Avg per game Team Opp Punts-Yards Avg per punt Time of possession/Game 3rd down conversions 4th down conversions Touchdowns scored Field goals-Attempts-Long PAT-Attempts Attendance Games/Avg per Game
Scores by quarter
Offense Rushing Name GP-GS Att Yards Avg TD Long Avg/G Noel Devine 8–8 132 909 6.9 3 92 113.3Pat White 7–7 102 545 5.3 44 4 77.9 Jock Sanders 8–8 30 168 5.6 19 2 21 Jarrett Brown 5–1 32 157 4.9 35 1 31.4 Mark Rodgers 5–0 12 69 5.8 19 0 13.8 Total Opponents
Passing Name GP-GS Cmp-Att-Int Pct Yds TD Lng Avg/G Pat White 7–7 99–142–3 69.7 885 13 44 126.4 Jarrett Brown 5–1 22–30–1 73.3 114 1 25 22.8 Total Opponents
Receiving Name GP-GS Rec. Yds Avg TD Long Avg/G Jock Sanders 8–8 35 263 7.5 6 25 32.9 Alric Arnett 8–8 19 226 11.9 3 44 28.3 Dorrell Jalloh 8–8 17 202 11.9 3 35 25.3 Noel Devine 8–8 22 96 4.4 0 17 12 Wes Lyons 4–0 9 90 10 0 19 22.5 Will Johnson 4–2 7 48 6.9 1 12 12 Tito Gonzales 3–0 4 35 8.8 0 11 11.6 Tyler Urban 2–0 1 25 25 2 25 12.5 Bradley Starks 3–0 4 20 5 0 13 6.6Total Opponents
Defense Name GP Tackles Sacks Pass Def. Interceptions Fumbles BlkdKick Solo Ast Total TFL-Yds No-Yds BU No.-Yds Avg TD Rcv-Yds FF No.Mortty Ivy 8 24 37 61 4.0 – 10 .5 – 3 2 3–48 16 0 1–30 0 0Quinton Andrews 8 28 26 54 2.0 – 4 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0Sidney Glover 8 23 22 45 4.5 – 18 1.0 – 7 2 0 0 0 0 0 0Ellis Lankster 8 27 17 44 1.5 – 11 0 4 1–31 31 0 0 0 0Anthony Leonard 8 12 31 43 1.5 – 4 .5 – 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0J.T. Thomas 8 12 25 37 3.5 – 24 1.5 – 15 3 0 0 0 0 2 1Chris Neild 8 9 23 32 2.5 – 6 1.5 – 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0Brandon Hogan 8 15 13 28 0 0 3 2–50 25 0 2–0 0 0Franchot "Boogie" Allen 8 13 13 26 2.5 – 4 1.0 – 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Eain Smith 8 10 15 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0John Holmes 8 7 13 20 3.5 – 25 3.0 – 24 1 1 0 0 0 2 0Robert Sands 8 8 11 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Doug Slavonic 8 3 15 18 2.5 – 9 2.5 – 9 1 0 0 0 1–0 1 0Ovid Goldbourne 8 5 12 17 .5 – 3 .5 – 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Reed Williams 4 6 11 17 2.0 – 4 0 1 1–11 11 0 0 0 0Pat Lazear 8 4 11 15 1.0 – 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Kent Richardson 8 8 5 13 1.0 – 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0Nate Sowers 7 7 6 13 .5 – 1 0 1 1–0 0 0 0 0 0Pat Liebig 5 1 10 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Guesly Dervil 7 4 5 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0Zac Cooper 8 3 5 8 1.0 – 8 1.0 – 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Total
Special teams Name Kicking Punting XPM XPA XP% FGM FGA FG% LG No. Yds Avg. TB -20 LG Pat McAfee 25 25 100 9 10 90 52 37 1643 44.4 5 18 65 Total
Name Punt returns Kick returns No. Yds Avg TD Long No. Yds Avg TD Long Ellis Lankster 20 171 8.6 0 36 3 67 22.3 0 31 Brandon Hogan 2 17 8.5 11 0 Mark Rodgers 13 301 23.2 0 44 Jock Sanders 1 0 0 0 0 5 108 21.6 0 32 Total
References