1986 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

The 1986 West Virginia Mountaineers football team represented West Virginia University in the 1986 NCAA Division I-A football season. It was the Mountaineers' 94th overall season and they competed as a Division I-A Independent. The team was led by head coach Don Nehlen, in his seventh year, and played their home games at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia. They finished the season with a record of four wins and seven losses (4–7 overall).

1986 West Virginia Mountaineers football
Conference	Independent
Record	4–7
Head coach	Don Nehlen (7th season)
Home stadium	Mountaineer Field (Capacity: 63,500)

1986 Major eastern college football independents records

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 1 Penn State $	6	–	0	–	0			12	–	0	–	0
No. 19 Boston College	3	–	2	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
Syracuse	3	–	3	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Temple	2	–	3	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Pittsburgh	2	–	3	–	0			5	–	5	–	1
Rutgers	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	5	–	1
West Virginia	1	–	4	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
$ – Lambert Trophy Winner Rankings from AP Poll

1986 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 1 Penn State		–		–				12	–	0	–	0
No. 2 Miami (FL)		–		–				11	–	1	–	0
No. 20 Virginia Tech		–		–				9	–	2	–	1
No. 19 Boston College		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
Tulsa		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Florida State		–		–				7	–	4	–	1
Army		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Southwestern Louisiana		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Southern Miss		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Temple		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Pittsburgh		–		–				5	–	5	–	1
Rutgers		–		–				5	–	5	–	1
Cincinnati		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Notre Dame		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Syracuse		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
South Carolina		–		–				3	–	6	–	2
Tulane		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
West Virginia		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Louisville		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Navy		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Wichita State		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
East Carolina		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
Northern Illinois		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
Memphis State		–		–				1	–	10	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 6	Northern Illinois	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	W 47–14	56,665
September 13	at East Carolina	Ficklen Memorial Stadium Greenville, NC	W 24–21	33,857
September 20	Maryland	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (rivalry)	L 3–24	63,500
September 27	at Pittsburgh	Three Rivers Stadium Pittsburgh, PA (Backyard Brawl)	L 16–48	55,129
October 4	at Virginia Tech	Lane Stadium Blacksburg, VA (rivalry)	L 7–13	50,000
October 11	No. 1 Miami (FL)	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	L 14–58	63,500
October 25	Boston College	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV	L 10–19	47,760
November 1	No. 2 Penn State	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (rivalry)	L 0–19	59,184
November 8	at Rutgers	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ	W 24–17	15,101
November 15	at Louisville	Cardinal Stadium Louisville, KY	W 42–19	21,834
November 22	Syracuse	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, WV (rivalry)	L 23–34	40,106
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1986 West Virginia Mountaineers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 1 Grantis Bell Fr RB 3 John Holifield Sr WR 7 John Talley Jr QB 13 Ben Reed Jr QB 17 Mike Timko Jr FB 20 Craig Taylor So G 75 John Stroia So OT 79 Brian Smider So TE 81 Keith Winn So WR 82 Calvin Phillips So TE 83 Gary Basil Jr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 22 Bo Orlando So DT 61 Mike Fox Fr DE 87 Renaldo Turnbull Fr DT 98 David Grant Jr DT 99 Jeff Lucas Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K 8 Charlie Baumann So	Head coach Don Nehlen Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt