2002 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

2002 West Virginia Mountaineers football
Continental Tire Bowl, L 22–48 vs. Virginia
Conference	Big East Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 20
AP	No. 25
Record	9–4 (6–1 Big East)
Head coach	Rich Rodriguez (2nd season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Jeff Casteel (1st season)
Co-defensive coordinator	Todd Graham (1st season)
Home stadium	Mountaineer Field (Capacity: 63,500)

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

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	6:00 p.m.	Chattanooga*		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	MSN	W 56–7	54,455
September 7	Noon	at No. 21 Wisconsin*		Camp Randall Stadium Madison, Wisconsin	ESPN+	L 17–34	76,320
September 14	7:00 p.m.	at Cincinnati*		Nippert Stadium Cincinnati	MSN	W 35–32	28,806
September 28	Noon	East Carolina*		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN+	W 37–17	54,497
October 5	Noon	Maryland*		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN2	L 17–48	55,146
October 12	3:30 p.m.	at Rutgers		Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, New Jersey	ESPN+	W 40–0	12,973
October 19	Noon	Syracuse		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN+	W 34–7	45,088
October 26	Noon	No. 1 Miami		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN2	L 23–40	56,817
November 2	Noon	at Temple		Veterans Stadium Philadelphia		W 46–20	15,042
November 9	Noon	Boston College		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN	W 24–14	48,474
November 20	7:00 p.m.	at No. 12 Virginia Tech		Lane Stadium Blacksburg, Virginia (rivalry)	ESPN2	W 21–18	62,723
November 30	1:00 p.m.	at No. 18 Pittsburgh	No. 21	Heinz Field Pittsburgh (Backyard Brawl)	ABC	W 24–17	66,731
December 28	11:00 a.m.	vs. Virginia*	No. 13	Ericsson Stadium Charlotte, North Carolina (Continental Tire Bowl)	ESPN2	L 22–48	73,535
*Non-conference game Rankings from Coaches' Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

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 Rich Rodriguez Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured 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