WVU 2009 Football Schedule: Set 'Em Up Just to Knock 'Em Down

The West Virginia University Mountaineers football schedule for 2009 will be no easy walkthrough for the defending Meineke Car Care Bowl champs. Being a Big East Conference automatically means there will be stiff competition in intra-conference play, but WVU has a couple of extra-conference games that lend themselves to the supposition that, if WVU manages to play sound football most of the year, they may get ranked (WVU is currently unranked) and go to a major bowl.

The only gift or gimme game (a formality win game against a vastly inferior team or sports program) is WVU's first football game of the season against Liberty. Of their twelve regular season football games, WVU plays seven Big East teams. Always a tough conference, the Big East placed not one team in the AP Top 25 pre-season 2009 college football rankings poll.

WVU will play three four straight non-conference football games to begin the season. Starting with the aforementioned Liberty, they will then host the always tough Liberty Bowl champion East Carolina Pirates in Morgantown in Week 2. East Carolina beat the Mountaineers last year to launch themselves into the AP Top 25. They're looking to hopefully do the same this season.

WVU travels to Birmingham, Alabama, to take on the daunting and historied football program of Auburn in Week 3. They will host Colorado, a team that shows signs of weakness early, but a team that beat WVU last year in Overtime.

Game 5 sees the Mountaineers in Syracuse for their first Big East Conference game. The Orangemen aren't expected to be great this season, but they always play West Virginia like they're national champs.

Game 6 finds WVU hosting intrastate rival Marshall. The Thundering Herd will no doubt host ideas of an upset.

The Mountaineers then host Connecticut in Week 7 of the schedule, which starts a six game run of Big East Conference play. They travel to Florida to take on USF in Week 8 to take on the young football program there. But young doesn't mean they don't know how to win. West Virginia won last season in a tough low-scoring football game.

Game 8 sees the Mountaineer at home again against Louisville. This has become a tough rivalry in the past few years and could prove to be another hard-fought game that has bowl implications on the line for both teams. After an Orange Bowl win in 2007, Louisville will be looking to finish 2009 a little better than 2008 (6-6).

Week 9 has WVU traveling to Cincinnati to take on a Bearcats squad fresh off a best-ever season, winning 11 regular season games and the Big East Conference championship. However, they lost the Fed Ex Orange Bowl to finish the season.

The always grueling Backyard Brawl, the 14th longest rivalry in college football history, happens in Morgantown this year. On Black Friday, no less. WVU will host Pitt for the 102nd time, having lost to the Panthers two years running. WVU will be looking for some vengeance.

Rutgers is coming off of a great 2008 season and a win in the PapaJohns.com Bowl. They will host WVU for the final football game on both teams' schedules.

2009 WVU Football Schedule

09/05 Liberty
09/12 East Carolina
09/19 at Auburn
10/01 Colorado
10/10 at Syracuse
10/17 Marshall
10/24 Connecticut
10/30 at U of South Florida
11/07 Louisville
11/13 at Cincinnati
11/27 Pitt
12/05 at Rutgers

The West Virginia University Mountaineers finished the 2008 season with an 8-4 regular season record, then went on to defeat North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl, 31-30.

The Mountaineers are looking to do a little better this year.

Let's go Mountaineers!

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For a more stylized WVU Mountaineers football schedule, go to MSNSportsnet.com.

Sources:

MSNSportsnet.com
CBSSports.com
ESPN.com