MORGANTOWN — West Virginia Athletic Director Shane Lyons announced the 2019 football schedule Thursday, which includes six home and six away games.
The Mountaineers will open at home against James Madison on Aug. 31 and will host N.C. State on Sept. 14. They will make the home-and-home return trip to Missouri on Sept. 7 in Columbia.
Big 12 play opens at Kansas on Sept. 21 and the rest of the road conference slate will be Oklahoma (Oct. 19), Baylor (Oct. 31), Kansas State (Nov. 16) and TCU (Nov. 29).
WVU will have its Big 12 home-opener against Texas on Oct. 5, which will also be homecoming. The rest of the home schedule is Iowa State (Oct. 12), Texas Tech (Nov. 9) and Oklahoma State (Nov. 23).
The road game at Baylor will be played Halloween night, a Thursday, while the road game at TCU will be the Friday after Thanksgiving.
The Mountaineers will have two bye weeks — Sept. 28 and Oct. 26.
“I think it’s a fair and balanced schedule with alternating home and away dates for most of the season,” Lyons said. “We have two home games in September, two in early October and two more in November, which will be appealing to our fans.”
Coach Dana Holgorsen, a critic of other programs scheduling 10 Power Five games or fewer, is happy with the schedule.
“Having 11 Power Five games is exciting for our program, but more importantly for our fans,” he said. “I am proud of how we have scheduled and am hopeful the rest of the Power Five schools will follow our lead.”
2019 West Virginia football schedule
Aug. 31: James Madison TBA
Sept. 7: at Missouri TBA
Sept. 14: NC State TBA
Sept. 21: at Kansas * TBA
Sept. 28: OPEN
Oct. 5: Texas *+ TBA
Oct. 12: Iowa State * TBA
Oct. 19: at Oklahoma * TBA
Oct. 26: OPEN
Oct. 31: at Baylor * TBA (Thursday)
Nov. 9: Texas Tech *^ TBA
Nov. 16: at Kansas State * TBA
Nov. 23: Oklahoma State * TBA
Nov. 29: at TCU * TBA (Friday)
* Big 12 game
+ Homecoming
^ Mountaineer Week
