MORGANTOWN — Seven home games highlight what is a very-favorable 2024 schedule for West Virginia as the Big 12 announced its football schedule for next season Tuesday.
Coming off of their best season under head coach Neal Brown, the Mountaineers will play seven home games for the first time since 2016. Three of WVU’s first four games will be played at Milan Puskar Stadium and the team won’t even need to get on a plane until an Oct. 5 matchup at Oklahoma State.
The Mountaineers also will never travel in back-to-back weeks. The only consecutive road games on the schedule, Oct. 26 at Arizona and Nov. 7/8/9 at Cincinnati, are separated by the team’s second of two open weeks.
WVU opens the season at home against Penn State on Aug. 31. It will be the Nittany Lions’ first trip to Morgantown since 1992. Following a game against FCS Albany on Sept. 7, the Mountaineers will travel to Pittsburgh for the 107th Backyard Brawl on Sept. 14.
“Our schedule will be exciting, not only our fans, but the Morgantown community, and having seven home games for the first time since 2016 provides us the extra home date that we have not been able to enjoy recently,” Brown said in a statement. “Playing Penn State and Pitt in the same season used to occur every year around here, and I know our fans have appreciated having those two rivalries back on the schedule.”
Big 12 play will begin on Sept. 21 when Kansas comes to town. Following the team’s first open week, the Mountaineers will play at Oklahoma State (Oct. 5), vs. Iowa State (Oct. 12) vs. Kansas State (Oct. 19) and at Arizona (Oct. 26). It will be the first game between WVU and Arizona.
The team’s second open week will be Nov. 2. WVU will then play at Cincinnati on either Thursday, Nov. 7; Friday, Nov. 8; or Saturday, Nov. 9.
The season will end vs. Baylor (Nov. 16), vs. UCF (Nov. 23) and at Texas Tech (Nov. 30). The Big 12 Championship will be played on Dec. 7.
“It’s great to have the return of seven home games to the football schedule and for Penn State to come to Morgantown for the first time since 1992,” athletic director Wren Baker said. “When you add our non-conference games to the Big 12 slate, WVU once again will play a strong, competitive and challenging football schedule.”
WVU’s homecoming is scheduled for Oct. 19 against Kansas State.
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