Mountaineers' rise started in Norman

PHOENIX — A quarter century later, Don Nehlen doesn't remember that much about his trip to Oklahoma's Owen Field. He remembers the trip home.

West Virginia spanked the Sooners 41-27 in a stunning 1982 season opener, and when Nehlen's Mountaineers flew back to Pittsburgh and motored down to Morgantown, they were met at the West Virginia line by state police. The sirened escort delivered the team buses to campus, where more than 10,000 fans awaited in the parking lot.

West Virginia has played for a national championship and would have played for another this year if not for Pitt's upset four weeks ago. But some would say Mountaineer football arrived with that return 25 years ago from a Norman conquest.

"Big victory for us,” said Nehlen, who coached West Virginia to 149 victories in 21 years before retiring after the 2000 season.

OU and West Virginia meet again Wednesday in the Fiesta Bowl. Both are perennial top-10 contenders. The Sooners have enjoyed such status for much of the last 60 years. But in 1982, West Virginia was a sleepy little program in the Allegheny Mountains, with a solid coaching history (Bobby Bowden, Jim Carlen) but no tradition to speak of.

West Virginia had lost to arch-rival Pitt six straight years. The Mountaineers hadn't beaten another annual foe, Penn State, since 1955.

But Nehlen was building the Mountaineers, who had beaten Florida in the 1981 Peach Bowl. And he had a new quarterback, Jeff Hostetler, a transfer from Penn State.

Hostetler came into the OU game virtually unknown. He left it a star. Hostetler played one of the great quarterback games in Owen Field history. He constantly bombarded the Sooner secondary with deep balls; six completions went for at least 30 yards, and the Mountaineers stunned the ninth-ranked