2007 West Virginia Mountaineers

The 2007 West Virginia Mountaineers football team will begin play on September 1, 2007. The team will be coached by Rich Rodriguez and will play its home games at Mountaineer Field in Morgantown, West Virginia.

New Uniforms
West Virginia unvieled a new, gold uniform design for the season. The uniform has a gold top (instead of blue) with blue stripes (instead of gold). The tops have only been featured with a white bottom (which features a gold stripe). The uniform is currently being featured as the alternative home uniform. Running back Steve Slaton sported the uniform when he attended the 2007 Playboy All-American honoring at the Playboy Mansion at the beginning of the pre-season.

Spring Practice
West Virginia started spring practice on March 5th. Mountaineer Fans got an opportunity to get a first look at the 2007 football team during the annual Gold-Blue Game, which was held at Mountaineer Field on Saturday, April 7th at 12:30 PM. The offense won the contest 58-30, with the only touchdown being a 46-yard pass from Adam Bednarik to Wes Lyons. Backup running back Eddie Davis produced the most impressive performance.

The major goals of spring practice were to improve the defense, find a solid backup for runningback Steve Slaton, and work out the inexperienced class of receivers. The Mountaineers also needed to replace the center position, where All-American Dan Mozes left as a senior, and the guard position.

Recruiting class
The Mountaineers received 25 letters of intent on National Signing Day, February 7, 2007. Florida all-purpose back Noel Devine created some controversey when he reported to the news that he had chose West Virginia over Alabama. But on National Signing Day, Devine never signed his Letter of Intent, saying that after having a talk with mentor Deion Sanders, he decided to wait to see his SAT scores. He was most likely going to pursue a prep school season, then return to the recruiting scene for 2008. Noel then received word he had passed his tests, and so signed his LOI to attend WVU and is expected to be practicing with the team this summer (2007). In the pre-season, Devine was named one of the top-10 impact freshman for 2007. An additional recruit, LB Pat Lazear, was signed on February 16, 2007.

Schedule
09/01/2007* 3:30pm Western Michigan #3 Mountaineer Field • Morgantown, WV FOX W 62-24

09/08/2007* 11:00 AM @ Marshall Joan C. Edwards Stadium • Huntington, WV (friends of coal bowl) ESPN2

09/13/2007* 7:30 PM @ Maryland Byrd Stadium • College Park, MD ESPN 09/22/2007* East Carolina Mountaineer Field • Morgantown, WV

09/28/2007 8:00 PM @ South Florida Raymond James Stadium • Tampa, FL ESPN2

10/06/2007 @ Syracuse Carrier Dome • Syracuse, NY 10/20/2007*† Mississippi State Mountaineer Field • Morgantown, WV 10/27/2007 @ Rutgers Rutgers Stadium • Piscataway, N.J. 11/08/2007 7:30 PM Louisville Mountaineer Field • Morgantown, WV ESPN 11/17/2007 @ Cincinnati Nippert Stadium • Cincinnati,OH 11/24/2007 Connecticut Mountaineer Field • Morgantown, WV 12/01/2007 Pitt Mountaineer Field • Morgantown, WV (The 100th Backyard Brawl) ESPN/ESPN2