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West Virginia vs. Western Reserve

West Virginia and Western Reserve first met in 1936 and have played 6 times; West Virginia leads the series 4–⁠2. Over the last 6 meetings it’s West Virginia 4–⁠2, and West Virginia has won the last 4.

West Virginia wins
4
Western Reserve wins
2
Ties
0
First meeting
1936
Longest streak
4 West Virginia
Current streak
4 West Virginia
Last 10 meetings
West Virginia 4–⁠2
Most recent
1951

The series at a glance

’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1930s0–⁠2
1940s2–⁠0
1950s2–⁠0
Average margin
15.8 points; 3 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At West Virginia
3–⁠0 West Virginia’s record at home
At Western Reserve
2–⁠1 Western Reserve’s record at home
Shutouts
3

Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.

Games that tell the story

  1. West Virginia’s biggest win1951: West Virginia 35, Western Reserve 7by 28 points
  2. Western Reserve’s biggest win1938: Western Reserve 7, West Virginia 0by 7 points
  3. Upset1938: Western Reserve 7, West Virginia 0Western Reserve had a 21% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  4. Upset1936: Western Reserve 7, West Virginia 0Western Reserve had a 24% chance, by our ratings before kickoff

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of West Virginia and Western Reserve, 1936 on130015001700194019501960197019801990200020102020

Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.

From the newspapers

  • The Evening star's story of the 1950 game: Aggressive West Virginia Downs Western Reserve

    1950 · Evening star, Washington, D.C., Sep 24, 1950

  • The Evening star's story of the 1951 game: West Virginia. S Passes Beat Western Reserve

    1951 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Nov 4, 1951

Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.

Every game

Nov 3, 1951West Virginia 35, Western Reserve 7at West Virginia
Sep 23, 1950West Virginia 38, Western Reserve 13at West Virginia
Nov 19, 1949West Virginia 28, Western Reserve 20at Western Reserve
Nov 20, 1948West Virginia 20, Western Reserve 0at West Virginia
Nov 5, 1938Western Reserve 7, West Virginia 0at Western Reserve
Nov 14, 1936Western Reserve 7, West Virginia 0at Western Reserve

Every game is listed as played on the field.