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1954 West Virginia

8–⁠1 (3–⁠0 Southern Conference), coached by Art Lewis, finished No. 12 in the AP poll.

Schedule and results

West Virginia in 1954, game by game: won at No. 15 South Carolina 26–6; won vs. George Washington 13–7; won at No. 9 Penn State 19–14; won vs. VMI 40–6; lost vs. Pittsburgh 10–13; won vs. Fordham 39–9; won at William & Mary 20–6; won vs. NC State 28–3; won at Virginia 14–10+34−3Won 26–6 at No. 15 South Carolina+20No. 15 South CarolinaWon 13–7 vs. George Washington+6George Washingt…Won 19–14 at No. 9 Penn State+5No. 9 Penn StateWon 40–6 vs. VMI+34VMILost 10–13 vs. Pittsburgh-3PittsburghWon 39–9 vs. Fordham+30FordhamWon 20–6 at William & Mary+14William & MaryWon 28–3 vs. NC State+25NC StateWon 14–10 at Virginia+4Virginia
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Oct 2at15South CarolinaW 26–⁠641%
Oct 9vsGeorge WashingtonW 13–⁠776%
Oct 16at9Penn StateW 19–⁠1438%
Oct 23vsVMIW 40–⁠679%
Oct 30vsPittsburghL 10–⁠1381%
Nov 6vsFordhamW 39–⁠981%
Nov 13atWilliam & MaryW 20–⁠673%
Nov 20vsNC StateW 28–⁠388%
Nov 27atVirginiaW 14–⁠1079%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat Virginia 14–⁠10; No. 12 in the final AP poll; Southern Conference champions.

In program history: The 10th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 124 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 4: 16
  2. Wk 5: 14
  3. Wk 6: 10
  4. Wk 7: 7
  5. Wk 8: 17
  6. Wk 9: 16
  7. Wk 10: 14
  8. Wk 11: 12
  9. Final: 12

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1954.

Southern Conference champions3–⁠0 in the conference

Record
8–⁠1
Conference
3–⁠0 shared first in Southern Conference
AP final
No. 12 peak No. 7
Points
209–⁠74
Coach
Art Lewis
Elo
1666 +94 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
10.6 No. 27 of 111 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—

Drafted in 1955

The 1955 draft
Rd 5Gene Lamone OGPhiladelphia Eagles

All-Southern Conference

6 first team

First team

From Wikipedia’s 1954 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1954 Southern Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
West Virginia3–⁠08–⁠112
Furman2–⁠05–⁠5
Virginia Tech3–⁠0–⁠18–⁠0–⁠116
Davidson2–⁠16–⁠3
VMI4–⁠34–⁠6
Richmond2–⁠35–⁠4
William & Mary1–⁠2–⁠24–⁠4–⁠2
George Washington0–⁠4–⁠11–⁠7–⁠1
The Citadel0–⁠42–⁠8

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.