Louisville and West Virginia first met on the football field on September 8, 1984.[2] The Mountaineers won the game by a score of 30–6.[3] The teams met again the following year, with West Virginia prevailing by a score of 52–13 that remains to date as the largest margin of victory in the series.[4] The Cardinals and Mountaineers met four more times between 1986 and 1993, with Louisville notching their first win over the Mountaineers in 1990 by a score of 9–7.[5] The teams didn't meet again until Louisville joined the Big East for the start of the 2005 season.[6] That year, the teams played in one of the most memorable games between the two.[7] West Virginia overcame a 24–7 fourth quarter deficit and defeated Louisville 46–44 in triple overtime.[8] The next year proved to be another classic, as #5 Louisville avenged its tough loss from 2005 with a 44–34 victory over #3 West Virginia on November 2, 2006.[9] The following year, on November 8, 2007, the squads slugged it out in another close contest, with the Mountaineers emerging victorious by a margin of 38–31.[10] The teams played every year until 2011, when West Virginia departed the Big East for the Big 12 Conference.[11] Since the teams split into new conferences (Louisville joined the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014),[12] the future of the rivalry is in question and there are no current plans for the two teams to get together. Louisville won the most recent game, defeating #24 West Virginia by a score of 38–35 on November 5, 2011.[13]
