HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- The freshman who got a standing ovation on his first collegiate home carry, a run that netted scant inches, and then yesterday scored two touchdowns suddenly finds himself in the mix.

"We've got to get Noel [Devine] in the game more," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said.

This was after Steve Slaton rushed a total of 24 times in mid-90s temperatures. This was after Devine scored on a 12-yard run the first time he took a handoff. This was after Devine had a 10-yard touchdown run to polish off a 48-23 victory against Marshall at Joan C. Edwards Stadium.

"Steve got tired, and Noel's got fresh legs," Rodriguez said.

That was evident as Devine ran for 12, 9, 39, 6 and 10 yards, in order.

"It's good to see him get some good runs in the end," Rodriguez added. "But this is his second game. He still has a long ways to go."

With 146 yards yesterday, Slaton became the third Mountaineers running back to surpass 3,000 in his career, at 3,127. He could catch Amos Zereoue (4,086) this season and Avon Cobourne (5,164) the next.

Fret over special teams

They allowed a 77-yard return by freshman Darius Marshall on the opening kickoff. They allowed the Thundering Herd 10.3 yards per punt return, and Woodland Hills' Ryan Mundy likely saved a touchdown by catching Emmanuel Spann from behind on a 26-yarder. And Plum's Pat McAfee allowed as how he has weary legs after punting six times in the first half alone and kicking the ball 21 times -- six on point-after tries, seven on punts, eight on kickoffs.

"Part of it was awful coverage and awful kicks," Rodriguez said.

"He's looked like he's had a tired leg. We got to see how much he's kicking in practice."

"Too much," McAfee admitted.

After a 6-yard shank in his only punt last week, McAfee opened with a booming, 53-yarder yesterday, the first of three he dropped close to the Marshall goal line: the 7, 7 and 3-yard lines.

Like early last season, McAfee saved a potential touchdown return by catching that opening return.

"I'm pretty excited I got him," the junior punter said. "I didn't think I had him; I thought I was getting too old."

Quick hits

Backup John Saunders of Huntington started yesterday at cornerback for Marshall, making him the fifth in-state starter. The others: Marshall's Doug Legursky of Beckley and Josh Evans of Fayetteville, and the Mountaineers' Marc Magro of Morgantown and Reed Wiliams of Mooresville.

Williams had 13 tackles and defensive end Johnny Dingle had half the team's four sacks.

There appeared to be about 15,000 Mountaineers fans in the Marshall-record home crowd of 40,383.

Marshall coach Mark Snyder: "I told the team whoever blinks first is probably the team that is going to lose -- and we blinked."