SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- The foot-ball fun and frolic returned early to the Mountaineers yesterday.

They watched a defensive lineman score a touchdown for the first time in 26 years.

They watched their blocking, facemask-busting fullback run a handful of toss-sweep plays, score a pair of touchdowns and register his first career punt.

They watched their kicker, the day after shearing his beach-blond locks into a wacky buzz-cut that resembles a Michigan Wolverines helmet, crush a 49-yard field goal that concluded the first half with a flourish.

Then they watched quarterback Patrick White get injured again. Then they watched tailback Steve Slaton fail to get going again.

So there also existed a little uneasy feeling buried inside the 55-14 demolition job that No. 13 West Virginia did to a historic Syracuse program. Underneath a photo of Jim Brown and a jersey of Ernie Davis hanging from the inflated roof, before another dwindling Carrier Dome crowd announced at 35,345, the Mountaineers scored the most points ever dropped upon a Syracuse team in its 558 home games.

Good thing for White and West Virginia (5-1, 1-1 Big East) that they don't play again until Oct. 20 against Mississippi State, because the star quarterback might need that long to heal a strained chest muscle.

"There's pain," a grimacing White said after rushing for 89 yards -- his most in four games -- and completing 12 of 15 passes for 148 yards and scoring a touchdown each on the ground and in the air. "An extra week? That's good. Get some treatment. Get in [the trainer's room]. And get a little better ... Or try to."

Continued Rich Rodriguez, after winning his 100th career game as a Mountaineer State head coach, including Salem and Glenville: "He'll be fine."

Meantime, White's roommate and backfield compatriot for the first time in his starting career endured consecutive games without 100 yards rushing or more. After a second-worst showing of 54 yards on 13 carries the game before at South Florida, Slaton gained just 69 yards on 15 carries. This against a Syracuse defense that began the afternoon ranked 111th of 119 major-college teams in stopping the run, or, more precisely, not stopping the run.

Fact is, Slaton never has compiled fewer yards in any consecutive set of games of the 26 he has started, even including the Jan. 1 Gator Bowl when he mustered a paltry 11 yards due to a thigh bruise.

True and certain, Slaton totaled 120 yards, what with his 51 yards on four receptions. Even for him, though, 19 touches don't seem enough for a onetime Heisman Trophy hopeful.

"Obviously, if you're a defense, you have to key on Steve Slaton," Rodriguez said. "Steve can help a lot of ways. I thought he played well."

Slaton is equally unconcerned: "As long as we're winning, it doesn't matter."

Neither points nor a victory were much of a problem here.

After a Ryan Mundy interception off a pass tipped by intended receiver Taj Smith, West Virginia needed just five plays for a 7-0 lead, handed them when fullback Owen Schmitt sped untouched 7 yards on a toss-sweep left.

Syracuse got the first of consecutive long kickoff returns from Mike Holmes and marched 45 yards in 5:21 to tie the score.

The game promptly began rolling downhill for West Virginia and over a Syracuse team (1-5, 1-1) that has lost 10 of its past 13 games under coach Greg Robinson.

White scored on a 1-yard run that culminated a 77-yard drive. After linebacker Reed Williams' well-timed hit on Smith, nose guard Keilen Dykes rumbled 19 yards with a tipped-pass interception return that marked the first by a Mountaineers' defensive lineman in 310 games dating back to 1981.

Schmitt, on the possession after pooching a punt to the Syracuse 11, gained 40 yards of a 51-yard drive, including a scoring dive from the 1.

Pat McAfee, a Plum graduate who missed a key attempt in this dome as a freshman, on the half's final play cranked a 49-yarder.

And the Mountaineers didn't stop until White got hurt midway through the third quarter, by which time they had reeled off 34 unanswered points. Only once in the 55-game series has West Virginia won by a larger margin, by 43-0 here in 1993.

"Honestly, I'm sick of all of it, man," Orange linebacker Jameel McClain said. "I'm sick of the missed tackles. I'm sick of the score. I'm sick of losing. So, to sum it up, I'm sick. But what can I do, man?"

The visitors felt much differently, rejoicing in their sixth consecutive triumph against Syracuse and a much-needed respite after Tampa eight days ago.

"I wanted our guys to get their confidence back," Rodriguez said. "The only way to get confidence back is to make plays. And ... you could tell they got it back."