CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The winningest bowl quarterback in major-college history walked into the foggy, gray evening with his grass-stained cleats in his left hand, heading for his parents, the team bus and Mountaineers lore.

Seemed it should have been more ceremonial, say, on a red carpet to blaring trumpets.

Patrick White punctuated his four-year West Virginia career with a most dramatic flourish. He passed for a career-high 332 yards, beating his previous best by more than the length of a football field and 26 completions. He passed for three touchdowns, tying his second-best career effort and the longest such scores this season. More to the point, the top rushing quarterback in major-college history passed the Mountaineers to a come-from-behind, 31-30 victory against North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl at sold out Bank of America Stadium.

With that left arm, he won his third bowl MVP, an NCAA major-college record fourth bowl and a program-record 42nd victory by his senior class. A triumphant exit, indeed.

"A wonderful win," White concluded of his first postseason victory outside of a January bowl game.

"I think he kind of showed some people who think he can't throw the ball," offensive tackle Ryan Stanchek said of the 73,712 patrons that included NFL scouts. "Pat was slinging the ball around. A special player. I'll tell my kids about him someday."

Added cornerback Ellis Lankster, a fellow Alabamian who played for years against and with him: "I ain't never seen Pat throw like that before. Pat was a pocket-passer today."

To think, amid that 26 for 32 pinpoint passing performance, White's receivers dropped two passes, he threw one away and another he tried to force into double coverage in the end zone to Dorrell Jalloh. White called his lone miscue the "silly pick before the half." Still, White committed only three poor throws out of 32 attempts and hit more Mountaineers (9-4) receivers, seven, than he threw incompletions against North Carolina (8-5).

He was a perfect 7 for 7 in a first-quarter score fest. The period was so "fast and furious," in coach Bill Stewart's words, it nearly ended in a 21-21 tie -- time elapsed before Ryan Houston bowled into the end zone -- and put the game on an 84-84 pace.

But North Carolina was living a bit on the edge. Hakeem Nicks, who set bowl and school marks with his eight receptions for 217 yards and three touchdowns, notched his first score on a 73-yard pass that glanced off Lankster's hands and shoulder pad before nestling into Nicks' mitts. There was a safety after the Mountaineers, with undersized safety Nate Sowers manning the left end, made a four-play goal-line stand. There was a punt dropped at their 1 and, while trailing 30-24, a midfield fumble by Alric Arnett, who also caught the first and last of White's touchdown heaves.

"I've never been around a group of kids, especially young kids, who are resilient like that," said defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel. His unit overcame the absences of secondary stars Sidney Glover and Brandon Hogan, overcame a Tar Heels touchdown on the second half's opening possession (just the third third-quarter score allowed all year), and then locked it down. The beginning: 255 yards on the Tar Heels' first 22 snaps and a 23-21 North Carolina lead. The end: 22 Tar Heels yards on 14 fourth-quarter snaps. Two plays after the Arnett fumble, Robert Sands and J.T. Thomas combined for a takeaway of their own. White then threw a 41-yard, NFL-quality strike to Jock Sanders, ran for 9 more and hit Arnett on a 20-yard post pattern for the winning touchdown. Three plays, 65 seconds, midway through the fourth. Perhaps it was fitting that his career and this bowl ended with the football in White's hands in victory formation.

Only Missouri's Brad Smith has rushed for 4,000-plus yards and passed for 6,000-plus yards in a Division I-A career. No other won four bowls, not Peyton Manning, not Donovan McNabb, nobody. This man, whom Stewart called the greatest Mountaineer ever, left the Queen City and their program truly as a White knight.