SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- It counts the same, but this one was different than the other three victories.

For the first time this season, there was a large semblance of cleanliness to this one. It was crisper, too, and made you think the West Virginia football team has the potential to get out of its own way, hold onto the football on offense and squash someone on defense.

Obviously, it was cleaner than the six-turnover loss at Auburn.

And, no question, it was cleaner than the victory on a Thursday night when the Mountaineers let Colorado crawl back into the game in front of all those people on ESPN.

Cleaner, too, than wins against Liberty and East Carolina, teams of lesser skill than West Virginia that the Mountaineers let hang around far too long.

There also was no question, after about a quarter, which team was exponentially better at the Carrier Dome yesterday as West Virginia (4-1, 1-0 Big East) shot to an early advantage, coasted from there to a 34-13 victory against Syracuse (2-4, 0-2).

The most impressive statistic other than those that portrayed what a marvelous day quarterback Jarrett Brown had was this: West Virginia came in with a horrid 14 turnovers and actually held onto the football against Syracuse, losing it just once, on a fumble by fullback Ryan Clarke in the third quarter after the Mountaineers built a 27-0 lead.

Back to those numbers on Brown: He completed 22 of 30 passes for 244 yards and a touchdown on his first throw.

"What I took from the last four games I was able to bring into this game," he said. "I focused on taking care of the ball and reading the defense."

Read it he did, springing West Virginia to a 27-0 halftime lead as he found eight receivers in the first half while completing 14 of his 18 passes in that span.

"I would have blitzed him every down," West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said when asked how Brown, who was in an undeniable early rhythm, could have been stopped yesterday. "I was so pleased, though, with how he took that ball and spread the wealth."

On a day when Syracuse honored former great and 1961 Heisman winner Ernie Davis by naming the field after him, it was the West Virginia offense that was churning like an express, getting touchdowns from Noel Devine on an 11-yard swing pass on the first offensive play, two short runs from Clarke and a 9-yard run from Jock Sanders to take that 27-point halftime lead.

"We played hard and physical," Stewart said. "We played tough Mountaineer football."

It continued in the second half, as West Virginia got another touchdown from Devine (who finished with 91 yards) sandwiched between two Syracuse touchdown passes by Ryan Nassib, who played in the second half after starter Greg Paulus was yanked by first-year Syracuse coach Doug Marrone

As West Virginia's offense played clean, its counterparts on defense dug deep, holding Syracuse to 0 for 11 on its third-down chances and 72 yards rushing.

The Mountaineers' defense also did a masterful job on Syracuse's top offensive threat, receiver Mike Williams, who pulled in four passes for 89 yards -- 50 of those coming on the only touchdown of the third quarter, when he caught a deep pass from Nassib to cut West Virginia's lead to 27-6.

"We obviously wanted to make sure we knew where he was," West Virginia defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel said of Williams. "At times, we did roll some coverage to him. He's a really good football player. ... We had to make sure our guys knew where he was, and our guys needed to get our hands on him."

West Virginia did as much yesterday, stifling not just Williams, but also Syracuse collectively in their first Big East test.

The next step comes Oct. 24 at Mountaineer Field against Connecticut after the final non-conference test against Marshall Saturday.

"This was Round 1 of the Big East," Stewart said. "And I was pleased and very proud of the way our football team came out swinging in Round 1."

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