MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- The Big East championship, their fourth in five years, was tucked into their back pocket. A BCS bowl invitation was all but officially handed to them.
Yet it remains to be seen if the fourth-ranked Mountaineers of West Virginia will get enough of a bump from today's 66-21 romp over 20th-ranked Connecticut at Mountaineer Field to rise in the necessary polls and, ultimately, the BCS standings.
The Mountaineers (10-1, 5-1) are No. 3 in the BCS computer poll, with former No. 1 LSU set to fall after its 50-48, triple-overtime loss at home Friday to Arkansas. No matter the Kansas-Missouri outcome late tonight, the Mountaineers tried to impress the pollsters to the point where they move into the BCS top two and, with a victory over Pitt in the 100th Backyard Brawl next Saturday at Mountaineer Field, earn a place in the Jan. 7 national championship game in New Orleans' Superdome.
The Mountaineers only once before have played with an outright chance at a national title, in 1988 losing their undefeated season and the Fiesta Bowl to Notre Dame, 34-21.
Quarterback Patrick White, surging at season's end, rushed for two touchdowns and passed for another while also rushing for 150-plus yards for the fourth consecutive game -- he finished with 186 on 16 carries through three quarters. Steve Slaton scored two touchdowns, tying his career season high of 17 as a freshman, and joined White as 1,000-yard rushers on the season.
It was the most points scored by West Virginia and its most lopsided conference victory since an 80-7 shellacking of Rutgers in 2001, some 41 Big East games ago for the Mountaineers.
Worse, it was by far the most lopsided defeat as a Division I-A team ever absorbed by Connecticut, whose largest margin heretofore was 34 points to Virginia Tech in 2003. It lost by 56 points to Middle Tennessee in 2000.
Connecticut (9-3, 5-2) turned over the ball three times in the game, a departure for the team that ranked No. 2 nationally in ball security -- with only 11 turnovers total in its previous 11 games. Should West Virginia lose to Pitt (4-7, 2-4) and tie the Huskies for conference first, it still would retain the BCS berth and Big East title because of this head-to-head victory over UConn.
The Huskies, playing the biggest game in their 109-year history (only four of those in Division I-A), scored first in impressive fashion. Backed up to their 6-yard line due to penalties, the visitors then went 94 yards in their next five plays to take a 7-0 lead.
West Virginia then hauled off and scored the next 24 points.
After a 49-yard pass from White to Darius Reynaud, White scored on a 3-yard run to tie the score. They combined for a 14-yard touchdown pass on the play after a fumbled Huskies punt return, then added a 46-yard field goal by Plum's Pat McAfee, his second-longest of the season.
Connecticut then turned over the ball for its second time in the first half, this from the team that ranked No. 2 nationally in ball security -- with only 11 turnovers total in its previous 11 games.
Slaton and White became the first running back-quarterback duo in major-college football history to rush for 1,000-plus yards in back-to-back seasons, and they topped that season total on back-to-back carries. After the first two plays netted zero yards, White rolled 29 yards -- some up the back of a blocking Slaton -- and then Slaton burst 31 yards for the Mountaineers' final touchdown of the half.
That run, amazingly, was Slaton's fourth-longest gain of his 197 carries this season.
UConn rallied just before intermission with a 10-play, 77-yard drive that allowed the Huskies to close within 24-14.
White then prodded the Mountaineers downfield on a 66-yard drive, of which he gathered 52 yards on two rushes -- including the final 24 yards for a 31-14 lead.
They shoved it to 38-14 on their next series, Noel Devine scoring his first touchdown in nine games after a brief stint in Coach Rich Rodriguez's doghouse. Slaton threw a sealing block at the left end, and Devine cut it upfield for a 25-yard score midway through the third quarter.
Linebacker Reed Williams in the end zone pounced on a bad snap that eluded Huskies quarterback Tyler Lorenzen for a touchdown and a 45-14 advantage.
Then Slaton, freshman Jock Sanders and Penn Hills' Ed Collington closed out the Mountaineers' scorefest with a fourth-quarter rushing touchdown each.
First Published: November 25, 2007, 12:45 a.m.
