GAME THREAD: NCAAF: WESTRN MICHIGAN at WEST VIRGINIA

MORGANTOWN, West Virginia (Ticker) -- Western Michigan knewwhat was coming but was powerless to stop it.


Heisman Trophy hopefuls Pat White and Steve Slaton had a hand inthe first seven touchdowns to power third-ranked West Virginiato a 62-24 rout of Western Michigan on Saturday afternoon.

As sophomores, Slaton and White paced the Mountaineers to thenation's second-ranked rushing game, combining for 235 yards agame. The juniors picked right up where they left off againstthe Broncos, who opened against a ranked opponent for the fifthtime in program history.


White threw two touchdown passes - one to Slaton - and ran for apair of bursts of 38 and 22 yards. Slaton ran for three scoresand hauled in a 50-yard scoring pass from White as WestVirginia (1-0) improved to 36-6 in its last 42 regular-seasongames.


After being held to 20 yards on nine carries in the openinghalf, Slaton finished with 109 on 16 carries, registering his16th 100-yard effort as West Virginia put up its second-highestpoint total under seventh-year coach Rich Rodriguez.

"They were playing cover zero in the first half, bringingeverybody up to the line," Rodriguez said. "We get a littlestubborn sometimes and we actually probably should have thrownmore passes early. We managed some screens and some swingpasses and got loose a little bit."


White completed 10-of-18 for 192 yards and two TDs and rushedfor 97 yards on nine carries. He threw first-quarter touchdownpasses of 19 yards to Dorrell Jalloh and 50 to Slaton for a 14-6lead.


In his last eight games, White has 16 rushing TDs.

West Virginia extended the margin to 28-6 on a 38-yard scoringrun by White and a one-yard TD plunge by Slaton, but the Broncosseemed to take some momentum into the locker room by scoringwith 17 seconds left in the half.


Quarterback Tim Hiller capped a 14-play, 74-yard drive with atwo-yard run and passed to Branden Ledbetter for the conversion,cutting the deficit to 28-14.


The momentum was short-lived, as Slaton burst up the middle fora 58-yard run to make it 35-14. That gave Slaton 36 rushing TDin his last 21 games.


After Jeff Reed picked off Hiller for his second interception ofthe game, White swept around the left side for 22 yards twoplays later to push the lead to 42-14 with 8:39 left in thethird.


Hiller finished 16-of-25 for 160 yards and two interceptions,but was replaced after the second interception by ThomasPeregrin, who wound up 9-for-17 for 71 yards and one TD.

Backup running backs Jarrett Brown and true freshman Noel Devinetacked on fourth-quarter touchdowns. The highly touted Devinerushed for 44 yards on seven carries.


"It was nice to get those guys their first taste of collegefootball," Rodriguez said. "They were wide-eyed but they werereally excited, and I think it really meant a lot to them thatmost of the crowd stayed until the end."


Wide receiver Jamarko Simmons was one of the bright spots forWestern Michigan (0-1), hauling in 14 passes for 142 yards andtwo touchdowns.