Sep 2, 2007, 0:07 GMT
Morgantown, WV - Patrick White passed for 192 yards on 10-of- 18 completions and two TD's and also ran for 98 yards on nine carries and two scores, as third-ranked West Virginia steamrolled Western Michigan, 62-24, at Mountaineer Field at Puskar Stadium.
Steve Slaton rushed 16 times for 112 yards and three touchdowns, and also caught two balls for 61 yards and another score for the Mountaineers (1-0), who travel to intra-state rival Marshall next Saturday.
Tim Hiller completed 16-of-25 passes for 160 yards with a pair of interceptions, but also ran for a score for the Broncos (0-1). Jamarko Simmons caught 14 balls for 144 yards and two TD's. Backup signal caller Thomas Peregrin completed 9-of-17 passes for 71 yards and a touchdown in the loss.
Slaton broke loose up the middle for a 58-yard touchdown run with a little over five minutes played in the third to put West Virginia ahead by a comfortable three-touchdown margin.
On the next series, Reed Williams picked off a Hiller pass and returned it to the Broncos' 22-yard line. Two plays later, White took the ball himself and rushed through a hole in the left side for a score to make it 42-14.
The Broncos answered when Simmons brought in a six-yard pass from Peregrin for a 42-21 game, but Slaton added another touchdown run, a two-yarder with less than two minutes to go in the third for a 49-21 contest.
Jarrett Brown's 20-yard fourth-quarter run boosted the West Virginia advantage to five touchdowns, and Mike Jones hit a 34-yarder for Western Michigan with 4:26 to play.
Noel Devine provided the exclamation point with an eight-yard TD run with 1:24 left to make it 62-24.
West Virginia got on the board first as Dorrell Jalloh hauled in a 19-yard pass from White 5:25 into the game.
The Broncos countered with a little more than four minutes to go in the first, on a Herb Martin 15-yard flea-flicker TD pass to Simmons. However, Jones missed the extra point and it was 7-6.
Slaton then rumbled 50 yards down the left side on a catch-and-run from White, eluding oncoming Bronco tacklers to put WVU up 14-6 with 2:38 to play.
Fifty-nine seconds into the second quarter, it was 21-6 for the home team on White's zig-zagging 38-yard run, and Slaton's second score of the half, a one- yard plunge, put the Mountaineers up 28-6.
Hiller's two-yard run with 17 seconds to go before the half and a two-point conversion catch by Branden Ledbetter brought the Broncos within 28-14.
Game Notes
West Virginia has won both all-time meetings, with the first a 34-9 win in 1996...It was the most points WVU scored since an 80-7 rout of Rutgers in 2001...Western Michigan was held to 14 rushing yards in the first half...The Mountaineers rolled up 542 yards of total offense to 277 for the Broncos.
© 2007 The Sports Network
Game Notes.
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