West Virginia's Wheels Club
November 16, 2006 09:38 PM | Football
“We took a good shot from Pitt like we knew we were with it being a rivalry game,” said West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez. “The second half we played West Virginia football.”
It was a staggering offensive performance Thursday night by White and Slaton that had Heinz Field buzzing. It was also an effort that sent everyone in the press box digging deep into the record books.
West Virginia’s 641 yards of total offense exceeded the 623 yards put up on Pitt in 1999. Slaton became the first back in WVU history to run for more than 200 yards (215) and have more than 100 receiving yards (130) in the same game.
As good as Slaton was, White may have actually been even better. The Daphne, Ala., native kept West Virginia in the game in the first half when the Mountaineer defense had its hands full with Pitt quarterback Tyler Palko, who completed 16 of his 19 first-half passes for 231 yards and two touchdowns to help the Panthers to a 27-24 halftime lead.
“I just wasn’t happy with the way we were dragging our heads a little bit; our punt team let us down a little bit and our defense was not playing very well,” Rodriguez said.
“I thought the big, long touchdown to Steve before the end of the half was a key as far as keeping us in there because we were scrambling a little bit,” Rodriguez added.
At the outset White was forced to use his arm when Pitt crowded the line of scrimmage in an effort to stop West Virginia’s running game. He was 9 of 12 for 191 yards with two first-half TD passes of 11 and 67 yards to Slaton on wheel routes.
Rodriguez said that play is one that has been in the playbook for a while now.
“If you’re going to commit the safeties down and leave one on one on the wheel route you’ve got to take some shots,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve hit it a couple of times and we’ve missed it a couple of times this year but it was important that we hit it today the way they were coming down.”
In the second half, West Virginia’s defense shut out Pitt and the Mountaineers got a pair of long TD runs from White and Slaton to take over the game.
Three plays into the third quarter, White got past the Panther secondary for a 64-yard touchdown to put the Mountaineers back into the lead, 31-27.
Nine minutes later, White gave West Virginia a more comfortable 11-point advantage with a 19-yard score. Slaton iced it with 11:05 left when he ran 55 yards for his fourth touchdown of the game. All three second-half touchdown drives were four plays or less.
WVU averaged 10.2 yards per play including a staggering 9.3 yards per rush on 47 carries.
White finished the game 11 of 14 for 204 yards through the air to compliment his 220 yards on the ground. He is the first player to pass for 200 and also rush for 200 in the same game in school history.
“Pat White put on a performance tonight … I’ve been coaching football for a long time and that’s as good a performance that I think I’ve seen a quarterback play,” said Rodriguez. “You talk about a tough, physical guy that weighs 185 pounds who is a great competitor. It’s hard to imagine a quarterback playing any better than he did today.”
Darius Reynaud contributed four catches for 62 yards.
Against Pitt, White and Slaton’s offensive numbers are mind boggling. White has run 45 times for 440 yards and four touchdowns, while also completing 16 of 26 passes for 245 yards and three TDs. Slaton shows 57 carries for 394 yards and four touchdowns, and has also caught seven passes for 146 yards and three scores. That's in just two games against the Panther defense.
White went over the 1,000-yard mark in rushing this season and now shows 1,057 yards, joining Slaton who has 1,578 yards with two regular season games left. It is the first time in WVU history that two backs have run for more than 1,000 yards in the same season. White now has 26 touchdowns responsible for, putting him five behind Marc Bulger’s school-record 31 TDs achieved in 1998.
Pitt’s Palko was 28 of 37 passes for 341 yards and a pair of scores.
In the second quarter Darrelle Revis electrified the Heinz Field crowd with a 73-yard punt return for a touchdown, getting a crushing block from Derek Kinder that took out two WVU tacklers to spring him.
“It was a tremendous play and (Revis) is a great player,” Rodriguez said. “He’s a great defensive back and a great returner: we knew that coming in. He’s one of those guys that can change the course of a game and he certainly changed it for a while.”
The Panthers also got a 54-yard kickoff return from Lowell Robinson to finish the game with 184 return yards.
LaRod Stephens-Howling had 35 yards on nine carries; Pitt’s rushing attack was held to minus-1 yards on 19 carries. Palko was sacked eight times including three times by safety Eric Wicks.
“We got a little more pressure on Tyler,” Rodriguez said. “We were sending some pressure in the first half but we just weren’t getting there. And then we tightened down our coverage a little bit.
“When you’re playing on a grass field and it’s a little bit wet the defensive backs are afraid they are going to slip,” Rodriguez said. “We slipped on the one touchdown they had and that plays in their minds somewhat. I think they finally said, ‘If I slip I slip.’”
Coming into the game West Virginia coaches were concerned about difficult footing on Heinz Field’s natural surface with a two-day soaking rain. But other than a few slips in the first half, the field wasn’t really a factor in limiting the Mountaineers’ great speed.
WVU had a chance to put up another score at the end of the game but Rodriguez graciously took a knee to run out the clock with the ball resting at the Panther six yard line.
Sandwiched between the touchdowns was a career-best 51-yard field goal by Pat McAfee that was the longest kick -- college or pro -- in Heinz Field history.
West Virginia (9-1) has eight days now to get ready for South Florida on Saturday, Nov. 25 at Milan Puskar Stadium. The starting time for that game will be announced later this week.
Pitt (6-5) has lost four straight and wraps up its regular season at home against Louisville on Saturday, Nov. 25.
Scoring Summary
UP – Byham 23 pass from Palko (Lee kick)
WV – Slaton 15 run (McAfee kick)
WV – Slaton 11 pass from White (McAfee kick)
UP – Turner 15 pass from Palko (Lee kick)
WV – McAfee 51 FG
UP – Lee 43 FG
UP – Revis 72 punt return (Lee kick)
WV – Slaton 67 pass from White (McAfee kick)
UP – Lee 39 FG
WV – White 64 run (McAfee kick)
WV – White 19 run (McAfee kick)
WV – Slaton 55 run (McAfee kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: WV – White 22-220, Slaton 23-215, Schmitt 1-3, Team 1-minus 1, Total 47-437; PITT – Stephens-Howling 9-35, Collins 1-4, Palko 9-minus 40, Total 19-minus 1.
Passing: WV – White 11-16-0-204-2; PITT – Palko 28-37-0-341-2.
Receiving: WV – Slaton 6-130, Reynaud 4-62, Myles 1-12, Total 11-204; PITT – Turner 6-95, Kinder 6-89, Collins 5-44, Pestano 4-44, Buches 3-19, Stephens-Howling 2-19, Byham 1-23, Collier 1-8, Total 28-341.
