MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Junior wide receiver Brad Starks reintroduced himself to Mountaineer Nation in a big way, catching three touchdown passes to help West Virginia to an easy 49-10 victory over UNLV Saturday afternoon before an announced crowd of 58,234 at Milan Puskar Stadium.

"We're happy to be 4-1 - we're not blessed or thrilled - I wish we were 5-0 but we're 4-1, the preseason is over and just about five days from now we bang it up and go against our first Big East Conference opponent South Florida and that's when the real season begins," said West Virginia coach Bill Stewart, now 23-9 in 32 games at West Virginia.

But before moving on to USF, let's first digest this one.

Starks, the team’s third leading pass catcher last year as a sophomore, did not have a single reception coming into today. His first one went for a 38-yard touchdown on the third play of the game, while two others also went for scores of 48 and 4 yards. Starks’ three touchdown receptions were the most by a WVU receiver since 1977 when Cedric Thomas caught three TD passes against Villanova. The late Babe Barna also had three touchdown catches against Cincinnati in 1936.

The 100 yards receiving were also a career high for Starks.

"I thought Bradley Starks stepped up, he's been nicked up all year, he's been in red and green jerseys for God knows how long, but he's finally getting healthy and he needed that today," said Stewart. "I was tickled for him."

Starks finished an abbreviated afternoon with four catches for a career-best 100 yards.

Quarterback Geno Smith also had another productive afternoon, completing 12 of 16 passes for 220 yards and three TDs before giving way to backup Barry Brunetti with 6:28 remaining in the third quarter. Smith’s three TD passes now give him 12 for the year, and it was the third time in five games this season that Smith has thrown at least two touchdown passes in a game.

"I wanted to make sure they defended the width of the field, we went five-wide and we threw the ball quick," said Stewart of Smith's early success through the air. "We wanted to spread them out and get the ball to our playmakers in space."

Once Smith and the starters went to the bench leading 42-0, West Virginia got mixed results from its backups. Brunetti eventually led the second offense into the end zone with 5:09 left in the game, the drive a result of some tough running by Shawne Alston and Matt Lindamood.

West Virginia’s final scoring drive began at the Rebels 46 after Mike Dorsey recovered an onside kick attempt. Alston went for 12 to the UNLV 34, Lindamood carried for eight more to the 25 and Alston got 11 additional yards to the 14. Eventually, Lindamood crossed the goal line from a yard out after an official’s review denied Lindamood’s first crack at the end zone from the three.

Both UNLV scores (a Nolan Kohorst 39-yard field goal and a Tim Cornett 6-yard TD catch from backup QB Caleb Herring) came against West Virginia’s reserves, the second scoring drive aided by three personal foul penalties - two on hits made against a defenseless player.

"I am not pleased about the penalties and I pulled three gentlemen out of the football game because as long as I am the CEO of this football program ... Mountaineer football is going to play hard, Mountaineer football is going to play physical and rough and tough and we will not play cheap or dirty," said Stewart. "Those were not dirty tactics by my players, but yet they were part of the new safety rule and as long as you do not throw your arms around the opponent you're probably going to get it called."

Foolish penalties were the only thing Stewart can be unhappy about.

West Virginia (4-1) scored the first two times it had the football, choosing to go with an empty backfield to start both drives. Starting tailback Noel Devine didn’t enter the game until WVU’s second drive, but the first time he touched the ball he went 28 yards for a touchdown. Devine met resistance at the line scrimmage, changed direction, and out-ran the Rebel defense down the near sideline and into the end zone.

Devine’s second TD covered 48 yards with 9:49 left in the second quarter, the senior finishing the afternoon with 84 yards on just three carries. Devine was listed as questionable for today’s game after suffering a bone bruise during the Mountaineers’ 20-14 loss at 12th-ranked LSU on Sept. 25 and he played the first series of the second half before retiring to the sidelines.

UNLV quarterback Omar Clayton also didn’t finish the game, departing in the third quarter after completing 12 of 18 passes for 79 yards with one interception. Herring hit one 8 of 14 passes for 101 yards and a touchdown with one interception. Cornerback Keith Tandy got both picks for the Mountaineer defense.

The Rebels (1-5) had 276 yards of total offense with 146 of those coming in the first half. West Virginia finished the game with 445 total yards – the fourth time in five games the Mountaineers’ have generated at least 400 yards of total offense. Two hundred and twenty six of those yards came on the ground.

The 49 points scored by the Mountaineers were the most since a 66-point outburst against Connecticut on Nov. 24, 2007, and the last time West Virginia cracked the 40-point barrier was against Villanova (48 points) to open the 2008 season.

West Virginia has a quick five-day turnaround before playing its conference opener against USF this Thursday night in a game that will be televised nationally on ESPN. The Bulls started Big East play earlier today, losing a 13-9 decision to Syracuse earlier today in Tampa.

There are still plenty of tickets remaining for Thursday night’s game and they can be purchased by going online to WVUGAME.com. Phone orders will be accepted beginning on Monday morning by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME.