West Virginia tops Orangemen, 34-23

Struthers graduate Walter Reyes had 143 all-purpose yards for Syracuse.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) -- Quincy Wilson knows all about Chris Henry. Now, so do the Syracuse Orangemen.
Henry caught touchdown passes of 24 and 67 yards in the fourth quarter Saturday and No. 25 West Virginia held on to beat the Orangemen 34-23 for its sixth straight victory.
Last week, Wilson gained 208 yards and scored four touchdowns in a crucial 52-31 victory over No. 21 Pittsburgh. But Wilson suffered a sprained right ankle and the 6-foot-4 Henry rose to the challenge, catching six passes for a school-record 209 yards.
"We needed to do something to take the momentum off them," West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez said. "We thought we could get behind the secondary, and it's hard to overthrow Henry."
Key plays
Henry beat 5-foot-9 strong safety Troy Swittenburg in the right corner of the end zone with 9:25 remaining to give West Virginia a 27-17 lead. Henry then secured the victory with a 67-yard TD pass from Rasheed Marshall only seconds after Walter Reyes had scored for Syracuse on a 67-yard dash off a screen pass from R.J. Anderson.
"He was playing me close up, so before the play I told coach I could get a step on him," Henry said.
Both touchdowns came in a span of just over four minutes and both were on third down.
"He's too good to guard one-on-one," said Wilson, who gained 105 yards on 19 carries despite the injury, which sidelined him for nearly half the game. "He adds another dimension to the team. The other team can't put eight men in the box and let a safety cover him."
It was the first victory in the Carrier Dome in a decade for West Virginia (7-4, 5-1 Big East), which remained tied for the conference lead. Syracuse (5-5, 2-4) still needs one victory to qualify for the postseason with only two games to go.
"We're very disappointed," Syracuse coach Paul Pasqualoni said. "But we have to be able to put it behind us and get ready to play, which is going to be very tough."
Strong performance
Marshall threw for three scores despite suffering an injury to the index finger on his throwing hand during the week of practice before the game.
"It took me a while to get loosened up," said Marshall, who was 14-for-25 for 271 yards passing. "I told the coaches in the first half to just get me in a rhythm."
That rhythm arrived with the game was on the line and the hometown crowd in a frenzy.
"We just had to keep grinding and grinding," Rodriguez said. "It's a tough place to play. It was hard to get into a rhythm."
West Virginia gained 467 yards on 73 plays, and Syracuse had 499 on 75 plays in the tense contest.
Reyes, who injured his left knee late in the first quarter and didn't return until the second half, finished with 63 yards on 14 carries and had 80 yards on three receptions. Anderson finished 23-for-36 for 336 yards passing.