Mountaineers still looking for starter

Despite Kay-Jay Harris' record day, the Mountaineers haven't decided on a RB.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
West Virginia running back Kay-Jay Harris had the best rushing performance in Big East history with 337 yards and four touchdowns in the Mountaineers' 56-23 win over East Carolina last week. But he's still trying to convince coach Rich Rodriguez that he deserves to be the team's starter.
Jason Colson started and ran for 64 yards in the game and Harris entered on the third play and ran for a team-record 223 yards in the first half.
Rodriguez said that Harris' performance in practice would determine if he would be the starter against Central Florida.
"He made some nice reads, but he missed some too," Rodriguez said. "We think he can play even better. But I don't know if we'll ever have that many opportunities again."
Harris broke Kerry Marbury's 1971 team record of 291 yards and Edgerrin James' conference record of 299 set in 1998 for Miami.
"Every time I just ran to daylight," said Harris, who rushed for 524 yards last season as Quincy Wilson's backup. "This is a sign of things to come."
West Virginia has had a 1,000-yard rusher in each of the last eight seasons.
Syracuse goals
Freshman quarterback Joe Fields again got the starting nod when the Orange visited Buffalo (0-1) Saturday night.
Fields, the first freshman to start at quarterback for Syracuse since 1982, was 8-for-15 for 93 yards, sacked twice, intercepted once and constantly pressured by Purdue in a 51-0 loss.
"What everybody needs to understand is that Joe is the starter," coach Paul Pasqualoni said. "Joe's a very competitive guy. He'll see the plays he did really well on and he'll see why a play didn't work. He'll move on from that. I don't think there are any scars there."
Running back Walter Reyes, touted by the university for the Heisman Trophy, gained just 33 yards on 13 carries Saturday, putting a damper on his attempt to become the first Syracuse back to string together three consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.
"What I sense from the guys is a little bit of embarrassment and a tremendous commitment to refocus and get this thing going to where it needs to be and pick our heads up," senior wideout Jared Jones said. "We have to remain hungry. We still have goals."
Running Rutgers
West Virginia wasn't the only Big East team to have a tailback run up some big numbers last week.
Rutgers' Brian Leonard had 190 all-purpose yards against Michigan State, rushing for 150 yards on 26 carries and catching six passes for 40 yards.
His 56-yard run on the first play from scrimmage was the Scarlet Knights' longest play to start a game since 1999, when Mike Jones hit Walter King on an 80-yard TD pass on Oct. 16, 1999, at West Virginia.
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