Tons of offense aid WVU rout

Western Michigan’s defense couldn’t corral one of the nation’s top rushing tandems.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Pat White threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more scores, and Steve Slaton scored four times in No. 3 West Virginia’s 62-24 rout of Western Michigan on Saturday.

It was the Mountaineers’ highest scoring game since an 80-7 win over Rutgers in 2001, WVU coach Rich Rodriguez’s first season.

West Virginia improved to 5-0 against Mid-American Conference schools under Rodriguez.

Western Michigan’s defense, sixth in the nation against the run last season, couldn’t corral one of the nation’s top rushing tandems, and that emphasis also allowed White to thrive through the air.

The junior went 10-of-18 for 192 yards.

He also ran for 97 yards in improving to 16-2 as a starter.

The rushing

Slaton, the nation’s fourth-leading rusher a year ago, ran for 109 yards as the Mountaineers broke the game open with two scores in a 1:15 span early in the third quarter.

Held to 21 yards in the first half, Slaton, went 58 yards untouched up the middle on West Virginia’s second possession after halftime.

West Virginia’s Reed Williams then intercepted Tim Hiller on second down to set up White’s 22-yard TD run a short time later for a 42-14 lead.

West Virginia’s revamped secondary, one of the nation’s worst a year ago, intercepted Hiller twice. Hiller, the 2005 MAC freshman of the year who missed the 2006 season with a knee injury, went 16-of-25 for 160 yards.

He was replaced midway through the third quarter by Thomas Peregrin.

White found Dorrell Jalloh over the middle for a 19-yard scoring pass on West Virginia’s first possession. Later in the first quarter, Slaton took a screen pass and raced 50 yards up the left sideline for a touchdown.

On the third play of the second quarter, White broke outside, waited for several blockers near the goal line and scored on a 38-yard run for a 21-6 lead.

Fumble recovery

Western Michigan’s Brandon West couldn’t handle a low option pitch and West Virginia’s Larry Williams recovered at the Broncos 37 to set up the first of Slaton’s two 1-yard TD runs for a 28-6 lead late in the half.

Jamarko Simmons caught TD passes of 14 and 6 yards for the Broncos. Hiller had a 2-yard TD run just before halftime.

Backup quarterback Jarrett Brown scored on a 20-yard option keeper and highly touted freshman Noel Devine had an 8-yard TD run in the fourth quarter for the Mountaineers.