White Leads Mountaineers' Romp Over Sooners.

[Dionne]

White Leads Mountaineers' Romp Over Sooners
West Virginia 48, Oklahoma 28

By ANDREW BAGNATO
The Associated Press
Thursday, January 3, 2008; 12:23 AM

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- Rich who? The West Virginia Mountaineers didn't need coach Rich Rodriguez. They had Pat White, and their elusive quarterback led them to a surprising 48-28 romp over No. 3 Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl on Wednesday night.

White ran for 150 yards and threw for 176 and two touchdowns for the 11th-ranked Mountaineers, who rushed for 349 yards, most allowed by Oklahoma in a bowl game.

Since arriving in the desert last week, the Mountaineers (11-2) said they had bonded behind interim coach Bill Stewart, who took over when Rodriguez bolted for Michigan in mid-December. And they vowed to rebound from a 13-9 loss to Pitt that knocked them out of the Bowl Championship Series title game.

The Mountaineers were right on both counts, turning in an emotional effort and overcoming the loss of star tailback Steve Slaton to a first-quarter leg injury. Noel Devine replaced Slaton and ran for 108 yards and two touchdowns _ a 17-yarder and a 65-yarder that clinched the game in the fourth quarter.

The Mountaineers became the first of six teams to win under an interim coach in this bowl season. They improved to 2-0 in the Bowl Championship Series.

Oklahoma (11-3) endured another disappointment on the same field where the Sooners lost a classic Fiesta Bowl to Boise State one year ago. The Sooners have dropped four straight BCS games.

The Sooners had no answer for White, whose 79-yard touchdown pass to Tito Gonzales in the fourth quarter was the longest in Mountaineers bowl history.

The Mountaineers' fourth-rated defense limited the potent Sooners to well below their scoring average of 43.4 points per game, third in the nation.

The Mountaineers harassed Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, sacking the nation's top-rated passer four times and intercepting him in the end zone. Bradford completed 21 of 33 passes for 242 yards and two touchdowns.

[Kaffee]

I'm so happy for you guys, WVU looked awesome. Considering what they had to deal with they out played a very good OU team. And givin a few breaks things coulda been different for them, they coulda been playing for a National Championship. Congrats D, celebrate and have fun.

[Dionne]

Well, thank you very much!

I think that this game was amazing. We played amazing, in my opinion. I don't know if it was just the emotion from the Pitt/Rod loss or if it was Bill Stewart or if it was Bill & the emotion, but it was something. And it was the most amazing game I've ever seen. I only wish I had been there!

[Kaffee]

I picked WVU to win, I just thought they had something to prove. Unlike my Razorbacks, they were in a similar situation and broke my heart. I can look forward to next season with a new coach and a brighter future. The same holds true for you guys, I'm sure you guys will get an excellent coach. Who knows, maybe Arkansas and West Virginia will play against each other someday, my Hogs will win of course, ;)

[Altima]

My dad told me about this when I woke up earlier. He also said that Slaton got hurt in the 1st quarter and that he wanted an idea of where he would go in the draft since he wants to go in the 1st roud. We both said that he wouln't if he came out this year. He hasn't done anything spectacular in his last few games other than get hurt a lot. Of course Adrian Peterson had a collarbone injury that made some worry about his future and he ended up going 7th in the 1st round and has done great things at Minnesota.

I don't think that Slaton is as good as AP tho and that he will either go late in the 1st round if at all.

[The Deity]

Let me take this point by point.


West Virginia played a very solid, complete game against a team that was better than them last night. They capitalized on the missing pieces of Oklahoma's secondary and were fortunate enough to have several big plays that enabled them to take a firm control of the game. But honestly though, Bob Stoops screwed his team over. His first half gameplan was atrocious and he completely neglected his teams strengths. In the second half he completely imploded. He went for two far too early, and the decision to kick it onside while only down five made no sense whatsoever. Even then the defense was about to bail him out, but they didn't leave a spy on White on 3rd and 5. Are you kidding me?
The hiring West Virginia did after the game was plain silly. It will be a popular move in the current locker room, but beyond that the effect will be horrible. Bill Stewart did a fine job getting this team ready to smite Rodriguez, but he isn't fit to coach this team. He is going to be Larry Cooker revisited, a nice old man that the players love not able to recruit a winner.
Slaton would be foolish to declare for the draft. He wouldn't get touched until the third round. This class is projected to be loaded at runningback as it is. His season wasn't phenomenal, so he really needs one more year in college.

[Altima]

Yeah all the sports writers said that the hiring was foolish. Actually my dad said that a graphic showed that 49 states (All but WV) picked Oklahoma to win the game.

I don't think that the coach wil lget it done for them. He was their TE coach for crying out loud. He was with a team for 3 years and he went 8-25 with them and resigned after a racial slur supposedly. He may do for the short term while they have the talent they have but once that talent is gone it may be hard for an old guy like him to recruit people out of state and things to WVU.