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Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008

White sets record in WVU's win over Cards

U of L must win finale to avoid losing record

LOUISVILLE — It could've been a movie, Last Stand at the Goal Line, Louisville's denial of a West Virginia touchdown in three plays from the 1-yard line to end the first half.

Tied at 7, the Cardinals surely would come out, stop the Mountaineers on the first drive of the second half and march to victory on Senior Day, making themselves bowl eligible and ending a three-game losing streak.

No way.

The young man in white, No. 5 in your program, made sure of that, running his way into the NCAA record book while running Louisville ragged, then reveling in a 35-21 victory Saturday.

Pat White ran 21 times for 200 yards to become the career leader in rushing yards for a quarterback. He has 4,292, surpassing Brad Smith's 4,289 yards at Missouri (2002-05).

"I ran No. 5, put the ball in his hands," West Virginia Coach Bill Stewart said. "He's the greatest young man. You witnessed something we may never see again."

"Pat's a phenomenal player," Louisville Coach Steve Kragthorpe said. "We had him dead-to-rights a couple of times, and he gets away. We had to stop Pat, and we didn't do that."

White accounted for the five WVU touchdowns, running for three and passing for two. Three scores came in the third quarter as WVU took a 28-14 lead, refusing to allow Louisville to capitalize on its goal-line stand.

That defensive stand came after a 79-yard run by Noel Devine to the U of L 6, cornerback Johnny Patrick flying across the field to drive him out of bounds. The visitors got a first down at the 3 after a holding call, Devine then taking it to the 1.

Cards linebacker Jon Dempsey was involved in the three stops for no gain.

"I thought we had momentum for the second half because we stopped them," Kragthorpe said. "I thought it would be 14-7 then the defense stepped up."

After the break, West Virginia used less than two minutes to take a lead it never lost.

Facing third-and-10 on the U of L 28, White found Dorrell Jalloh on a slant route for a touchdown.

One play after Louisville lost a fumble, White sprinted down the left sideline for 43 yards and a 21-7 lead 3½ minutes into the second half.

The Cardinals closed to within a touchdown when Brock Bolen scored from the 5 to cap a 13-play drive with 5:44 left in the third quarter. A roughing-the-punter infraction gave U of L a second chance early in the drive.

A tipped pass turned into one of Hunter Cantwell's three interceptions, and WVU's Anthony Leonard ran 36 yards to the U of L 7. White scored on the first play for a 28-14 lead.

The Mountaineers are 7-3, 4-1 in the Big East. Louisville (5-6, 1-5) needs a victory at Rutgers on Dec. 4 to avoid its first losing season since 1997.

While White was accounting for 322 total yards, Cantwell completed 27 of 47 passes for 276 yards and one score. He was sacked three times and threw three interceptions. The Cards also lost two fumbles. WVU lost one fumble.

White has accounted for 12 touchdowns in four starts against Louisville.

"I guess I've been pretty successful against them, I've been fortunate," White said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.