West Virginia Mountaineers beat North Carolina. Pat White finished his career just as he started – standing atop the winners podium hoisting another bowl MVP trophy over his head. White passed for 332 yards and three touchdowns to lead West Virginia to a 31-30, come-from-behind victory over North Carolina in the 2008 Meineke Car Care Bowl at Bank America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C.
White, the NCAA’s all-time leading rusher for quarterbacks with 4,480 yards, became the first quarterback in NCAA history to win four bowl games as a starter. White engineered bowl victories over Georgia in the 2006 Nokia Sugar Bowl, against Georgia Tech in the 2007 Toyota Gator Bowl, over Oklahoma in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and now over North Carolina in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.
Today, West Virginia overcame first-half trickery from North Carolina and needed a late interception from sophomore linebacker Pat Lazear at the North Carolina 45 to finally put away the Tar Heels.
Trailing 30-24 with 8:40 remaining in the fourth quarter, White went to the air, completing a 40-yard first-down pass to Jock Sanders to the North Carolina 29. Two plays later, White fired a 20-yard touchdown pass to Alric Arnett – his second TD catch of the game.
Alric’s first touchdown catch was a pretty, 44-yard one-handed grab to put the Mountaineers ahead, 14-7.
White also completed a 35-yard touchdown pass to Bradley Starks in the first quarter after Noel Devine began the game with an 18-yard TD run on West Virginia’s opening drive.
Heading into the game West Virginia had the 65th rated offense in the country while North Carolina’s offense was rated 95th. Naturally, by the end of the first quarter the two teams had 35 points, 387 total yards and both quarterbacks were a combined 13 of 13 for 271 yards and four touchdowns.
Trailing 23-21 following a questionable safety call on Noel Devine and a Yates touchdown pass, WVU let another scoring opportunity slip by at the end of the first half after using 15 plays to drive all the way to the Tar Heel nine with 59 seconds left. On third and eight, White tried a pass into the end zone that was intercepted by Deunta Williams – the 20th pick of the year by the North Carolina defense.
North Carolina, taking advantage of a WVU secondary without starters Brandon Hogan and Sidney Glover, used reverses, and reverse passes to put 21 first-quarter points on the board as the Mountaineers had a miserable time trying to stop North Carolina receiver Hakeem Nicks.
Nicks was able to get behind Ellis Lankster to haul in a 73-yard touchdown that Lankster misjudged and tipped the ball into Nicks’ arms.
Nicks also caught a 66-yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Cooter Arnold on a reverse pass, and later in the second quarter pulled in a pretty 25-yard touchdown pass from Yates on a post-corner route that faked Lankster to the ground.
Nicks finished the game with a career-high 217 yards receiving on eight receptions, including one amazing first down catch when he pinned the ball on his hip with one hand and pulled it between his legs while still running.
West Virginia’s defense made two critical second-half plays that turned the game around. The first happened with 8:40 remaining after the Mountaineers gambled and failed to get a fourth and one at the WVU 44 with North Carolina leading 30-24.
Two plays later freshman safety Robert Sands made a big hit on North Carolina running back Shaun Draughn, jarring the football loose and West Virginia recovering at the WVU 31. That set up White’s go-ahead touchdown pass.
The Mountaineers’ other big defensive stop came with 1:53 left in the game when sophomore linebacker Pat Lazear stepped in front of a T.J. Yates pass at the North Carolina 45 and returned the football to the 32.
West Virginia, which couldn’t run out the clock on its previous possession, was able to take a knee three times because the Tar Heels had used all of their timeouts.
Mountaineer fans caught a glimpse of the wide-open offense Jeff Mullen has been trying to implement since the beginning of the year. Seven different players caught at least two passes including a season-high seven receptions from Alric Arnett.
Dorrell Jalloh caught five passes for 36 yards, Jock Sanders caught four passes for 70 yards, Bradley Starks had four receptions for 61 yards and tight end Tyler Urban caught a pair of balls for 43 yards.
Noel Devine led the Mountaineers for a team-hest 61 yards on 13 carries while White had 21 carries for 55 yards. West Virginia ran just enough (123 yards on 42 carries) to keep North Carolina honest. The Tar Heels, meanwhile, managed only 93 yards on the ground against a West Virginia defense ranked 47th against the run.
Yates finished the game 15 of 25 for 209 yards.
White set career highs in passing yards (332) and completions (26) and moved into second place in career passing yards with 6,049. White is also the Big East and WVU career total offensive leader with 10,529 yards.
Stewart is the first coach in school history to win his first two bowl games and he joins Dudley DeGroot as the only first-year coaches at WVU to win nine games.
West Virginia’s senior class finishes as the top winning class in school history with a 42-9 record.
This is the 10th straight bowl dating back to 1997 that the Mountaineer defense has given up at least 28 points. West Virginia is 5-5 in those games including winning four straight.
The Mountaineers finish the year 8-2 after starting the season 1-2.
Released by University of West Virginia Mountaineers official site.
Comment and add to the story without registration, but keep the comments meaningful please. Links are not accepted.
