MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - Except for one instance, the big plays never came. Fourth downs seemed almost as common as first downs for West Virginia in a peculiarly poor effort on offense against South Florida.
Saturday's 24-19 loss to the Bulls dropped West Virginia seven spots to 15th in The Associated Press poll and vanquished the Mountaineers' Bowl Championship Series hopes.
All that remains is the chance for an unprecedented second-straight 10-win season when the Mountaineers (9-2, 4-2 Big East) host first-place Rutgers (10-1, 5-1) on Saturday. But that's little comfort.
``We still have one more regular season game left and we want to win one for the seniors,'' quarterback Pat White said.
One week after White and running back Steve Slaton became the third set of teammates in NCAA history to surpass 200 yards rushing in the same game in a win at Pittsburgh, they sputtered.
Wide receiver Darius Reynaud was the nation's second-best rushing team's top rusher with 67 yards on only two carries, which included a career-long 57-yard reverse. The misdirection play was about the only one that fooled South Florida's speedy defense, which held Slaton to 43 yards on 18 carries while White had just 17 yards on 15 carries.
``Before the game, we prayed to give our linebackers wings like eagles, we really did,'' said South Florida coach Jim Leavitt. ``We really ran the field well.
South Florida outgained the Mountaineers 363-310. The win gave the Bulls the biggest boost in the program's 11-year history while West Virginia was left to think how things could have gone so bad.
ncaafootball.com
Downtrodden West Virginia left scraping for pride
Downtrodden West Virginia left scraping for pride
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