West Virginia bounced back from their loss to South Florida in a big way by beating Syracuse 55-14 on Saturday.  The Mountaineers dominated the game from start to finish to improve their record to 5-1 overall and 1-1 in the Big East. 

Owen Shmitt got the scoring started early in the first quarter scoring a touchdown from 7 yards out.  Syracuse would answer on the ensuing drive, however, allowed West Virginia to score 24 unanswered points to take a 31-7 halftime lead. 

Pat White scored on a one yard run to put the Mountaineers up 14-7 and Keilen Dykes would take an interception into the end zone to add to the Mountaineer lead.  Late in the half Owen Shmitt would add another touchdown from a yard out that put West Virginia up by 21. 

Shortly after the Shmitt touchdown, the Mountaineers would get the ball back and drove down to the Syracuse 32 yard line on a Pat White quarterback keeper.  White would get up slowly after the run and would not return to game, suffering from what appeared to be a shoulder injury.  Back-up quarterback Jarrett Brown would enter the game and lead the Mountaineers to a Pat McAfee field goal as time expired. 

Prior to White’s departure he was 12/15 through the air for 148 yards and a touchdown.  White also, despite playing only one half of football, led the Mountaineers in rushing with 89 yards.  West Virginia showed a balanced attack rushing for 251 yards and throwing for 235.  Ten different players carried the ball for the Mountaineers and White, Brown, and Bednarik were a combined 18 of 21 through the air.  

Turnovers were the Achilles heal for West Virginia in their loss to South Florida, however the ball stayed in the hands of the Mountaineers against Syracuse as they did not turn the ball over once. 

The high powered West Virginia attack wasn’t the only story of the game.  The Mountaineer defense flexed it’s muscles again forcing three turnovers, returning an interception for a touchdown, and holding Syracuse to only 202 total yards. 

Syracuse only managed 11 first downs and went a porous 4 for 12 on third downs and 0 for 2 on fourth down.  The Orange quarterbacks struggled all day long, throwing for a combined 6 for 16 for 108 yards.  The highlight of the day for the Orange offense was a 60 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Andrew Robinson to receiver Mike Williams late in the third quarter. 

West Virginia seemed to have forgotten about the South Florida loss, or may have simply had a chip on its shoulder.  Either way, the defense kept the Orange offense at bay, and the high powered offense used a balance attack on their way to 55 points and a their first Big East victory.