2005 West Virginia Mountaineers football team

2005 West Virginia Mountaineers football
Big East champion Sugar Bowl champion
Sugar Bowl, W 38–35 vs. Georgia
Conference	Big East Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 6
AP	No. 5
Record	11–1 (7–0 Big East)
Head coach	Rich Rodriguez (5th season)
Offensive coordinator	Calvin Magee (2nd season)
Offensive scheme	Spread
Defensive coordinator	Jeff Casteel (4th season)
Base defense	3–3–5
Captains	Garin Justice Mike Lorello Jahmile Addae Ernest Hunter
Home stadium	Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium (Capacity: 60,000)
Seasons ← 2004 2006  →

The 2005 West Virginia Mountaineers football team completed the season with an 11–1 record. The Mountaineers won their third consecutive Big East title with a conference record of 7–0. They ended the season with a 38–35 Sugar Bowl win over Georgia.

The 2005 season followed a disappointing 2004 campaign, where the Mountaineers started the season with National Championship expectations only to finish the season 8–4. Despite a number of starters returning on defense, the question marks on offense lead many to think the '05 season was going to be a rebuilding year with most national publications picking the Mountaineers to finish behind Louisville and Pitt or lower. With QB Rasheed Marshall and RB K.J. Harris leaving, the quarterback and halfback positions were open. Adam Bednarik and redshirt-freshman Pat White were competing for the spot, with Coach Rich Rodriguez opting to use a rotation that allowed them both to play. It marked the first season for the "new" Big East, welcoming Louisville, Cincinnati, and South Florida into the league following Boston College leaving to join former members Virginia Tech and Miami in the ACC, and Temple getting kicked out of the league.

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 4	1:30 p.m.	at Carrier Dome Syracuse, New York (Ben Schwartzwalder Trophy)	ABC	W 15–7	45,418
September 10	6:00 p.m.	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia		W 35–7	54,630
September 17	12:10 p.m.	at JPS	W 31–19	52,413
September 24	12:05 p.m.	East Carolina*		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN+	W 20–15	57,295
October 1	12:05 p.m.	No. 3 Virginia Tech*		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia (Black Diamond Trophy)	ESPN	L 17–34	60,193
October 8	12:06 p.m.	at Rutgers Stadium Piscataway, New Jersey	ESPN+	W 27–14	21,717
October 15	3:42 p.m.	No. 19 Louisville		Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ABC	W 46–44 3OT	59,797
November 2	7:36 p.m.	Connecticut	No. 17	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia	ESPN2	W 45–13	52,808
November 9	7:30 p.m.	at Cincinnati	No. 14	Nippert Stadium Cincinnati, Ohio	ESPN2	W 38–0	25,893
November 24	8:05 p.m.	Pittsburgh	No. 11	Mountaineer Field Morgantown, West Virginia (Backyard Brawl)	ESPN	W 45–13	52,997
December 3	7:30 p.m.	at South Florida	No. 11	Raymond James Stadium Tampa, Florida		W 28–13	45,274
January 2	8:51 p.m.	vs. No. 7 Georgia*	No. 11	Georgia Dome Atlanta, Georgia (Sugar Bowl)	ABC	W 38–35	74,458
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from BCS Standings after October 17 released prior to game All times are in Eastern time

Position key

2005 West Virginia Mountaineers football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class WR 2 Darius Reynaud So QB 2 Nate Sowers Fr QB 3 Markell Harrison Fr QB 5 Pat White  Fr WR 7 Brandon Myles Sr QB 9 Dwayne Thompson  So RB 10 Steve Slaton Fr QB 11 Adam Bednarik  So QB 12 J.R. House Fr RB 14 Jason Gwaltney Fr QB 15 T.J. Mitchell Fr QB 16 Jarrett Brown Fr WR 20 Brandon Tate So WR 21 Dorrell Jalloh Fr	Defense Pos. # Name Class LB 1 John Holmes Fr DB 3 Larry Williams So DB 4 Jahmile Addae (C)  Sr DB 6 Antonio Lewis So DB 8 Thandi Smith Sr DB 13 Aaron Meckstroth So DB 15 Dee McCann Sr DB 17 George Shehl Sr DB 18 Abraham Jones Jr DB 19 Vaughn Rivers So	Special teams Pos. # Name Class P 7 Kash Kiefer Fr P 16 Scott Kozlowski Fr K 18 Colby James So K 29 Kyle Chilton Fr P 37 Scott Kozlowski Fr P 38 Phil Brady Sr K 40 Pat McAfee Fr LS 46 Adam Hughes Fr LS 77 Tim Lindsey Jr	Head coach Rich Rodriguez Coordinators/assistant coaches Jeff Casteel - Defensive Coordinator, Linebackers Tony Gibson - Defensive Backs Herb Hand – Recruiting Coordinator, Tight Ends Butch Jones – Wide Receivers Bill Kirelawich – Defensive Line Calvin Magee - Offensive Coordinator, Running Backs Bill Stewart - Quarterbacks, Special Teams Coordinator Bruce Tall - Safeties Rick Trickett - Assistant Head Coach, Offensive Line Travis Trickett - Student Assistant Coach Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt Roster

The 2005 West Virginia Mountaineers opened the football season at Syracuse. Syracuse was playing its first game under new head coach Greg Robinson. The Mountaineers committed 5 turnovers, including 4 lost fumbles, but managed to hold on to a lead for a 15–7 win. Syracuse started the scoring with a 5-yard touchdown run by tailback Damien Rhodes.

West Virginia tied the game at 7 with Eric Wicks's 32-yard interception return for a touchdown. Right before halftime, the Mountaineers had a chance to take a 10–7 lead, but freshman place-kicker Pat McAfee missed a 47-yard field goal wide right. He redeemed himself later with a 33-yard field goal with 5:33 left in the third quarter.

With just over 8 minutes left in the game, West Virginia's Ernest Hunter tackled Perry Patterson in the end zone for a safety to increase the lead to 12–7. On West Virginia's next possession they added a 26-yard field goal by McAfee with 3 minutes left. The win brought the Mountaineers record to 1–0, and the Orangemen fell to 0–1. The win increased WVU's streak to 4 wins over Syracuse.

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Backup quarterback Pat White ran for 107 yards and a touchdown to lead West Virginia to a 35–7 victory over I-AA Wofford. West Virginia finished the game with over 500 yards of total offense, and no turnovers.

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Backup quarterback Pat White directed three fourth-quarter touchdown drives, and West Virginia ripped Maryland's defense for 301 yards rushing in a 31–19 victory. Freshman Jason Gwaltney scored two touchdowns for the Mountaineers (3–0), who had lost three straight at Maryland (1–2) since 1997. West Virginia let a 15-point lead dwindle to 21–19 before Gwaltney scored on a 15-yard run with 4:56 left. The Mountaineers then recovered a fumble by Maryland quarterback Sam Hollenbach, and Pat McAfee kicked a 40-yard field goal to make it 31–19 with 2:18 remaining. White went 3-for-5 for 29 yards, but guided an offense that amassed 24 points and 144 yards in the final 15 minutes.

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The previous 3 times the Mountaineers played East Carolina were blow-outs, 37–17, 48–7, and 56–23. This one appeared to be another one after the Mountaineers led 20–6 at half-time. The offense looked terrible the entire game, as they turned the ball over 4 times. Backup quarterback Pat White tossed two interceptions and Adam Bednarik threw one and fumbled once before leaving the game with a knee injury in the first quarter. The defense had to constantly defend short fields, after turnovers in their own territory. The defense only allowed 287 yards and 1 touchdown in the entire game. West Virginia failed to score a single second half point, and managed to escape 20–15.

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3rd ranked Virginia Tech clashed with West Virginia, at Mountaineer Field in a showdown of two 4–0 unbeaten teams. Virginia Tech had a monster game from their star quarterback, Marcus Vick. The junior completed 15 of 17 passes for 177 yards, and rushed for 74 yards on 12 carries. Virginia Tech jumped out to an early 10–0 lead, through a West Virginia turnover. Virginia Tech played a solid game, converting 10 out of 15 third down attempts, and having only one turnover. With Virginia Tech leading 24–17 late in the fourth quarter, a touchdown run sealed the deal for the Mountaineers who fell to 4–1 on the season. True freshman Steve Slaton was a bright spot for the Mountaineers, rushing for 90 yards on 11 carries.

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Steve Slaton ran for a career-high 139 yards and one touchdown to help West Virginia beat Rutgers 27–14. Jason Gwaltney added 57 yards rushing for West Virginia which beat Rutgers for the 11th straight time. West Virginia rushed for 236 yards against a depleted Rutgers defense, which was without three starters—linebacker Terry Bynes, defensive back Jason Nugent and end Eric Foster.

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In one of the best games of the year, The Louisville Cardinals clashed with the West Virginia Mountaineers who were 5–1. Louisville completely dominated the first half of play racing to a 17–0 lead. West Virginia finally got on the board in the third quarter, when Bednarik hit freshman Steve Slaton on a 14-yard screen-pass for a touchdown. Louisville answered with another touchdown in the third quarter, to take a 24–7 lead after 3 quarters. Early in the 4th quarter starting QB Adam Bednarik left the game with a leg injury and was replaced by Pat White, which proved to be the spark the offense needed.

With just over 8 minutes left in the game, Steve Slaton scored a rushing touchdown to make the score 24–14. With 4:35 left in the game, Pat McAfee kicked a 35-yard field goal to trim the margin to 7. WVU's defense held, and the Mountaineers came back on offense again. Steve Slaton scored with a minute to go to tie the game at 24–24, and send the game into overtime. Starting in the third OT teams are forced to go for two following a TD, Pat White hit Jalloh on a pass which ended up being the deciding points. Louisville responded with a Michael Bush touchdown. On the conversion Brian Brohm, unable to find anyone open, attempted to scramble for the conversion but was tackled short, preserving the WVU victory and giving the Mountaineers the inside track for the conference's BCS berth.

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Pat White ran for two touchdowns and threw for another in his first start, leading No. 18 West Virginia to a 45–13 win over Connecticut. West Virginia showed no signs of sluggishness from an 18-day layoff. The Mountaineers built a 35–3 halftime lead, getting a pair of touchdowns following turnovers. The defense limited UConn to 12 rushing yards and 129 overall, the fewest allowed by West Virginia in three seasons. UConn had one of Division I-A's top defenses statistically, but four of its opponents have a combined record of 3–29. The nation's ninth-best rushing attack used a rotation of backs to compile 228 yards against the Huskies. White frustrated UConn with his legs and his arm. He ran for 63 yards on 12 carries.

White hit Brandon Myles with a 20-yard TD pass early in the second quarter. On the first play of the ensuing drive, West Virginia's Warren Young recovered a fumble at the UConn 20.

White then leveled two UConn players on a block that saved teammate Steve Slaton from a big loss. Two plays later, White eluded three defenders on a bootleg run to the right and scored from 14 yards out for a 28–3 lead.

Pat White ran for 111 yards, taking off on quarterback draws that set up Steve Slaton's four touchdowns and a 38–0 victory over Cincinnati. White, Slaton and one of the nation's toughest defenses led the Mountaineers to their most lopsided victory of the season and their first shutout since 2002. White spent the night tormenting the nation's youngest defense. He ran straight up the middle on draws, turned upfield on option fakes, and took off on passing plays. The Mountaineers forced four turnovers and prevented Cincinnati from getting closer than the West Virginia 37-yard line until the final play of the game.

Pat White ran for 220 yards on 23 carries to break the Big East rushing record for a quarterback, leading the No. 11 Mountaineers to a 45–13 victory over Pittsburgh. White ran for two touchdowns and passed for another. The day began with massive snowfall that forced the game to be played on a frozen field with swirling snow flurries and a 7-degree wind chill. West Virginia clinched at least a tie for the Big East title and avenged a 16–13 loss to Pitt the year before in the Backyard Brawl. White broke the conference quarterback rushing record of 210 yards, set by Michael Vick against Boston College in 2000. White also threw for 41 yards. Steve Slaton rushed for 179 yards on 34 carries to help the Mountaineers finish with 451 total yards on the ground. Slaton ran for two TDs and caught a scoring pass.

Pat White ran for 177 yards and two touchdowns, leading West Virginia to a 28–13 victory over South Florida in the 11th-ranked Mountaineers' final tuneup for a Bowl Championship Series appearance. Nine days after running for 220 yards against Pittsburgh to break the Big East rushing record for a quarterback, White was just as impressive in helping the conference champions finish unbeaten in league play for the first time since 1993. The redshirt freshman scored on second-half runs of 65 and 76 yards and finished with his fourth game with at least 100 yards rushing. He also completed 5 of 10 passes for 89 yards and a touchdown as the Mountaineers amassed 394 yards of total offense—305 of that on the ground.

The victory was the sixth straight for West Virginia (10–1, 7–0) and gave the Mountaineers at least 10 wins in a season for the first time since 1993 and just the fifth time in school history.

The dominating performance dispelled any notion that the Mountaineers lacked motivation to win their regular-season finale after wrapping up the Big East title and the league's automatic BCS berth when USF (6–5, 4–3) lost at Connecticut the week before.

Steve Slaton rushed for 89 yards and one touchdown for the Mountaineers, and West Virginia's defense limited Big East rushing leader Andre Hall to 75 yards on 20 carries for South Florida.

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