White, Slaton Lead West Virginia; Pitt Wins Opener
Pat White threw two touchdown passes and ran for two more scores, and Steve Slaton reached the end zone four times in No. 3 West Virginia's 62-24 win over Western Michigan on Saturday in Morgantown, W.Va.
It was the Mountaineers' highest output since an 80-7 victory over Rutgers in 2001, West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez's first season. West Virginia improved to 5-0 against MAC schools under Rodriguez.
Western Michigan's defense, sixth in the nation against the run last season, couldn't stop one of the nation's top rushing tandems, and that emphasis also allowed White to thrive through the air. The junior went 10 of 18 for 192 yards. He also ran for 97 yards in improving to 16-2 as a starter.
Slaton, the nation's fourth-leading rusher last season, overcame a slow start to run for 109 yards for the Mountaineers, who broke the game open with two scores in a 1:15 span early in the third quarter.
Pittsburgh 27, Eastern Michigan 3: Bill Stull completed his first seven passes in his first college start as Pittsburgh defeated visiting Eastern Michigan.
Stull, a junior, was 14 of 20 for 177 yards and a touchdown on a 21-yard completion to Oderick Turner in the second quarter that allowed the Panthers (1-0) to open a 14-3 lead.
With the Panthers' running game a work in progress - they had only 19 yards on 13 carries at halftime - Stull could be the key to any Pitt success this season.
Stull found a rhythm early, hitting Marcel Pestano for a 41-yard gain late in the first quarter for a first down at the 24. Stull then found tight end Darrell Strong for 19 yards to the 1, where Shane Brooks scored the first of his two 1-yard TD runs.
South Florida 28, Elon 13: Freshman running back Mike Ford ran for 83 yards and three touchdowns to lead South Florida over Elon in Tampa, Fla.
Division I-AA Elon stayed close until Matt Grothe threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Amarri Jackson in the third quarter. Ford eliminated any chance for a comeback when he broke a tackle and went 48 yards to set up a 1-yard touchdown run with a little more than seven minutes to go.
Ford, who also caught a 1-yard touchdown pass from Grothe and scored on a 21-yard run that made it 14-3 in the third quarter, averaged nearly 14 yards a carry on six attempts. Grothe was 23 of 39 passing for 238 yards and two touchdowns.
Other Heisman News
Fayetteville, AR (Sports Network) - Darren McFadden ran for 151 yards and a touchdown and also threw for a score in No. 21 Arkansas' 46-26 victory over Troy.
The Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm threw for 375 yards and four touchdowns and the 10th-ranked Cardinals sparkled in coach Steve Kragthorpe's debut, drilling overmatched Murray State 73-10 on Thursday night.
Colt McCoy threw two first-quarter touchdown passes and fourth-ranked University of Texas stumbled through a sloppy 21-13 season-opening win over Arkansas State on Saturday night, narrowly avoiding yet another huge upset on the day.
Colt Brennan completed 34 of 40 passes for 416 yards and six touchdowns and led the Warriors with 23 yards on three carries in the 63-6 win over Northern Colorado. And he only played a half.
Ray Rice ran 25 times for 184 yards and three touchdowns in the 38-3 win over Buffalo.
