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No. 5 West Virginia KOs Cincinnati

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The Associated Press

Published: November 18, 2007

CINCINNATI - Pat White ran No. 21 Cincinnati right out of the Big East race.

West Virginia's dashing, dual-threat quarterback ran for a pair of second-quarter touchdowns Saturday night, leading the fifth-ranked Mountaineers to a 28-23 victory that left only two teams in the conference title chase.

The Mountaineers (9-1, 4-1) can win their second Big East championship in three years by closing with victories against No. 25 Connecticut and Pittsburgh. Their game against UConn (9-2, 5-1) in Morgantown, W.Va., next weekend will likely decide it.

For most of the season, Cincinnati (8-3, 3-3) was one of the conference's biggest surprises, staying in contention with a hard-hitting defense that leads the country in forcing turnovers. The Bearcats couldn't do much except admire White's handiwork.

The junior quarterback ran for 155 yards and threw for 140 more, staying one step ahead of the Bearcats defense. Steve Slaton also ran for 103 yards and a 1-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

CONNECTICUT 30, SYRACUSE 7: Tyler Lorenzen threw for 213 yards and a touchdown and No. 25 Connecticut beat Syracuse to stay in sole possession of first place in the Big East.

The Huskies (9-2, 5-1) can win their first conference title with a victory at West Virginia next week. UConn finished 7-0 at home, only the second Big East team to do that. West Virginia was the other in 1993.

UConn's tailback tandem of Donald Brown and Andre Dixon combined for 151 yards rushing and two scores.

The Huskies jumped to an early 21-0 lead and were never really challenged by the Orange (2-9, 1-5).

Lorenzen got the Huskies off to a fast start when he hit Terence Jeffers for a 63-yard touchdown pass on UConn's first possession, the longest pass play for the Huskies since 2004. Jeffers was running with defensive back Mike Holmes until the ball was in the air, then went into another gear and ran away from Holmes down the right sideline. The Huskies took just five plays to go 95 yards.

UConn made it 14-0 on a 1-yard run from Dixon. That capped a 35-yard drive that began when Syracuse quarterback Andrew Robinson fumbled at the end of an 11-yard run.

RUTGERS 20, PITTSBURGH 16: Ray Rice rushed for 112 yards and a touchdown and host Rutgers (7-4, 3-3) took a major step toward securing a third straight bowl bid by beating Pittsburgh (4-6, 2-3).

An injured Mike Teel threw a 53-yard TD pass to Kenny Britt and Devin McCourty intercepted a pass in the end zone with 11 seconds to play as Rutgers all but ended the bowl hopes of Pittsburgh.

McCourty's interception came just one play after Oderick Turner was called for offensive pass interference after catching what would have been a go-ahead touchdown pass from Pat Bostick in the corner of the end zone.

The officials ruled Turner pushed off McCourty.

The Scarlet Knights' defense also came up big, limiting Pittsburgh to 13 points after the offense turned the ball over at or inside its own 31-yard line four times.

Bostick threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Darrell Strong to convert a TD on one of the turnovers.

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