Auburn 17, West Virginia 34

1234T
AUB (4-4)3140017
WVU (5-2)010101434

Final

7:30 PM ET, October 23, 2008
Mountaineer Field
MORGANTOWN, WV

White, Devine power Mountaineers past Tigers

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Team Stat Comparison
 
1st Downs1625
Total Yards260445
Passing111174
Rushing149271
Penalties5-491-7
3rd Down Conversions9-185-8
4th Down Conversions0-10-0
Turnovers12
Possession35:1924:41
Air/Ground Leaders
Auburn Passing
 C/ATTYDSTDINT
Burns13/2111111
West Virginia Passing
 C/ATTYDSTDINT
White13/2117432
Auburn Rushing
 CARYDSTDLG
Burns1582114
Lester133708
West Virginia Rushing
 CARYDSTDLG
Devine17207136
Sanders642015
Auburn Receiving
 RECYDSTDLG
Trott434014
Davis122022
West Virginia Receiving
 RECYDSTDLG
Arnett359144
Jalloh453232
Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTERAUBWVU
FG02:05Wes Byrum 19 Yd 30
SECOND QUARTERAUBWVU
TD13:25Brad Lester 16 Yd Pass From Kodi Burns (Wes Byrum Kick) 100
FG10:58Pat Mcafee 23 Yd 103
TD10:20Kodi Burns 9 Yd Run (Wes Byrum Kick) 173
TD06:37Alric Arnett 44 Yd Pass From Pat White (Pat Mcafee Kick) 1710
THIRD QUARTERAUBWVU
FG10:45Pat Mcafee 42 Yd 1713
TD04:06Dorrell Jalloh 2 Yd Pass From Pat White (Pat Mcafee Kick) 1720
FOURTH QUARTERAUBWVU
TD11:44Dorrell Jalloh 32 Yd Pass From Pat White (Pat Mcafee Kick) 1727
TD02:26Noel Devine 30 Yd Run (Pat Mcafee Kick) 1734
Associated Press

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia's Pat White and Noel Devine needed a little time to hit full stride against fading Auburn.

White threw three touchdown passes, Devine ran for a career-high 207 yards and West Virginia scored 31 straight points to beat the Tigers 34-17 on Thursday night.

Bennett: Instant analysis

West Virginia isn't supposed to score 34 points against Auburn, which hasn't allowed more than 26 points in a game, came in ranked ninth in scoring defense nationally, nearly beat LSU and is supposed have all those fast, superior athletes on defense, writes ESPN.com's Brian Bennett. Instant analysis

• Blog network | Big East | SEC

White, an Alabama native playing his first full game in a month following head and hand injuries, overcame two early interceptions to bring West Virginia (5-2) back from a 17-3 deficit. The Mountaineers had their highest point total since a season-opening 48-21 win over Villanova.

"I tried to give it away early, but my teammates -- offensively, defensively and on special teams -- all hung in there for me," White said. "We felt we could put points on the board and we did."

Auburn's Kodi Burns threw touchdown pass and ran for another score before halftime but couldn't keep the early momentum going.

The Tigers (4-4) managed just 33 second-half yards, were shut out over the final 40 minutes and now have a three-game losing streak. That hadn't happened since 1999, coach Tommy Tuberville's first season.

Auburn lost for only the ninth time under Tuberville when leading at halftime.

"We just didn't have an answer the second half," Tuberville said. "Pat White and Noel Devine had great speed. We couldn't stop the run with the four-man front. We couldn't tackle. Then we started blitzing and turned some receivers open."

Dorrell Jalloh caught two of White's scoring tosses. His 2-yard catch put West Virginia ahead to stay late in the third. On his second, Jalloh shed the grasp of defender Zac Etheridge, turned around without breaking stride, sidestepped Walter McFadden and scored from 32 yards out early in the fourth to make it 27-17.

Devine completed the scoring with a 30-yard TD run late in the game. He surpassed a 188-yard effort in an Oct. 11 win over Syracuse and has four 100-yard efforts this season.

"I saw confidence oozing out of everyone tonight," West Virginia coach Bill Stewart said "Our defense played aggressive. We played a little smarter in the second half."

Low: Open season on Tub?

There are bad losses, and then there are future-shaping losses. Unfortunately for coach Tommy Tuberville, Auburn's loss to WVU may be the latter, writes ESPN.com's Chris Low. Open season

• Blog network | Big East | SEC

Auburn entered the game as the ninth-best scoring defense but allowed a season high for points.

"It's very difficult to watch them score like that," said Auburn linebacker Josh Bynes. "We've got to get better defensively."

Auburn made a rare trip far to the north for its first nonconference road game since 2003. The crisp fall night hardly threw off the warm-weather Tigers. In fact, it was West Virginia that looked out of place early.

White entered the game completing 73 percent of his passes and had thrown just one interception all season but was picked off on West Virginia's first two series.

"It made me mad," White said. "I don't know if it flustered me. You've got to take the good with the bad."

Auburn followed Bynes' interception with a 20-play drive that ate up nearly 10 minutes. But the Tigers couldn't find the end zone on three tries from inside the 3 and settled for Wes Byrum's short field goal.

After McFadden returned an interception 18 yards to the West Virginia 27, Burns tossed a third-down screen pass to Brad Lester, who followed three blockers 16 yards into the end zone.

Mario Fannin's 69-yard kickoff return set up Burns' 9-yard touchdown run for a 17-3 lead early in the second.

White hit a wide-open Alric Arnett with a 44-yard TD strike, West Virginia's longest pass play of the season, midway through the second to bring West Virginia to 17-10.

White was held to a season-low 8 rushing yards but more than made up for it with his arm. He finished 13-of-21 for 174 yards and now has 12 TD passes this season, just two shy of his total for all of last season.

Burns led Auburn with 82 rushing yards and went 13-of-21 for 111 yards with an interception.

College Football Scores

Other Scores:

Thursday, October 23rd
Auburn 17 Final
West Virginia 34
Saturday, October 25th
16 South Florida 20 Final
Louisville 24
Rutgers 54 Final
17 Pittsburgh 34
Cincinnati 16 Final
Connecticut 40